I take a wrong exit with no reentry for my direction on the way to the Mobtown Grease Ball show this morning so I have to go back an exit. Tooling along when I hear a big bang and a heavy clank as something steel hits my front fender. I look in the mirror and something is spinning in the street. I pulled off the road onto the shoulder, a quick glance under the front and the tires are still in the right place so I walk back to see what it was. This is what I find...it's the shank from my spring perch! I'm walking back toward the truck when a guy pulls off to see if he can help. I'm pretty sure I'll need a rollback to tow it home. He says I have a car trailer right down the street but no wench to get the truck on. I said it'll drive on the trailer but that's as far as I want to go. He said I'll be back in 20 minutes. I'm waiting for a guy that I just met to go home to get his trailer and tow my hotrod 40 miles back to my house when an old lady in a mini van pulls over too! I'm thinking...lady I could be an axe murderer! He already said I don't want any money before he went for the trailer. Sure enough he's back in a half hour and we load it up and he pulls my hotrod home...about 40 miles one way. I gave him 40 bucks to take his wife to dinner.(all that I had on me) He didn't want to take it but it had to have saved me a 100 bucks. If I hadn't taken the wrong exit with no reentry it probably would have snapped at 70 MPH on the bridge and I would never have met one of the nicest guys in Bal'mer. We talked about what goes around comes around as we rode. He said years ago he blew a tire and a black gentleman stopped and GAVE him a tire so he could get his family home. I think I've done a lot for other people over the years. Today it was just time for me to get a big favor from a stranger. Don't get too cynical, there are still a lot of awfully nice people in this world. I asked him what king of cars was he into? He said I'm not into cars. He was into paint ball and had his trailer to tow his Geo Metro paint ball tank around. I was thinking a Geo with a tank of paint? No it was a tank, as in Sherman tank complete with a revolving turret on top to shoot paint balls from Just another hotrod story that I will always remember. The ***** is that the bolt put Mt. Washington sticking up in my beautiful original front fender.
Cool story about the helper....but, why/where did the perch bolt break? Did it snap off right at the start of the taper? and seeing what i think is a lot of extra threads below the nut, was it aftermarket? and did it have shock mounts on it?
I'll be damned...ya can't even begin to get one of those things out when ya want it out. And yes, there still are a few really GOOD folks out there. Today was kinda your "lucky" day in more ways than one. DD
First of all, glad you're OK with nobody hurt. Sorry about the dented fender though. Like you said, lucky you got off there and not have it break at higher speeds. I'm a big believer in the "what comes around, goes around" thing myself. Try to help whenever I can and hope when Anne or I need help, it will come.
That don't look right To me, parts do not break for no apparent reason. I could be real wrong, but it looks like the unthreaded part of the shank was too long, and the nut tightened up at the end of the threads rather than pulling down the perch taper tight enough. It may have felt tight when installed, but if the perch head/taper was flexing for years, it could explain that break.
Those are the people that make your jaw drop.... Just when you think the world stinks, someone comes along and lifts you up. You met a man today that will never be on the evening news. The TV public aren't interested in people like him...their loss. We become jaded when all we see are the thieves, white collar criminals and losers. We need to remember people like this man as they are the true backbone of humanity, not the Lindsay Lohans, murdering gang members or jailed politicians. Character and decency count. Maybe not to anyone else, but they count to me when I go to bed each night.
Sorry.for the problem. Glad you're OK. REALLY happy to hear about the good Karma coming back to you! Missed you @ the show....
Dent in the fender? Leave it there. It'll remind you of the good folks in the world... and for those who ask about it, you have a story....
Wow, what a story, geo metro paintball tank!? Sorry to hear that perch broke, I've never seen another break like that. Was it an original or aftermarket?
Mazooma1 knows the secret that your helper knows. I read once that you should try to do something nice for someone every day in a way so nobody knows who did it. You will be surprised at how good it makes you feel inside to do good things with no hope of public recognition for it.
