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Regular
Posts: 71
Location: Michigan | Well...
Had the Chrysler a week now; spent the last few days in bed with this flu that makes every darned joint ache - especially yer back. No one wants to lie on their achin' back on concrete in January in Detroit - so's I went on a mini buyin' spree. Bought a buncha little crap like gaskets and carb rebuild stuff.
Finally felt well enuf to work on the car this evening, so I got it up high (SUV/truck stands - if you're rich enough to afford a lift - you prolly don't post here) and went to town on the underside mechanicals.
Measured the ride height by indexing off the side spear - the car was 31" at the front, 29" on the passenger rear and 28" on the driver rear. That's quite a dip; checked the spring and yup - she's don broke a leaf. No biggie...was plannin' on droppin the car anyway, so that broke leaf will go - along with the other side to even things up.
Buzzed off the awful truck megaphones, and tucked the dualies up where they belonged. Checked the exhaust routing for fit, and...
Sheesh.
Cooter done welded this one up; used a buncha prefab stuff and kinda 'aimed' at the back of the car. Driver's side pipe contacted:
- starter
- shock
- fuel line
Passenger side:
- leaks
- hits frame
- hits tire well, and;
- was 2" longer than driver's side.
Looked at the trans, and:
The pan was stuck on nearly dry - no gasket and almost no RTV. Seems cooter ran out afore's he buttoned up the trans. Car starts in every gear; looked for continuity at the neutral switch, but couldn't find it! Eventually a golf ball of black goo in the location of the switch was ID'd as the neutral safety switch. Appears it leaked - Cooter used a whole tube of RTV to stop that sucka in its tracks. He then wired the switch lead to the trans crossmember for good measure...
Moved up to the front suspension; gutted it so's to drop the car and add gas shox. *finally* sheared a bolt; I now know I'm workin on an old car agin! Cooter didn't know Chryslers run left hand threads on the left drums; you can imagine what the lugs looked like.
Gonna have fun in the parts store tomorrow askin' for my left nut... |
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Board Moderator
Posts: 3186
  
Location: The not-so-great, dirty-white North ( Michigan) | Chuck...
Whereabouts in Michigan are you located?
Reason for asking is that when you start on the springs, you should go to Eaton Detroit Spring (across from the REAL Tiger Stadium on 3rd and Trumbell) and get with Jim and ask him to make you some springs that will give you your ride as well as drop the beast.
Good guy to work with.
Also, regarding them LEFT-HAND struds. If you are near Auburn Hills, MI, try the auto parts store just East of Auburn Road and Adams Road in Troy. Can't think of the name, but they did have some of those studs in their back inventory about 2years ago. I know, since I had to replace one that got "tightened 'till it got loose" by some previous Nimrod!!!!
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Regular
Posts: 71
Location: Michigan | I'm one town west of Troy - so that's close!
I went into Murray's and got a woman clerk, which made the left nut question all the more fun.
I still get a huge kick outta the blank stare when I tell them what year the car is; they then tell me they can't help me.
I point at the dusty pile of catalogs at the end of the counter and say, 'yes, you can.'
Auto parts geeks have come to hate my guts. |
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Expert
Posts: 2308
Location: The Bat Cave, Fairborn, OH | Ah yes, the ol' left nut question...I remember taking my DeSoto to a national brand tire store for new radials. The mechanic (?) who was working on the car spun off four out of five left-hand studs on the driver's front before it dawned on him that the stamped "L" meant the studs were left-handed threads. Duh. |
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Board Moderator
Posts: 3186
Location: The not-so-great, dirty-white North ( Michigan) | chuckspeed - 2006-01-11 2:04 PM
I'm one town west of Troy - so that's close!
OK...That makes it either:
- B'ham
- Bloomfield Twnship
- Clawson
- Bloomfield Hills
- Bloomfield Village
In any event, you are close to that Auto Parts store just East of Adams Rd on Auburn Rd.
And close enough to call up Eaton Detroit spring and go there with your old stuff (if necessary) for Jim to figure out what you need!
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Regular
Posts: 71
Location: Michigan | Locale - B'hills.
And yes - I'll go check out that a-parts store - thanks!
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Expert
Posts: 2011
Location: Ballwin, Missouri | Stephen,
When I went to get new tires I KNEW what they were going to
do if I didn't tell them first. I told the guy writing the ticket, but
of course, it never reached the mechanic's ears. I watched and
when he started to hammer away at the first left wheel nut I whistled
at him to stop. ( My dad taught me how to whistle and it will almost
shatter windows, but any way) I got his attention and you should have seen
the dumb look on his face when I said that they were left hand threads.
