Today, Robin I gave the Galaxie a good bath. It really hasn't gone anywhere since last year, so it's about time.
Incidentally, the Woodward Dream Cruise in in two days, so we're ready.
We cruised our local A&W root beer drive-in, had all our favorite foods there then decided to head toward Woodward. Man, it's been alive all week with classic cars, muscle cars and cops crawling everywhere.
The car looks great, it starts at the flick of the key, the Y-block runs nicely with no heat issues, the COM shifts in all three gears like it should, power disk brakes are phenomenal, the power rack and pinion steering really pays off in those drive-in restaurants and the Ford electric fan/alternator that Ray sent me from his Texas bone yard kicks @$$!
Ok, so we did a few miles on Woodward, cruised through downtown Royal Oak then headed home. Weather is gorgeous and our windows are down when about 1/4 mile from the house Robin says, "I hear a high pitched squeaking noise coming from the RH rear wheel area.
I'm running Cragar SS mags and new 15" meats so, I'm not too concerned. I'll check it in three blocks, when we get home.
We got three houses from our driveway when the rear tire started violently jumping up and down. I could barely pull to the curb for fear of doing major damage. This doesn't feel anything like a flat.
I got out and looked... The tire and wheel were ok but ALL of the lug studs were sheared OFF except ONE! I couldn't believe my eyes. This could have been a very serious and expensive disaster.
Remember those Granada spindles I put on the '55? I still have the original spindles and drums, so I hammered the studs out. They're exactly the same 1/2"-20 size as the ones on the '59.
What a sight... Robin & I wheeled the floor jack, carried a jack stand, a short three pound sledge (I call Percy), and a cross-iron down the sidewalk passed three of our neighbors' houses. The car was sitting cocked and kinda parked with the rear end sticking out in the street, away from the curb. That gave me room to work.
I used to be good at this work but now it kicks my butt. I got the drum off and the broken studs out. Then I started cranking on the 'new' studs with the cross-iron to press them in. I thought I'd die, and had to take this task in small steps with 'breaks' in between each stud. Finally, puff-puff, eureka... success!
It was two o'clock in the morning when I finished wrenching on this car using a flashlight. I pulled the spare out of the trunk and put it on. Two minutes later, it was on the ground, FLAT. Hey, I don't care. I'm only going three doors down to my house and this is a junk bias-ply tire. The rim is nothing special and cannot be used for disk brakes.
I stored the wheels and tires in the garage from when we bought the car. I bought the Cragar SS mags with new radial tires as a set. In the morning, I'll put one of the old tires on and grab another for the trunk spare.
Now, I can exhale and count my blessings because there are many. For anyone else, this would have cost plenty in so many ways. Thank God nobody got hurt and there was no property damage. Thank God I was close to home when Robin flagged out a problem so I could slow down in time. Thank God I had no towing bill, I had good parts, good tools, and good tee shirt weather. From what I can see, this will cost me a bag of Cragar SS lug nuts and washers. Also... Thank God I found out the spare tire was no good. It was pumped up when I put it on, but went flat in two minutes. We could have been out in Timbuktu or on the expressway with a car full of family when all this happed.
I didn't take any pictures but I saved the broken stud nubs. One of them had rust in the middle of the diameter, indicating it had a fatigue crack and water had been there long enough for rust to develop. The other three were just sheared off clean, flush with the drum. - Dave
Incidentally, the Woodward Dream Cruise in in two days, so we're ready.
We cruised our local A&W root beer drive-in, had all our favorite foods there then decided to head toward Woodward. Man, it's been alive all week with classic cars, muscle cars and cops crawling everywhere.
The car looks great, it starts at the flick of the key, the Y-block runs nicely with no heat issues, the COM shifts in all three gears like it should, power disk brakes are phenomenal, the power rack and pinion steering really pays off in those drive-in restaurants and the Ford electric fan/alternator that Ray sent me from his Texas bone yard kicks @$$!
Ok, so we did a few miles on Woodward, cruised through downtown Royal Oak then headed home. Weather is gorgeous and our windows are down when about 1/4 mile from the house Robin says, "I hear a high pitched squeaking noise coming from the RH rear wheel area.
I'm running Cragar SS mags and new 15" meats so, I'm not too concerned. I'll check it in three blocks, when we get home.
We got three houses from our driveway when the rear tire started violently jumping up and down. I could barely pull to the curb for fear of doing major damage. This doesn't feel anything like a flat.
I got out and looked... The tire and wheel were ok but ALL of the lug studs were sheared OFF except ONE! I couldn't believe my eyes. This could have been a very serious and expensive disaster.
Remember those Granada spindles I put on the '55? I still have the original spindles and drums, so I hammered the studs out. They're exactly the same 1/2"-20 size as the ones on the '59.
What a sight... Robin & I wheeled the floor jack, carried a jack stand, a short three pound sledge (I call Percy), and a cross-iron down the sidewalk passed three of our neighbors' houses. The car was sitting cocked and kinda parked with the rear end sticking out in the street, away from the curb. That gave me room to work.
I used to be good at this work but now it kicks my butt. I got the drum off and the broken studs out. Then I started cranking on the 'new' studs with the cross-iron to press them in. I thought I'd die, and had to take this task in small steps with 'breaks' in between each stud. Finally, puff-puff, eureka... success!
It was two o'clock in the morning when I finished wrenching on this car using a flashlight. I pulled the spare out of the trunk and put it on. Two minutes later, it was on the ground, FLAT. Hey, I don't care. I'm only going three doors down to my house and this is a junk bias-ply tire. The rim is nothing special and cannot be used for disk brakes.
I stored the wheels and tires in the garage from when we bought the car. I bought the Cragar SS mags with new radial tires as a set. In the morning, I'll put one of the old tires on and grab another for the trunk spare.
Now, I can exhale and count my blessings because there are many. For anyone else, this would have cost plenty in so many ways. Thank God nobody got hurt and there was no property damage. Thank God I was close to home when Robin flagged out a problem so I could slow down in time. Thank God I had no towing bill, I had good parts, good tools, and good tee shirt weather. From what I can see, this will cost me a bag of Cragar SS lug nuts and washers. Also... Thank God I found out the spare tire was no good. It was pumped up when I put it on, but went flat in two minutes. We could have been out in Timbuktu or on the expressway with a car full of family when all this happed.
I didn't take any pictures but I saved the broken stud nubs. One of them had rust in the middle of the diameter, indicating it had a fatigue crack and water had been there long enough for rust to develop. The other three were just sheared off clean, flush with the drum. - Dave
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