[DeTomaso] the first day (NUTS!)

[Tomas Gunnarsson]

I have those on my Mercedes W124. It's the first time I've seen that solution but of that model alone some 2.5 million cars were built. If it was an issue it'd probably be known by now.

Tomas

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ken Green" <kenn_green at yahoo.com>
To: <MikeLDrew at aol.com>; <larry at ohiotimecorp.com>; <detomaso at realbig.com>
Sent: Monday, October 01, 2007 5:51 PM
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] the first day (NUTS!)


> I've seen split spindle nuts with a screw across the split so they can be tightened to retain the spindle nut's position.  Does anyone know if that is a generally accepted solution?
>   
>  Ken
> 
> MikeLDrew at aol.com wrote:
>  Thanks Larry!
> 
> Unfortunately I'll be spending my first day as a Lt Col thrashing on my 
> Pantera (and not behind the wheel).
> 
> Yesterday was a beautiful day, and as PCNC had been invited to display their 
> Panteras at the free comedy festival in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, I 
> fired up my Pantera and headed that way. I have an old friend from college 
> who lives south of the city, so the plan was to pick him up and then join the 
> PCNC convoy to the park.
> 
> The drive was perfectly normal until I exited the freeway near his house. 
> Suddenly there was a painful SCRREEEEEE noise from the left front, and the 
> steering jerked to the left, as though the left brake had applied itself.
> 
> A second later it was fine.
> 
> Huh?
> 
> I continued along, and a few second later, the steering wheel jerked to the 
> left again, just for a second, and then all was normal. Or so it felt. But 
> I knew something was wrong. I was thinking that perhaps a bolt had fallen 
> out of the brake caliper or something?
> 
> I very carefully limped the two remaining blocks to my friend's house, ears 
> cocked and fingertips on the wheel to feel anything untoward. Near his house 
> I heard a wocka wocka wocka sound from the left front.
> 
> I pulled in front of his house, busted out his floor jack, raised the front 
> end and found the wheel flopping all around--deathly loose wheel bearing. I 
> pulled the wheel off, then the dust cap, and found this:
> 
> http://members.aol.com/mikeldrew/nut.jpg
> 
> The nut which secures the hub features a lip which is intended to be peened 
> into a slot milled into the spindle. The lip had shattered, allowing the nut 
> to back off until it hit the cotter pin, which is the only thing that kept the 
> whole assembly from falling apart.
> 
> Note that most Panteras (mine included) don't come with provisions for a 
> cotter pin--under advisement from this forum many years ago, I drilled my spindles 
> and added them. I'm sure glad I did!
> 
> In retrospect, I would have been better off inserting shims between the face 
> of the nut and the cotter pin, which would have prevented it from backing off 
> in the event of failure.
> 
> Anyway, I tightened the nut a little, removed the cotter pin, then removed 
> the nut. The rotor/hub were sloppy loose on the spindle and I hoped that I 
> could simply withdraw them, change the bearing, and be back on my way.
> 
> Unfortunately, when I pulled the metal retainer off and got a look at the 
> bearing, it looked pretty grim.
> 
> http://members.aol.com/mikeldrew/badbearing.jpg
> 
> The rollers in the bearing had literally MELTED and fused into solid masses 
> of metal. The inner portion of the outer bearing is stuck firmly to the 
> spindle. Fortunately the bearing had slipped outward from its proper location 
> about 1/4 inch before it happened, so the proper area of the spindle may be 
> untouched.
> 
> I buttoned everything back up, and we took my buddy's Toyota to the comedy 
> festival. That evening I called AAA for the tow home (gotta love the 100-mile 
> tow program!); it took two and a half hours for the tow truck to arrive, and 
> it was another two and a half hours before I was home. I gingerly drove the 
> car onto and off the truck, and into the garage.
> 
> Now I have to pull the spindle/rotor off, and I'm going to take it to Chris 
> Difani's barn where he will use a variety of sophisticated tools and techniques 
> to extract everything without damaging the rare and expensive spindle--I 
> hope!!!
> 
> Mike
> 
> 
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