If I wouldn't have been ready for them, they would have been replacing
wheel studs, and you know they would have been right hand instead of
left hand threads. I have no idea where to get left hand threaded
wheel studs around here. Hope I never have to find out. |
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Expert
Posts: 2824
Location: Snohomish, WA. | You guys are missing a most obvious point here.
With enough fortitude, tenacity, and desire, a left threaded nut may be put onto any right threaded stud by almost any grease monkey with an impact gun.
You don't need no stinkin' Left hand stud!!! You only need a left nut.
Mike |
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Expert
Posts: 4533
Location: Ripon, WI | Quite frankly, I am apalled at the references to Cooter as a cut corners mechanic. Yes, he is a hillbilly, but he could keep the General running like a raped ape through thick and thin...
Now... Gomer...... now that is a different story. |
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Board Moderator
Posts: 3186
Location: The not-so-great, dirty-white North ( Michigan) | Ahhhh.....
Now is my chance to tell the story of "Baby Huey", and the reason? that Chrysler changed from Left-handed studs to right-handed ones?
This might be "urban legend" at Chrysler, but even if it is, its still a good tale.
Way back when, after I had just started with Chrysler in the early 70s, I was talking with another Chrysler engineer in the brake group about any and all things (info exchange, bulls**t session, whatever, done on company time...).
The guy told me that the reason for the change to all right-handed studs on MOPARS was due to a guy nicknamed "Baby Huey".
It seems that Huey was an exceptionally LARGE individual (like 6ft 9in tall, about 400 pounds, and strong as an ox) that worked on the line at the old Jefferson Assembly Plant. His job was to install tires and wheel nuts on Chryslers on the passenger side of the line. Now Huey could pick up a wheel/tire with one arm and stick it on the car, and then use the multi-headed air gun to drive home the lug nuts.
As with any chance to ease the labor, Huey found that you load the gun with the 5 lug nuts, grab the tire, stuff it on, and then run the nuts down together. Almost all the time, due to the specification of the designers of the wheel studs, the nuts would go on with no cross-threading.
Well, one day, the line foreman decides to put Huey on the driver's side of the line. Huey, being very meticulous about wanting to do a good job, checks out his *new* equiipment to get familiar before shift start, and notices that the air gun is running backwards. So he flips it around to correct rotation.
Shift starts, and Huey does his thing. Front and rear wheels. From 6:30AM until break time at about 8:30. At around 45 cars per hour.
At break, he talks with his fellow workers, and tells them the air gun on his station just "ain't cutting it". Hard to get those nuts down.
Break ends, he goes back to work. At about lunchtime, his line foreman comes up and asks what is the issue. Huey tells him the air gun is crap. Foreman goes to stores and pulls a spare.
Foreman gives it to Huey at lunchtime and tells him to change it over with help of a skilled tradesman. They swap air guns, Huey fires it up, notices it is running backwards, and flips the direction to correct this. Foreman and skilled tradesman trade looks, then the light comes on........4 hours at 45 cars/hour times 2 wheels per car times 5 studs/nuts per wheel.......
Well, three thing happen next (actually 4). FIRST...Huey is told to NOT reverse the gun. It runs opposite on the driver's side. Secondly, they remove the direction reverse feature for the air guns in stock, and mark them LEFT or RIGHT for the line. Third, they have to go out to the yard and replace approximately 1800 studs and lug nuts on vehicles. No easy task. They are ALL cross-threaded.
And the 4th thing? It was immediately recommended that Chrysler change over to right-handed threads by Jefferson Assembly. This was done for reasons of (cost, simplification, and other manufacturers were already doing it). The recommendation was evaluated by Vehicle Engineering, and the rest is history.......thanks to "Baby Huey".
As I said, may be urban legend, but when I heard this, I was rolling on the floor, laughing my A*S off! |
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Inactive by user's request
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada | I liked how John Jerome summed it up in his book entitled, "Truck":
"By 1970, Chrysler engineers noticed the left wheels weren't falling off their competitors' cars and abandoned the costly practice."
K. |
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Expert
Posts: 2824
Location: Snohomish, WA. | Hank,
It makes sense to me. Over the years, when left hand studs were in use, manys the time I would have a flat, only to discover some tire monkey had cross threaded the nuts. Most times they would come off, hard, but sometimes the stud just broke off with the strain.
