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Re: [Tigers] argh, the fulcrum pin - please help

To: "Tigers@Autox. Team. Net" <tigers@autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: [Tigers] argh, the fulcrum pin - please help
From: "William Lau" <mrlau@charter.net>
Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2007 09:38:22 -0500
If you go up one bolt size, you will have to increase the notch bigger 1/32
inch on each side.  I would bet that those pins vary that much on their own.
It likely will take the larger bolt already. If you are 1/16 inch from
disaster I wouldn't drive any of these cars but a stripped bolt has to be
taken care of because it can get worse fast. -- Bill --

Increasing the bolt diameter would mean you'd have to make the notch in
the fulcrum pin bigger, which would further degrade what is probably the
worst designed-in stress riser on the whole car. I had a problem with
one of the fulcrum pin nut plates on my front end - it ended up that the
internal spot welds broke and the nut plate was no longer held in place
in the crossmember. I drilled a 1/2" hole adjacent to the nut plate ,
aligned the plate with the crossmember holes (just ran a couple of 3/8 x
1" NF screws into it) and then rosette welded the nut plate back to the
crossmember and closed up the hole.

If the hole is stripped you want to do something similar. Make a new nut
plate (either out of 1 1/2" x 1/2" bar stock, drilled and threaded
3/8-24 or out of some 1 1/2 x 3/16 with grade 8 nuts welded to the
backside) and then clean up the crossmember so you can find the spot
welds holding the original nut plate on. Drill out the spot welds,
remove the old nut plate, and then screw the new nut plate into position
and weld it in place through the holes you drilled.

If that seems like too much work... Talk to Tom Hall about getting one
of his reinforced/rebuilt crossmembers. It will have none of the bad
things that Tiger front crossmembers accumulate over the ages, and if
you have to pay for the kind of rework I described above, the cost
increment won't even be that bad.

Your current situation is a disaster waiting to happen. The fulcrum pin
is a very highly stressed part of the suspension, and on your car it's
being held in by one, 1" wide strap and two 3/8" screws... I'd be leery
about backing it out of the garage, let alone taking it to an alignment
shop.
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