That's why I wanted to post my adventure. It was as much about him as it was my broken perch. I put it in the garage and went inside to order a replacement. I didn't build the truck so I don't know where it came from. I suspect it's one of the stainless steel ones. It's the only thing shiny besides the stainless shackles. I say that because it looks like the original style beveled castle nut (no lower shock mount) striped all the threads off of the shank. I think some of this is improper ***embly. Notice that there are no threads showing above the castle nut either. I know everybody likes to scream ****** murder at the manufacturers but I'm thinking someone used an impact to run the nut up stripping the threads and bottoming out the nut. If that is the case then that is not the manufacturers fault. I'll let you know when I get the unbroken side apart. At first glance it looks like there was a crack where the bevel starts with a shiny new break where it snapped completely off today. It was impossible to see the crack because it was buried inside the radius rod. It still has grease on it from when it was installed. I have no idea how long it's been since it was ***embled. I ordered the forged steel hotrod perch from Speedway. They advertise it to be forged. I'll be sure to check the depths before it gets cinched up. These were made to use with their lower shock mounts. My truck still has the original wishbone which can complicate things. I'll let you all know what I find. He's into it as much as we are into hotrodding... I guess he towed it to other states with his trailer for war games. I was trying to picture a Geo with a big tank of paint in the back. Doh!
X2 on that Let the story be heard maybe it will inspire someone else to do something good for another person. Story makes me want to do a good deed
The perches on my track T are speedway's. 32 axle and bones. no lower shock mounts on perches. I had more threads cut on the perches at a machine shop so they would tighten up correctly, then cut the too long bottoms off. This should work in your case too.
wow. lucky.. some people would have just turned up the radio and kept rolling.. glad you didnt.. sorry for your fenders battle scar. what a story.. I also would LOVE to see this dudes tank!
What I found. Some crazy stuff going on here. The stainless shackle was so frozen into the poly bushings that I had to apply CRC, put the nut back on to protect the threads and then drive the shackle pin out with a ball peen! I've put a number of these together and I never would have thought that they would or could freeze up like it did. I had to use the pliers to get it to move around the pin. No burrs or scores inside. Once it was free I could put it back together. As you can see the pin in the spring came right out. Weird! This is not the reason that the perch broke but it sure is strange. I did not ***emble this front end but from now on the shackle pins will get some grease before final ***embly. I'd suggest that others do the same. I believe it's a stainless perch. I had to scar it up with the vice to get the shackle pin out with no signs of flaking chrome. I don't know if this grade of stainless is magnetic or not. I didn't have a magnet handy to check it. I ordered a forged steel set to replace them. I'll make sure everything fits right. I know that if I was reading this I'd probably be leery of what I'm reading here but this is what happened and what I found.
Glad there's still nice people out there.. I ran out of gas about a month ago (testing the limits of the letter E w/ a big block Olds is not a good idea...) I was sittin' on the side of the road in south omaha, no money in my wallet and an uncashed pay check.. woot!... 3 cops a state patrol car and a sheriff drove by and didn't stop... Then a little honda sputters over to the side of the road and a mexican guy hops out.. didn't speak english too well but he knew somethin' was up and that my car was "bonita!"... I told him I ran out of gas but didn't have any $$ and just needed to use a phone to call my ol' man.. He says he'll help me out he goes in the back of his car pulls out a tow strap and takes me to the nearest gas station (couple blocks away).. and tells me he'll throw some gas in my car.. he comes out of the station and tells me to start pumpin'.... until it was full... ($45 worth about).. didn't expect that, I thanked him asked him for his adress so I could pay him back, he just sayed it wasn't a problem and to have a nice night.. I owe that guy a beer or two...
Looks like it sheared off from the leverage the spring shackle has put on it over the years. Stainless is softer than forged steel.
Indeed well put! The the media puts a spotlight on the ***es of society, leaving stories like this to be spread by word of mouth only. It's the "Screw you, whats in it for me?" mindset. Shame...I have met some great people over the past few years that deserve public recognition for the things they do on a daily basis...instead they get robbed. Kudos to the gentleman with a paintball tank, and thanks for sharing this story.
^ exactly what I was thinking. Glad to hear this story, proof that there are a few good people left in this world. Thanks for sharing your story, and sorry about your car.
I've been told that stainless parts and carbon steel parts don't live well together. Told to use plenty of anti-seize compound between the two.
The Jalopy Journal