One very memorable time was on up on a logging road. Went to get the tire iron, and it was too big. Smashed it down a bit with a couple of rocks so I could get a bite enough to change the tire and was able to get 4 nuts off, but that 5th one was not going to cooperate.
Walked about 7 miles to a ranger station, who drove me back with a multi-headed tire iron. Still no luck, so he went back and got a cold chisel to break the nut off. When we cracked it and got it off, you guessed it.......crossthreaded.
Bastid!!
Mike |
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Regular
Posts: 71
Location: Michigan | I heard that one, too! I find it kinda hard to believe; try getting a nut on a right-handed thread backwards..
Okay - I'm gonna hijack my own thread:
Desotohead - didja ever work with an engineer by the name of Victor Thredgar?
Curious,
Chuck.
DeSotohead - 2006-01-12 9:04 AM
Ahhhh.....
Now is my chance to tell the story of Baby Huey", and the reason? that Chrysler changed from Left-handed studs to right-handed ones?
THis might be "urban legend" at Chrysler, but even if it is, its still a good tale.
Way back when, after I had just started with Chrysler in the early 70s, I was talking with another Chrysler engineer in the brake group about any and all things (info exchange, bulls**t session, whatever, done on company time...).
The guy told me that the reason for the change to all right-handed studs on MOPARS was due to a guy nicknamed "Baby Huey".
It seems that Huey was an exceptionally LARGE individual (like 6ft 9in tall, about 400 pounds, and strong as an ox) that worked on the line at the old Jefferson Assembly Plant. His job was to install tires and wheel nuts on Chryslers on the passenger side of the line. Now Huey could pick up a wheel/tire with one arm and stick it on the car, and then use the multi-headed air gun to drive home the lug nuts.
As with any chance to ease the labor, Huey found that you load the gun with the 5 lug nuts, grab the tire, stuff it on, and then run the nuts down together. Almost all the time, due to the specification of the designers of the wheel studs, the nuts would go on with no cross-threading.
Well, one day, the line foreman decides to put Huey on the driver's side of the line. Huey, being very meticulous about wanting to do a good job, checks out his *new* equiipment to get familiar before shift start, and notices that the air gun is running backwards. So he flips it around to correct rotation.
Shift starts, and Huey does his thing. Front and rear wheels. From 6:30AM until break time at about 8:30. At around 45 cars per hour.
At break, he talks with his fellow workers, and tells them the air gun on his station just "ain't cutting it". Hard to get those nuts down.
Break ends, he goes back to work. At about lunchtime, his line foreman comes up and asks what is the issue. Huey tells him the air gun is crap. Foreman goes to stores and pulls a spare.
Foreman gives it to Huey at lunchtime and tells him to change it over with help of a skilled tradesman. They swap air guns, Huey fires it up, notices it is running backwards, and flips the direction to correct this. Foreman and skilled tradesman trade looks, then the light comes on........4 hours at 45 cars/hour times 2 wheels per car times 5 studs/nuts per wheel.......
Well, three thing happen next (actually 4). FIRST...Huey is told to NOT reverse the gun. It runs opposite on the driver's side. Secondly, they remove the direction reverse feature for the air guns in stock, and mark them LEFT or RIGHT for the line. Third, they have to go out to the yard and replace approximately 1800 studs and lug nuts on vehicles. No easy task. They are ALL cross-threaded.
And the 4th thing? It was immediately recommended that Chrysler change over to right-handed threads by Jefferson Assembly. This was done for reasons of (cost, simplification, and other manufacturers were already doing it). The recommendation was evaluated by Vehicle Engineering, and the rest is history.......thanks to "Baby Huey".
As I said, may be urban legend, but when I heard this, I was rolling on the floor, laughing my A*S off! |
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Board Moderator
Posts: 3186
Location: The not-so-great, dirty-white North ( Michigan) | Chuck...
My days at Chrysler were from 1972 through 1978.
I left for other employment before Chrysler got into wholesale layoff of any groups that were "nonessential".
I was in Advanced Development, so I figured that meant ME!
I never knew an engineer by the name of Victor Thredgar.
I did know some old-timers that geve me quite a bit of background on the "good old days" at Chrysler, when I was working in the Carburetor and Emission Development group at the Chelsea Proving Grounds.
