[DeTomaso] Pantera near disaster

[zumzum at cox.net]

Steve, sounds like this, a worker induced problem, sorry;
Bearings were not preloaded correctly.
Wheel studs were wrong and or put in wrong.
Wheel nut were torqued wrong also.
You were not hearing the car talk to you!!!!!!
Vibrations should have been felt!!!!!
Alignment shop was wrong for not checking wheel bearing free play.
Removing the wheels is not important.
You sound like you know what went wrong. Are you Catholic? Guilt is ingrained and hard to remove.
Easier to fix a car than a human.
Next time be careful when you bolt together expensive parts and drive.
Death/damage is on only a moment away.
Jeff Cobb________________________________________________

---- Steve Hawkins <shawkins777 at comcast.net> wrote:
> Possibly the wrong studs.
>
> Steve
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com] On
> Behalf Of boyd casey
> Sent: Saturday, August 21, 2010 5:56 PM
> To: De Tomaso List
> Subject: [DeTomaso] Pantera near disaster
>
>
> For those of you who may have been following the progress of my Ken Green
> brake Mod and the concurrent rebuild and upgrade of my suspension. I had a
> near disaster on Thursday afternoon. I picked up my car at the alignment
> shop and was very pleased with the report from the owner who was also the
> person that worked on my car. I was driving home from the shop in Port
> Chester NY to my home on Long Island NY ( a distance of around 40 miles. I
> was traveling on 95 south (the New England Thruway) when all of a sudden the
> car started to shake and I heard two PING'S in rapid succession. I had the
> windows open due to the lack of functional AC and I saw two lug nuts and
> studs shooting across the highway. I managed to quickly pull over without
> being struck by any of the numerous tractor trailers that were surrounding
> me. I won't bore everyone with the horror story about getting a tow truck
> other then to say it was a life altering ordeal on it's own. It took four
> hours to
> get home (a distance of another 25 miles) at a cost of $300.00. When the
> car was dropped off at my house the remaining three lug nuts and studs fell
> off in my hand. The wheel was literally within a moment of falling
> completely off. The studs had enlarged the holes in my forged three piece
> wheels, the hats were chewed up and the holes were oblong and out of round
> and the hub and bearing assemblies from Ken's design (made by German
> engineering) where destroyed. Two of the studs had pulled completely through
> and the other three remaining studs were turning freely in their now
> enlarged holes. I was concerned at how I was going to be able to facilitate
> the repairs in my garage which has such limited space but luckily the past 5
> months I have spent working on my car at my car clubs garage has improved my
> skills to the point were I was able to disassemble the entire left rear
> wheel assembly , CV joint, upper a arm from ball joint and caliper and
> rotor. So I have the damaged hub, hat, and wheel all removed. The wheel is
> at a wheel repair facility being re sleeved. (This is a temporary repair
> that will allow me to have the car in a mobile state. The company that made
> my wheels going to replace the center( I will have to disassemble the wheel
> center and send it to them) and for $500 they will send me a replacement
> that I will have to use to reassemble my wheel. The new replacement hub with
> bearing assembly and the new hat have already been shipped and will be here
> by Wednesday or Thursday at a cost of around $400.00. So hopefully I will
> have everything back together by the end of next week.. It is clearly not a
> moment to celebrate but considering what COULD have happened. I could have
> been killed or the wheel could have come completely off and the damage could
> easily have been well into the thousands of dollars. The Brembo caliper the
> wheel house the rotor, the Koni shock All of which was brand new, the
> powder coated a-arms the poly graphite bushings, That's if I were lucky
> and only dragged the suspension parts. I could have lost control and wiped
> out the car and wound up with anywhere from a few thousand dollars to a
> total loss and any where between no injury and death. The alignment tech
> claims he did not take the wheels off so I have no way of knowing what the
> cause was. If anyone has any suggestions I would be interested in hearing
> any theories. I could be feeling sorry for my self and but when I look at
> everything that is going on in the world from, floods, wild fires,
> earthquakes to people being killed by suicide bombers or fighting terrorism
> in Iraq or Pakistan I have to consider myself extremely lucky to have a
> Pantera in the first place and to not have been killed or injured. This is
> another part of what goes with owning a Pantera or any other exotic or high
> performance toy. (Unless it's a trailer queen). So instead of being
> discouraged or depressed. I am going to chalk this one up as a chance to
> count my blessings. Boyd _______________________________________________
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--
Jeff Cobb