Feeling Better Now!

[Bruzilla]

I've had some concerns about my 74 Roadrunner, mainly it felt like the front suspension and steering had a lot of issues and there was a scraping noise related to speed coming from the driver's side. Not good. I could feel the front shocks were bad, so I planned on replacing them Saturday.

I went to replace the shocks, and I couldn't get the wheels off! Turns out the kid who put the wheels back on the car the last time I got tires didn't pass Impact Wrench 101 and cross threaded two studs on one side and three on the other. By the time I got the wheels off, all five studs and lugnuts were shot. I also found out the noise I was hearing was the driver's front wheel lugnuts weren't completely tightened, and the wheel was loose. Definitely not good!

Next, I went to Autozone to get some studs, and the one near my house had one. They had ten of the other type, but only one of the type I needed. They searched the database and found ten between them and two other stores, so to get ten studs and lugnuts (I decided to just replace all of them), I had to go to three stores. Oy!

Worst of all, when I went to take the rotors off to replace the studs, I found the retaining nut was loose on both sides of the car. They hadn't worked their way to the cotter key, but they were turnable by hand. Now I know why the suspension and steering felt so awkward. As for the shocks, there was nothing left to them and I could extend and retract it by whipping them up or down.

I installed new KYB shocks, checked the bearings on both sides and repacked them, torqued the nuts, and put the wheels on with the new studs and now the car drives awesome and no more noises. Am I ever relieved!

 

[khryslerkid]

Key words "kid who put the wheels back on"

 

[65 Plymouth Satellite 426]

Good Job Figuring It Out!

 

[Ron 73]

Good you caught all this early! Just getting it home after paint..

 

[Bruzilla]

That's a fact! To have a car looking that pretty and driving like crap would have been awful. All I wanted to do once I got the graphics on was drive it everywhere, and I was worried I would be facing a major problem up front. Instead $60 worth of studs and lugnuts fixed the problem.

 

[super-bee_ski]

WOW!
Thank GOD you were "pro-active" when you decided to replace the shocks. . Could have been a nightmare on your way home from getting the new wheels!
Gee, I had the same issue getting "studs" out here where I live. Local NAPA store had to order them.
OK..!
Glad your back up running.
I would go to the shop that put your tires on and let the manager know.
PS: Were they left hand threads?

 

[super-bee_ski]

PS: You getting any rain from Issac?

 

[YY1]

After I replaced my 73's master cyl, the brakes seemed niosy, so I looked at the pads...

There was maybe 1/64" of lining left. One more day of driving would have probably been metal to metal.

 

[Bruzilla]

We got some rain, but like the crap we always get from feeder bands it'll be pouring buckets for a few minutes, then the sun is shining, then it's pouring again. Last night I planned to put sport mirrors on the Roadrunner and check the bulbs in the passenger-side marker lights. It started raining at 4:00 and was still coming down at 5:00 when I said it's only water and went out and got the job done in the rain. ;)

 

[Bruzilla]

WOW!
Thank GOD you were "pro-active" when you decided to replace the shocks. . Could have been a nightmare on your way home from getting the new wheels!
Gee, I had the same issue getting "studs" out here where I live. Local NAPA store had to order them.
OK..!
Glad your back up running.
I would go to the shop that put your tires on and let the manager know.
PS: Were they left hand threads?

I'm just glad I found it before the bearings or spindles were damaged. I will be visiting the tire shop with the studs. I think they're all right-hand.