Hi Folks,
Long time lurker, first time posting.... after seeing a couple of post's
the past couple of days thought I would share this with y'all...
went up to Lake Tahoe to Open Roads 07 hosted by Golden Gate
Austin Healey club, the only Tiger there! , 100+ mile road rally/tour on
Saturday, small but adequate autocross Sat. afternoon, then the show and
shine
on Sunday am... the Tiger won best of class for "other British marques"..
of course, all Brit car owners love Tigers... my wife and I pack up the car,
say our
good-bye's , put her in gear, release the clutch and BANG !!! the front end
(drivers side)
falls flat to the ground!!! Seems I spun the nut off the lower ball joint at
some point during
the rally on Saturday... and thank God that it didn't happen climbing some of
the passes at
elevation on very narrow two lane roads with no guard rails and possibly
causing much more
damage to the car, and severely injuring my wife and I... well the Healey
guys are a great bunch,
much like us Tiger folk, and they got me back running again within an hour..
Anyway, the point I want to make is: do yourselves a favor, and check your
lower ball joints...
if you DO NOT have the castle-nut with a cotter pin in place, and have the
plastic--nut type, GET RID OF THEM !!!
After speaking to Tom Hall this past weekend at Tigers United, there have been
other cases of these type
of ball joints mal-functioning, and I dread to think of what could have
happened to us if we were at speed!!!
Luckily, my damage is only body work (about $2000) and I am able to drive
it... remember.. these are 40 year
old vehicles and they like to be tinkered and pampered with, to keep them
running..
regards, Mike Rapoza
_______________________________________________
Tigers@autox.team.net
http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/tigers
|