Well,
I finally have a real TR story to share. Yesterday the rest of my parts came
to finish fixing the cooling system. I was running hot, and with the help of
this group, I replaced several things, and took Daphne (the '67 BRG TR4A) out
for a spin to check her temperature.
The temperature climbed slower to just over half past on the gauge. Boy did I
feel like the man! I have never worked on cars before, so It feels really
good to fix something. I was taking about a 5 mile loop around the
neighborhood, when I started to hear some noise behind me. Also the steering
started getting sloppy.
"I'd better get her home to find out what's going on." I only have about 1
mile to go.
DROP...BANG! SPARKS!!! We have a wheel off at 40!
The left rear wheel came off and comes sailing past me. I stopped from about
40-0 as smoothly and quickly as I could. No steering input, so as I come to a
stop, I'm still mostly in a lane of traffic on Tanner road, and people
generally run anywhere from 40-60 mph. I don't have any flashing lights (at
least I don't know if I do) and it's getting dark, so luckily I have my
Surefire (hi intensity flashlight) in the boot, so I'll stand behind my car
and flash it on the rear as cars approach. Man is this a dangerous
situation!
I manage to find the tire/wheel during a break in traffic.
I call my wife and ask her to call AAA, then to come bring the kids, and pull
behind me in her minivan, just to keep the TR from being totaled. I told her
to tell the company we definitely need a flat bed tow truck. The tow truck
will be here between 30-45 minutes. They have been advised of my dangerous
situation. My wife gets there about 10 minutes later, and pulls behind and
lets me in took keep me from completely freezing to death. It's still a
dangerous situation, as we are placed strategically right after a major rise
(hill) in the road.
EXACTLY 45 minutes later the first tow truck shows up. Naturally, it is not a
flat bed. They dispatch another truck, and after about 35 minutes of lecture
from my wife, this time the flatbed shows up. The first thing he does is have
me sign a waiver saying he's not responsible if he hurts Daphne. That made me
just about cry. He pulls her up, and gets her secured without incident. I
think he could tell that I was pretty nervous, so he told me everything he was
going to do before he did it. Sort of like when you go to the doctor.
We drove the mile down Tanner Rd. to our subdivision, and he pulled in. I
asked if he thought he could drop it in the garage, since our driveway is on a
slope. He said he would do his best. I thought I was going to have to sign
another waiver! He started to slide her down, and as he did, I grabbed an old
skateboard, and tried to wedge it under the leaf spring. It worked... a
little. She got about half in the garage before the tow man gave up. He was
on his way, and the good part was it didn't cost a thing. That's good,
because potentially, there will be some good bills from my mechanic and/or
TRF!
I jockeyed the jacks around enough to get the rear in the air, and slip a
jackstand under. Oh, the reason the wheel came off (splined hub
adapter/wheel/knockoff) 'I think' was that the lugnuts were loose securing the
hub adapter to the hub via studs. The studs were stripped pretty good, and
the hub adapter had some wear in the chamfered holes, so there was definitely
some looseness.
It only took about 30 minutes for the whole procedure of the wheel on. It
looks like there is some brake fluid leaking. Also the leaf spring bracket
u-bolts was ground down. I wonder how hard that will be to remove and
replace? I go to gingerly pull her out the garage and down the driveway so
that I call pull her in properly for a good night's sleep. NO BRAKES! Or
very, very little at least. Great, one more thing to fix. I pull her back in
at just the right speed, so that as I crest the top of the driveway, I will
have exactly the right amount of forward momentum to coast into her spot in
the garage without having to use the brakes. Good job... at least I didn't go
through the garage wall and into the house.
All in all, I'm relieved and thankful it wasn't worse. I am fairly bummed
though, because I thought by fixing the cooling problem, I had a weekend ride
again. Also, I am heading out for 2 weeks of business trips, so wrench time
is a couple of weeks away.
Thanks for giving me shoulders to cry on, and I will probably elicit tech help
as I dive into the new problems.
Chris
1967 TR4A
/// triumphs@autox.team.net mailing list
/// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive
|