Snow Day in HELL
01 December 2006, 12:07 AM
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Snow Day in HELL
Tuesday afternoon whilst cruising(55 or so) on INTERSTATE 80 over Donner Summit-elevation 7400- my front right wheel decided to take leave of the my '02 BUGEYE X', Just help you understand the situation>gusting winds and blowing snow with temps in the low 20's + heavy traffic,...very hectic, All of a sudden there were scraping noises then the heavy grind as something pulled the car to the right and THEN NO BRAKES
Fishtailing and skidding I wrestled the car to the side of the road in about one kilometer'. After regaining my sanity I was towed home and me and my brother Steven tore that corner down. As we pulled the wheel out from the wheel well the axel nut fell to the ground. Funny thing is the front axels were both replaced 900 miles ago!!! So right away we called the mechanic-a good freind- and he says he did everything right. Well he did not use a NEW nut and NO torque wrench just a breaker bar, Cost of this was 900+ since it destroyed my new WILWOOD/TCE brake and the stock spindle and knuckle, Aluminum A arm and sway bar + tie rods survived as well as myself. After a good nites rest I realized how lucky I was...it was just the other day I took it up to 110!!! thank god and my lucky stars
Last edited by SekretSkwirl02; 01 December 2006 at 12:09 AM.
01 December 2006, 04:11 PM
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yes, I'm still in a bit of shock especially when I imagine the possibilties. I went to the dealer yesterday and purchased 4 NEW AXEL NUTS. These will torqued and keyed to SPEC. Damn! It could've been a very bad wreck. DAYTONA like
02 December 2006, 03:58 PM
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A real mechanic eh'? Convenience is my only excuse as we live so far out in the country that these mobile guys make sense...yesterday we assembled all the new parts and she's back on the road. Cost me personally 600$. It would have been a lot more if we had'nt found a nice low mile hub, spindle and bearing assembly for 75$. The Wilwood brake was the costly piece(s). By the way while re-installing the Driver's side AXEL NUT we found it to be backed off by about 1/4 to 1/3 turn. ie the tab was no longer in the key way!!! This has to be proof that this 'mickey mouse' mechanic failed to torque the nuts properly. Just another accident waiting to happen...maybe this time at 200kph
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02 December 2006, 07:20 PM
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Originally Posted by 911
Check all the others?
Lucky escape for you!
Lucky escape for you!
05 December 2006, 09:13 PM
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You think that's bad - my MY03 STi started to behave a bit strange at about 40,000 miles - too much travel on the brake pedal on the first push. I thought they needed bleeding so did it - not much improvement. Then started to get a strange noise up front, esp when turning. So I checked for wheel movement with it jacked up and it turned out that a front bearing and hub (because it had been doing it so long) were both knackered . . . the reason? It hadn't been torqued up when the car was assembled and the rear on the same side was also loose - was also a lucky escape! Those lazy Friday afternoons at the Subaru factory eh . . . didn't stop me buying another one though :-).
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