[DeTomaso] lower pantera shafts link

[detomasoregistry at gmail.com]

Mike,

 

I'll organize my photos from this event, and post them later.

As I was going back and forth between the jobs, my photos may be slightly out of order,

so double check my details when I send you the link.

 

Chuck

 

 

 

 

  _____  

From: MikeLDrew at aol.com [mailto:MikeLDrew at aol.com] 
Sent: Sunday, October 04, 2009 10:08 PM
To: jtaphorn at kingwoodcable.com; gaino at earthlink.net; detomaso at realbig.com;
detomasoregistry at gmail.com
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] lower pantera shafts link

 


In a message dated 10/4/09 8 38 31, jtaphorn at kingwoodcable.com writes:





Nice job, Bill.  Now your rear suspension can compress without bending the
lower a-arm.  That has got to feel better.

I've seen these lower a-arms frozen on many Pantera's including two of mine.
I am surprised that there are few reported incidences of the lower a-arm
failing.



Our tech session today was stymied badly by frozen shafts.  I don't know why, but I had
assumed (hoped) that it wouldn't be an issue and thus we weren't armed with replacement
shafts/cups/etc.

A whole lot of innovation was employed in order to successfully remove one of the shafts,
but it took the better part of three hours.  In the end, I believe the winning technique
involved sacrificing the nylock nuts.  Washers were stacked up against the side of the
A-arm, large enough for the shaft to pass through, then the impact gun was used against
the nut, while somebody on the other end used a BFH and a drift.  That got it about
halfway out, at which point it became well and truly stuck.

We eventually gave up, and removed the lower A-arm from the car.  That gave us a better
angle to punish the offending parts.  With the thing turned on its side, an even bigger
BFH was employed, hammering against an anvil with a perfectly located hole in the middle,
and eventually the shaft popped free.

Interestingly, the shaft was perfectly happy to rotate; it just wouldn't come out of the
assembly.  The OD of the shaft had rusted to the ID of the sleeve inside the hub carrier,
but it was perfectly happy to turn on the bearings in the ends of the hub carrier.

We decided to take the easy way out, and not try to take the other side apart.  Again, the
hub carrier was happy to rotate on the A-arm, so we just removed both components and kept
them together, while we pressed the old axles out and the new ones in.  This side of the
car had an axle among the worst I've seen in terms of wear.  With the axle nut removed, I
tapped each of the studs back in until they bottomed out against the outside surface of
the hub carrier.  I then inverted the assembly and prepared to carry it over to the press,
and with a clank, the axle and the rotor simply fell out and onto the bench!

Mike

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