rmvivas
New member
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- Location
- Columbia County, NY
Not a good day.
Picked up a larger battery to replace the small automobile one in the M37 (which I need to come with a name for). Since there was already a NAPA Commercial #7327 battery in there, I got a duplicate so this way they will be evenly matched and hopefully start a little easier when it's cold out.
Today however was not a cold day. In fact it was pretty darn good! I should have taken my motorcycle out but instead thought I would go see my mechanic and show him my new hobby.
He liked it. A lot. A real lot. I don't think that was a wrench in his pocket; I think he -really- liked it. I am convinced that I could have gotten a very nice motorcycle in trade.
Anyway, I'm tooling home when I hear a loud -PING- like change falling from one's pocket. At the same time I hear something dragging under the vehicle and the steering starts acting like Ted Kennedy crossing a Chappaquiddick bridge.
I pull over and notice that both front wheels are cocked out at opposing angles. Not good.
I believe the technical description is thus: The castle nut on the right tie rod end ball stud came off and the tie rod dropped down, allowing the front right tire to go off at weird angles.
After trying unsuccessfully to find the nut in the roadway (or as Household6 observed "One nut in the road looking for another nut") and having no joy finding the right sized one at a nearby service station, I did the old Adapt, Overcome, Improvise.
I didn't have my usual bag of tricks in this vehicle but I did have some cable ties. I cable tied the tie rod into position and drove very slowly to NAPA.
NAPA didn't have what I needed either, but they did have enough stuff to get me home. I slid the tie rod back into position. The rod end ball stud was protruding through the steering knuckle flange as it was supposed to, but I had no nut to secure it with. Instead I layered up a bunch of fender washers up to the height of the hole in the rode end ball stud where the cotter pin would go and then drove a cotter pin through there and managed to get home.
In looking over TM9-2320-212-20 on page 2-133 illustration 2-134 I see that while I still have the rod end ball stud (whose threads I may need to clean up), I am missing the following: seal retainer, dust seal, seal retainer and seal spring.
So it looks like my first "get my hands greasy" project will be to replace/repair the right tie rod end. Is this a feasible 'starting out' sort of thing? Also, as long as I am doing the right one, do I want to do the left one? Any recommendations on where to go for parts?
Picked up a larger battery to replace the small automobile one in the M37 (which I need to come with a name for). Since there was already a NAPA Commercial #7327 battery in there, I got a duplicate so this way they will be evenly matched and hopefully start a little easier when it's cold out.
Today however was not a cold day. In fact it was pretty darn good! I should have taken my motorcycle out but instead thought I would go see my mechanic and show him my new hobby.
He liked it. A lot. A real lot. I don't think that was a wrench in his pocket; I think he -really- liked it. I am convinced that I could have gotten a very nice motorcycle in trade.
Anyway, I'm tooling home when I hear a loud -PING- like change falling from one's pocket. At the same time I hear something dragging under the vehicle and the steering starts acting like Ted Kennedy crossing a Chappaquiddick bridge.
I pull over and notice that both front wheels are cocked out at opposing angles. Not good.
I believe the technical description is thus: The castle nut on the right tie rod end ball stud came off and the tie rod dropped down, allowing the front right tire to go off at weird angles.
After trying unsuccessfully to find the nut in the roadway (or as Household6 observed "One nut in the road looking for another nut") and having no joy finding the right sized one at a nearby service station, I did the old Adapt, Overcome, Improvise.
I didn't have my usual bag of tricks in this vehicle but I did have some cable ties. I cable tied the tie rod into position and drove very slowly to NAPA.
NAPA didn't have what I needed either, but they did have enough stuff to get me home. I slid the tie rod back into position. The rod end ball stud was protruding through the steering knuckle flange as it was supposed to, but I had no nut to secure it with. Instead I layered up a bunch of fender washers up to the height of the hole in the rode end ball stud where the cotter pin would go and then drove a cotter pin through there and managed to get home.
In looking over TM9-2320-212-20 on page 2-133 illustration 2-134 I see that while I still have the rod end ball stud (whose threads I may need to clean up), I am missing the following: seal retainer, dust seal, seal retainer and seal spring.
So it looks like my first "get my hands greasy" project will be to replace/repair the right tie rod end. Is this a feasible 'starting out' sort of thing? Also, as long as I am doing the right one, do I want to do the left one? Any recommendations on where to go for parts?
