[TR] fix and ride

[Ron L'Herault]

Last Monday I changed the oil in my 1973 TR-6 and did my nut and bolt check.
I had a clunk in the rear and though maybe the nuts at the connection to the
diff had loosened again.  They were tight but the U joint had play in it so
I changed it, fortunately having three of them on the parts shelf.
Unfortunately I didn't have new nylock nuts so I got on line to the Roadster
Factory and ordered 4 of them along with a new turn signal blinker unit with
the hope that a new one would make the lights blink faster.  I'd already
cleaned all the connections and bulb bases which helped a bit.  The nuts and
flasher unit came in on Friday and I decided to do the install today.  It
all went without a hitch.  Clunk is pretty much gone and turn signals flash
at an acceptably fast rate.   After cleaning up I took the car out for a
test drive -which really means that I headed over to the Ice Cream Machine
for a cone of ginger ice cream.  It was such a great day for a ride.  The
weather was PERFECT.   However I did get to wondering about the U joints on
the drive shaft.  I have never replaced them on this '73 with 85K on it and
I never did on my first TR-6 which had 95 K on it when it was wrecked back
in 1979.   Sooooo, why do the rear axle U joints need to be replaced more
often than the drive shaft U joints.  I think the are the same size/part
number, right?

Grinning still from the nice ride today,

Ron L