[Tigers] Check Your Nuts

[Joe Brown]

So,  I took my Tiger out yesterday for a short drive and as I was just
about home (maybe a hundred yards from my driveway) the right front
suspension dropped to the ground and I skidded several yards before
stopping.  All I could think of was the old stories about exploding ball
joints.

I walked to my house and threw a floor jack and some jack stands in my
truck and drove back to the Tiger.  I managed to get the front end jacked
up and discovered that the nut on the lower ball joint was gone and the
lower A arm had dropped to the road.  My suspension pieces are at least 30
years old and the ball joints were held on with nylock nuts. I managed to
wrap a ratchet strap around the upper and lower A arms and I was able to
slowly drive the car into my garage.

I am very lucky that:
1. I was going pretty slow at the time
2. The front end landed in some loose gravel on the side of the road
3. None of the body work was damaged
4.  And nothing else in the suspension looks to be damaged; just scraped up

If this had happened 5 minutes earlier I would have been doing 60 on a
winding road and I would have wound up in a ditch.

So I'm ordering a new set of ball joints and I will drill them out for
castle nuts so I don't have to worry about a nut working its way loose
again.

Regards,
Joe Brown
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