Dodged a Canon Saturday!

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david_dewey
Posts: 521
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 12:42 pm
First Name: David
Last Name: Dewey
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1916 touring, 1925 runaboaut, 1926 Tudor
Location: Oroville, CA
MTFCI Number: 19936
Board Member Since: 1999

Dodged a Canon Saturday!

Post by david_dewey » Mon Sep 02, 2019 3:17 pm

Usually one says "Dodged a Bullegt, but this would have taken Linda and I out, so "cannon"
I was driving her car ('02 Honda Accord) around town, and she had asked me, "what makes it pull to the right?" Hmm, did brakes recently, but not that recent, Hmm, yes it does pull to the right, but not every time. Hmmm. The steering feels sluggish too, hmm. time for Lunch, so we pull into Carl's Jr. and I look at the tires and the power steering fluid, normal. . . Hmm. We get ready to leave and i pull out of the parking space, turn left, straighten the wheel and BANG! KLUNK! --STOPPED and the right front of the car dips a bit.
The right front wheel is askew and we obviously are NOT going anywhere in this vehicle! AAA arrives and jacks up the car, slides it onto the tow truck bed (No lift hooks anymore, I guess. There is barely enough room for folks to get around us with the truck in place, but fortunately they are not really busy. Lower A arm ball joint failed and came apart. Drive shaft pulled apart at the transmission, so we weren't causing an oil slick.
So, holiday weekend, no one is open, towed it to the tow truck company's shop where it was put inside and on a lift.
Now two things; I THINK because we were going so slowly, I don't think we damaged anything else (fender is hitting the front door though). Two--if we had been going down the highway at speed when this happened, I'm fairly certain it would have cause an immediate swing to the right and likely a roll-over. We would either not be here, or in the hospital. Whew!
Das Ball Joint & Knucle
Das Ball Joint & Knucle
Driveshaft separated
Driveshaft separated
Attachments
Sliding onto the tow truck
Sliding onto the tow truck
T'ake care,
David Dewey


Burger in Spokane
Posts: 2251
Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2019 2:05 am
First Name: Brent
Last Name: Burger
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1926 TT closed cab flatbed
Location: Spokane, Wa.
Board Member Since: 2014

Re: Dodged a Canon Saturday!

Post by Burger in Spokane » Mon Sep 02, 2019 4:11 pm

In the early 80's I worked in a restoration shop owned by a big fan of weird,
large body high performance Pontiacs. He and a friend had nearly two dozen
cars like say, a '68 Bonneville wagon, equipped with a 428HO and a 4-speed from
the factory. No predictable GTO would do. These had to be big body and weird.

A story they passed around was a local minister bought and drove a '67 Catalina
wagon, that got the 428HO/4-speed combo, along with just about anything else
a person could option on to a car that year. It was a very special-order car and
although it belonged to the church, the hotrod preacher loved this car and kept
in pristine condition. No amount of cajoling could get the church man to think
about letting it go, although they tried and tried and tried.

Then, one day it just vanished. A regular fixture all around town, it was suddenly
absent from the streets, but no one knew where it went. A few years passed and
a friend of the shop owner came to visit, and while we were all working, the friend
passed the time, haunting local wrecking yards for goodies. One afternoon he blew
is and showed off a nice 4-speed shifter set up, and upon asking where he found it,
the location of the go-fast preacher's wagon was discovered.

A trailer was hitched up and the team went off to recover the whole car before
any more parts wandered off. When they got to the yard, they found the once
pristine wagon with nary a single straight body panel and a snapped-off lower
ball joint on the passenger side. A little detective work showed that the car had
been sold to someone out on the Reservation, and at highway speed, had lost that
ball joint. The spring had forced the wheel and A-arm up and the front frame corner
made contact with the pavement, and a whole lot of mayhem ensued. The car spun
off the highway and into the woods. Not sure if anyone was killed, but the poor car
was a MESS !

The car was loaded up and hauled back to our shop, where the team did a very long
and meticulous restoration.

You got lucky !
More people are doing it today than ever before !

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Topic author
david_dewey
Posts: 521
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 12:42 pm
First Name: David
Last Name: Dewey
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1916 touring, 1925 runaboaut, 1926 Tudor
Location: Oroville, CA
MTFCI Number: 19936
Board Member Since: 1999

Re: Dodged a Canon Saturday!

Post by david_dewey » Mon Sep 02, 2019 7:36 pm

Yep,sorry to say, my collection of T stuff isn't suddenly up for sale ! :D
T'ake care,
David Dewey

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aDave
Posts: 314
Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2019 10:21 am
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Last Name: Dufault
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Location: Concord New Hampshire
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Re: Dodged a Canon Saturday!

Post by aDave » Mon Sep 02, 2019 9:31 pm

Must have been all that organ music that the Angels loved to hear, and they wanted you to remain on the planet and make more earthlings happy.


Burger in Spokane
Posts: 2251
Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2019 2:05 am
First Name: Brent
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Location: Spokane, Wa.
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Re: Dodged a Canon Saturday!

Post by Burger in Spokane » Mon Sep 02, 2019 9:50 pm

I blame/credit Russian collusion ! :roll:
More people are doing it today than ever before !

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Ruxstel24
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Location: NE Ohio
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Re: Dodged a Canon Saturday!

Post by Ruxstel24 » Tue Sep 03, 2019 2:46 am

Don't let the repair shop use a Moog ball joint.
I put one in my nephews car and it was squeaking in 2 months. Nephew bought a Honda part. The Moog joint was serrated around the press fit area and the Honda BJ would no longer fit. Had to replace the whole steering knuckle.
All because another shop replaces the axle shaft and separated the ball joint with a pickle fork, tearing the boot... :roll:

Spend the extra few bucks for a OE part. ;)
Moog quality has went downhill IMHO. :(


Wayne Sheldon
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Re: Dodged a Canon Saturday!

Post by Wayne Sheldon » Tue Sep 03, 2019 6:34 am

YOIKS!
Ya, you were lucky!

My "I got lucky" ball joint story. A bit over fifteen years ago, living in Ferndale, and commuting to San Jose (about three hundred miles each way!) for three or four days a week trying to save the family business as my dad had just passed. I was at home in Ferndale, needed to run into Eureka for an appointment (can't remember what it was, but I know it was important). Ran out of the house, jumped into the little Chevy pickup I had then, started to turn the truck around to head out, and right there, on my own paved driveway, the ball joint let loose! The little truck's right front corner dug into the asphalt, blocking my exit. So I ran into the barn, grabbed my floor jack. I had to jack it and block it first to get the chassis high enough for the floor jack to go under where it needed to be. Then jacked it up, and DROVE the truck on the wheeled floor jack into its parking place before jumping into the big Chevy Suburban and getting to my appointment on time.
When I think of all the places (cliffs without guard rails!), and the night time drives I was making every week in that little truck. Dropping the chassis in my driveway is an incredibly unlikely timing.
Maybe that is why life has treated me so badly most of the time?

I am quite pleased that you and your Linda are okay.

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Topic author
david_dewey
Posts: 521
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 12:42 pm
First Name: David
Last Name: Dewey
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1916 touring, 1925 runaboaut, 1926 Tudor
Location: Oroville, CA
MTFCI Number: 19936
Board Member Since: 1999

Re: Dodged a Canon Saturday!

Post by david_dewey » Wed Sep 04, 2019 3:53 pm

It's back together and on the road, new ball joint & axle, then I pushed down on the fender (carefully) and it went back into place.
Whew!
T'ake care,
David Dewey

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