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Irene gave me a scare last night

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  • Irene gave me a scare last night

    Our recently acquired 54 Commander (Irene) gave me a bit of a scare last night. I was finally able to set up a time with our local "old timer" front end alignment guy. I wanted to have an alignment done because the car just wasn't stable on the road and based on what I could tell by pulling strings it appeared that the toe was out and one front tire was leaning in a bit at the top. We got it up on his rack and a few minutes later he called me to come look at something. Holy Crap, the bolts that hold the inner pins of the lower control arms to the cross member were so loose you could turn them by hand on both sides. The front two on the drivers side had about 1/4" of bolt showing between the nut and the clamping surface on the pin, allowing the pin to move up and down freely. We tightened it all up and he did his alignment. The car drives much better now but I think I am going to have to go through every bolt I can get to before the car gets driven anymore. And to think I let Dad drive this thing to two local shows after we fixed the obvious minor little detail type problems. I feel like I dodged a bullet on this one.
    Wayne
    "Trying to shed my CASO ways"

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  • #2
    Whew, Wayne! Glad you, your dad, and Irene are all safe.
    Mike Davis
    1964 Champ 8E7-122 "Stuey"

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    • #3
      Glad to hear that you caught his in time. This is a good "heads up" for all of us who are driving these old cars.
      "In the heart of Arkansas."
      Searcy, Arkansas
      1952 Commander 2 door. Really fine 259.
      1952 2R pickup

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      • #4
        I am sure Domenic spent a LOT of money paying people to "do it right", but in the end, you are at their mercy and you get what you get, if you can not do it yourself.
        StudeRich
        Second Generation Stude Driver,
        Proud '54 Starliner Owner
        SDC Member Since 1967

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        • #5
          Thats interesting. I think I may have dodged the same bullet.
          I did a oil change and chassis lube on the 55 President Sunday.
          I found the same bolts you mention loose, leading to a few hours of checking other fasteners underneath the car. Only the four bolts on the left side were loose and actually the car was rock steady on the highway both before and after tightening. There is no indication of abnormal tire wear.
          Those bolts go on the (mental) checklist to check for tightness every oil change.
          I wonder if those bolts loosening up is a common fault? Those bolts on my President have Nyloc locking nuts which may indicate a tendency to work loose over a period of time.
          I can't use the 'car is new to me' excuse, I'll have been driving it three years in September, nearly 10K miles.
          Last edited by JimKB1MCV; 06-20-2018, 06:17 AM. Reason: brain flatulence

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          • #6
            When larger Bolts like that get unscrewed and tightened back up for suspension work, they should get a fair amount of torque due to their Size, BUT, doing that too many times or OVER Tightening them, stretches them and wears the threads beyond further use, so they should be replaced.

            Locking Nuts or Thread Locker is a Good thing also.
            StudeRich
            Second Generation Stude Driver,
            Proud '54 Starliner Owner
            SDC Member Since 1967

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            • #7
              Check the bolts over the next year and make sure they do not come loose again.

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              • #8
                All the bolts had the correct castle nuts on them, but no lock washer. I think they are going to get lock nuts, lock washers and a bit of lock tight once it cools down enough to go outside again.
                Wayne
                "Trying to shed my CASO ways"

                sigpic

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