MAYCO's 1982 310 TD

[mayco]

Yup I do Peter, thank you for asking. One of the many tools I've acquired since buying the rig. I had used them before but never owned one. Used it today to torque the lugnuts.

[bobmiller1]

Pretty cool ending....It's kinda like why I like doing everything myself....It's nice that you took the time to finalize it yourself....so now you know, Regards, Bob

[mayco]

Exactly Bob. Now I know, takes away the mystery when I just go ahead and dive in.
So I called the shop this morning and talked with the fella in charge. Before I mentioned anything about having the rig aligned there just a few months ago, I asked him a few questions.."you know, those bolts are double nut, how do you suppose they got so loose?" He said he didn't have any idea. Then asked him "seems strange doesn't it, that sort of thing doesn't happen over night I suppose?" No it doesn't he said. Then I told him "well, I just had in here a few months ago for a complete alignment". Dead silence. Then he was really nice and said he would look up the invoice, so I asked him if he wanted the invoice number because I had it sitting in front of me along with the name of the tech who performed the alignment. Haven't heard back from him yet

I really don't like putting anyone on the spot, and I don't get off on "gotcha". But, Im interested in how they would like to make it right.

[mayco]

Originally Posted by PeterH-Airstreamer

my 1986 P30 shop manual calls for 190 Ft.lbs for the upper control arm bushings. Do you have a torque wrench with specs like that

No way I could get my torque wrench in there Peter. I used 7/8" box end wrench and a cheater bar, put as much as I could get on those bolts. Leverage was kinda bad but gave it all I had.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by mayco

No way I could get my torque wrench in there Peter. I used 7/8" box end wrench and a cheater bar, put as much as I could get on those bolts. Leverage was kinda bad but gave it all I had.

Mike, I sort of remember dealing with this issue when I was reassembling the front suspension on my Argosy. If I remember correctly the upper control arm needed to be hanging down. What I don't remember is whether or not they would drop far enough with the coil springs installed.

Did you have the front end off the ground when you were tightening the bolts?

Brad

[mayco]

Just the drivers side wheel Brad. I had jacked it up from under the lower control arm.....I understand what you're saying though. To get it to hang down I would need to jack it up on the frame correct? I think you're right, if it were hanging down I may be able to get a socket, with an extension, around that nut. I wasn't really sure where to jack it up from. I knew the wheel had to come off but wasn't sure about weight on the upper control arm when tightening those bolts. I'd feel better if I could get my torque wrench on it.

[mayco]

They have double nuts on each bolt, I got a lot on it with the cheater bar but leverage wasn't the best. I could get my floor jack and lift that side of the frame up and just look to see if I could get a socket on it....or is it a bad idea to put that much twist on the frame?

[bkahler]

Yep, put the jack under the front frame (saddle). Place the jack in the center of the saddle and lift. Get the wheels off the ground and put a couple of jack stands to support in this position. I would lift from the center only but then that's just my opinion. I remember what happened to my old 310 any time the frame was twisted or moved in various directions. Usually the entry door wouldn't open!

You shouldn't even need to remove the wheel as it will be hanging down. For leverage purposes you'll probably need to be laying underneath the control arm.

I can't remember if mine were double nutted, I think they just had the self locking style of nuts. You're right, it's hard to get comfortable in that area!

Hope this helps

Brad

[bobmiller1]

If you can't get to it that way, a tool like this might help, Regards, Bob

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by bobmiller1

If you can't get to it that way, a tool like this might help, Regards, BobAttachment 286940

Bob, I have open crows feet like that but I've I've never seen a boxed end version!

Great, more tools I need to look for.....

Brad

[mayco]

I have the open crows foot set also, saved my rear when installing the SuperSteer bellcranks on the passenger side. Ive never seen the box end either. Nice!

[mayco]

Originally Posted by bkahler

Yep, put the jack under the front frame (saddle). Place the jack in the center of the saddle and lift. Get the wheels off the ground and put a couple of jack stands to support in this position. I would lift from the center only but then that's just my opinion. I remember what happened to my old 310 any time the frame was twisted or moved in various directions. Usually the entry door wouldn't open!

You shouldn't even need to remove the wheel as it will be hanging down. For leverage purposes you'll probably need to be laying underneath the control arm.

I can't remember if mine were double nutted, I think they just had the self locking style of nuts. You're right, it's hard to get comfortable in that area!

Hope this helps


Brad

Thanks again Brad. What is the frame saddle? Looked it up and the pictures just show the lower control arm. I assume the "saddle" is somewhere near the center of the frame?

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by mayco

Thanks again Brad. What is the frame saddle? Looked it up and the pictures just show the lower control arm. I assume the "saddle" is somewhere near the center of the frame?

Maybe I'm the only one that calls it the saddle!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.....

[mayco]

Got ya, thanks again!

[mayco]

This morning I wanted to check the other side to make sure they were tight. So the first thing I did was drive the front wheels up on ramps. Then was able to get a jack under one side at a time and low and behold I got my torque wrench on those nuts! Yeeehaw! Feel much better. The other side was good and tight, it did not have double nuts like the drivers side. In fact, the bolts weren't long enough to get an additional nut on there so I'm not sure what's up with that.

Anyway, its tracking well and I'll keep an eye on it during the trip. Packing up today heading out tomorrow.

The saga with the shop that did the alignment back in sept got so stupid its not worth the time to repeat. I will say this, the feller I was talking to apparently missed that day in school where they teach you how to lie...he wasn't very good at it. Enough said.

Beautiful day here!

[bkahler]

Mike, the only reason I can think of for double nutting those studs was because they didn't have any of the self locking nuts. There must be a lot of shims on the one side if there is only room for a single nut. I think on my rig the stud protrudes a reasonable amount past the nut.

The self locking nuts used by GM typically were the flange style of nut. If the side with only one nut per stud has the flange style then you're probably good to go. If they are regular nuts then you might want to buy the right self locking nuts and install them.

With some people it's easy to tell when they're lying....their mouth is open


Brad

[mayco]

I think they the self locking nut Brad, thanks for the info. This is what they look like,


They are also the heavy duty nut, 7/8" hex head on a 1/2" bolt rather than the standard 3/4" nut.

[mayco]

Did you know that if you have an EXTERNAL voltage regulator and it is not properly grounded to frame that it can cause an OVER CHARGE situation......I do

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by mayco

Did you know that if you have an EXTERNAL voltage regulator and it is not properly grounded to frame that it can cause an OVER CHARGE situation......I do

Dare we ask how you found this out?

[mayco]

Just watching my gauges on the way to MO and my voltage was reading high. Our next stop I hooked my meter to my battery terminals with alligator clips and drove up to speed, Lynn kept watch on the meter and sure enough it was reading 15.4 volts at 2800rpm. When we got to the campground I googled it up and every site I looked at mentioned to check the ground to frame on the regulator housing. I wasn't too worried since I have a spare regulator on board. But sure enough, I think it's the original regulator and the mounting ears were rusted bad on the back side and so were the mounting bolts. Cleaned it all up with a small wire wheel on my rotary tool, put it back together and ran the rpms up.........yup, bad ground, reading back to normal! Now. I. Know.

Also know my voltage gauge is working well.