Scott Gibbs

I am doing the annual service on the 1939 Lincoln Zephyr 4 door sedan. I find two grease fittings on the enclosed driveline tube. One is for the center bearing I'm sure. There is a second fitting just a few inches back for the speedometer connection. Is the forward fiting the one that will lube the universal joint and front bearing or is there a third fitting for the u-joint? I have some JD oil I want to use on the u-joint.

There is no noise with the vibration, just a mostly horizontal shaking. The more I think about it, it feels a lot like a tire wobble but its odd that it is speed sensitive. After I run the rear with the wheels off the ground, I'll check to see if I can tell how loose the front end king pins, etc. are. Re the collar at the rear end, the rear end shift to the higher gear is very smooth and quiet. There is a noticeable "clunk" of the shift from high ratio to low. Anyone know, if this difference is normal? Thanks

Thanks for your help. You suggest several things I can check that I haven't thought of. I'll be sure to let you know what I find out. Thanks again.

Thanks for your advice. I had the front tires rebalanced with no effect but not the rear yet. I haven't figured out how the rear fender skirts come off. Is it just a matter of rotating the chromed bolt head as shown by the arrow on it. Are they hard to get back on? I have been a little timid working on this car. It is significantly different than my 40 Studebaker Commander or 32 Pontiac Business Coup. I have to confess I've never owned a Ford product before. My Dad and Uncles were GM and Chrysler guys. I've driven the same 1977 M-B 240D since I drove it off the show room floor in July of 1977 as my daily driver. I have been able to do all the work it has needed myself. The clutch lasted 29 years. I took me a few days to change it but it really wasn't a bad job.

I am a relatively new owner of a very nicely restored 39 Zephyr 4 door sedan. The odometer shows about 50K miles but I think it is a replacement unit so the car likely has more miles on it than shown. The car runs and drives great but it has a very strong vibration at between 30 and 35 MPH when accelerating. If you take your foot off the gas it stops as you coast and it is gone above 35 MPH. I am thinking it is the universal joint in the enclosed drive line as the vibration is similar to what you get in on open drive line that has a bad universal joint. It seems to be a pretty big job to replace the universal so I'm looking for a way to be sure that is the problem before I proceed with dropping the rear end to get at the universal joint. Any suggestions about diagnosing the problem will be appreciated.