Some of those guys were:
Elmer Kiel (worked on the Bendix Electrojectors)
George Sheardown (Manager of the Choke group)
Marlis Williams (Performance - part of the Williams/Bowles drag team)
Dave? Bowles (Brake Group - other half)
Gordon Fenn - father of the Lean Burn System at Chrysler
Some other (non-Chrysler) people I worked with:
Bill Glynn - ACF/Carter - one of the designers of the ThermoQuad carb, and colleague of the Ball father/son team at Carter
Larry Congdon - Colt/Holley - Lead carb liason to Chrysler. Also the performance carb rep for Chrysler during the drag/Nascar days
There are others that I knew as well. Some I forget right now (that CRS desease, you know?)
Maybe you knew some of these guys as well.......
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Veteran
Posts: 281
Location: CEMENT CITY MICH. | I WORKED AT THE PROVING GROUNDS FROM 78-80 IN THE EMISSION TESTING AREA AS A CERT DRIVER MECH.
DID YOU KNOW AN ENGINEER IN THE BRAKE DEPT. NAMED BOB SWANBERG? HE WAS MY FATHER MY NAME IS ALSO BOB SWANBERG
SWANNY |
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Board Moderator
Posts: 3186
Location: The not-so-great, dirty-white North ( Michigan) | Bob.....
I think I remember your father. Barely through the fog of time. Ask him if he remembers another Brake Engineer from Highland Park - Robert Chafin. I went to school with him, and he was partly responsible for my getting interviewed by Chrysler. Also a couple of brake mechanics - Bill Heeney (he used to race dirt track), and John Dinkel (he was the UAW local Sgt at Arms when I left - later the local President of 1284)
Since I worked with the Cert Emission people, maybe you remember these names:
Eldon Mummey - Cert Analyst (I know he died a while back)
Dan Pasquantonio (Danny the Wop, as he called himself) - Cert Engineering Liasion to EPA
Tom Kueny (he went to APG)
Dick Hoekstra (Redbeard - he also went to APG)
Don Germaine (he was a Carb Lab mechanic - died a while back)
There was also a Cert Engineer that married B.J. Ludwig's daughter (she also worked in the Emissions lab).
Can't remember his name, but a full-bore partier!!!! His name was Gary something....
Small world......
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Veteran
Posts: 281
Location: CEMENT CITY MICH. | AND BEFORE HIM THERE WAS BOB LOVE ANOTHER DRIVER MECH. DO YOU REMEMBER MARLIS' 61 300?IT WAS A RED TWO DOOR HD. MY FRIEND JERRY DOLL BOUGHT IT IN 79 HE WAS DON DOLLS SON AND WORKED IN THE CARB SHOP THAT DON WAS THE FOREMAN OF HOW ABOUT SONNY BENSON HE BUILT TRANNYS I HAVE HAD ONE IN MY CONV. SINCE 1980 NEVER OUT SYILL STRONG OR DENNIS JERRAL,HOWARD STOLL,GEORGE GILINSKI, MILTON WOOD,HERB PEARSON HERB HAS A MOPAR SHOW AT HIS HOUSE EVERY YEAR
SWANNY |
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Board Moderator
Posts: 3186
Location: The not-so-great, dirty-white North ( Michigan) | Boy you bring back memories....
The Cert Emissions engineer was named Gary Pell....I remember he used to mix sound for a band at nights. Most times came in with tavern flu after playing gigs at places like the Crazy Horse Saloon on US 127/I94(the "Crazy House") in Jackson, MI, or at Rick's American Cafe in Ann Arbor.
Yes I do remember Marlis' 61 300G! Do you remember Georg Shearwood's 58 300D that still had the factory fuel injection? Wonder what happened to that?
As for Jerry Doll, yes I knew him. Our Carb Lab foreman indeed was Don Doll!
Howard Stoll worked as a mech in the carb lab. Had a blown alcohol flatbottom named "Wet Dream" with a MOST interesting picture painted on the foredeck, if you remember. I used to tag along with him to boat drags at places like Columbiaville reservoir, along with "the Germ" as we called Don G.
I knew Bob Love as well as Herb Pearson and Georg Gilinski.
Dennis Jerral's name rings a bell as well. Don't remember Sonny Benson, though, or the others....
Do you remember who had the hemi Superbird or Daytona 500 that put the 2.73 road gears in it and outran a Mich State Plolice car back in 68 or 69 (last year the cars were brown colored, before the U of M blue) on US23? Supposedly got the car over 160. Had to hide it for about 4 months until the buzz died down?
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Cooter done worked on my car!
