Front end is back together
For better or worse, my front end is back together and on the car. This has been a very educational and at times frustrating project. I have discovered, I think, that I am far too critical of the design of this part of the car. I had to keep reminding myself that this car and design is at minimum 50 years old, if not older and the tolerances back then were not what they would be today.
What I found was that the drivers side went back together with no major issues, whereas the passengers side gave me issues throughout the process. Someone suggested that the passengers side, being the ditch side, got more punishment and thus may have been worn more.
I wanted all to know how much I appreciate all the help I got from all of you and without your help, it would have been a much more difficult task than it turned out to be. Thank you all once again for your support.
One issue that I wanted to specifically share is what I did when I discovered that one of the nuts on my lower outer A-Arm was stripped.
I have been trying whenever possible to use the orginal parts on this car. I did not want to replace the complete A-Arm with one that I didn't know the condition of. It seemed a simple matter of replacing the nut that had no threads left in it. So, I took it to a friend that builds tower clocks for a living. You know, those big clocks in the church towers or town halls from 100 years ago? Well, he is the only manufacturer of tower clocks in North America. He builds them from scratch or he repairs the originals. He happens to have a complete machine shop in his basement. Plus he is a genius when it comes to repairing or building something from a piece of scrap metal. I showed him what I had and explained to him what it does. I asked if he thought he could make me a new nut for it with what turns out to be an odd 11 threads per inch. He told me he would think about it and get back to me. A week later, I came home to find not one but two brand new lower outer A-Arm nuts on my doorstep. As you can see by the pictures, they are nearly perfect copies of the original. The only thing he could not duplicate was the somewhat bowed inside face of it. I removed the orginal nut very easily with a dremel cutter blade. I took the new nut and tack welded it back in place of the stripped one, using the new shaft to align it with the other side. Then removed the shaft and finished welding it in place. Both of these nuts had broken the original welds in more than one place. I put it back together and it worked perfectly. After painting, it looks like new. I think this was a very affordable and for me, a very desirable fix for this problem. I much prefered this method to replacing the entire assembly. I would love to hear anyones input to this solution. It sure worked well for me. I have a spare nut also if anyone is in need of it, and my friend has assured me that if necessary, we can get more of them. (at some minumal cost I expect!)
What I found was that the drivers side went back together with no major issues, whereas the passengers side gave me issues throughout the process. Someone suggested that the passengers side, being the ditch side, got more punishment and thus may have been worn more.
I wanted all to know how much I appreciate all the help I got from all of you and without your help, it would have been a much more difficult task than it turned out to be. Thank you all once again for your support.
One issue that I wanted to specifically share is what I did when I discovered that one of the nuts on my lower outer A-Arm was stripped.
I have been trying whenever possible to use the orginal parts on this car. I did not want to replace the complete A-Arm with one that I didn't know the condition of. It seemed a simple matter of replacing the nut that had no threads left in it. So, I took it to a friend that builds tower clocks for a living. You know, those big clocks in the church towers or town halls from 100 years ago? Well, he is the only manufacturer of tower clocks in North America. He builds them from scratch or he repairs the originals. He happens to have a complete machine shop in his basement. Plus he is a genius when it comes to repairing or building something from a piece of scrap metal. I showed him what I had and explained to him what it does. I asked if he thought he could make me a new nut for it with what turns out to be an odd 11 threads per inch. He told me he would think about it and get back to me. A week later, I came home to find not one but two brand new lower outer A-Arm nuts on my doorstep. As you can see by the pictures, they are nearly perfect copies of the original. The only thing he could not duplicate was the somewhat bowed inside face of it. I removed the orginal nut very easily with a dremel cutter blade. I took the new nut and tack welded it back in place of the stripped one, using the new shaft to align it with the other side. Then removed the shaft and finished welding it in place. Both of these nuts had broken the original welds in more than one place. I put it back together and it worked perfectly. After painting, it looks like new. I think this was a very affordable and for me, a very desirable fix for this problem. I much prefered this method to replacing the entire assembly. I would love to hear anyones input to this solution. It sure worked well for me. I have a spare nut also if anyone is in need of it, and my friend has assured me that if necessary, we can get more of them. (at some minumal cost I expect!)
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