One more story:
In about '89 Dennis Thoney was coming to the Roadster meet at the Glen
cruising probably at his usual 75-80 up Rte 17 at night. He felt a slight
vibration and a moment or 2 later saw in his lights a wheel and axle pass
him by. It didn't sink in to him that there was a possibility that it may
have been his untill he slowed a little and the car sank and rolled on the
drum. He did find the axle and wheel about a 1/4 mile up the road. He also
made it to the Glen but in a different car - a real trooper.
Remember to always replace your collars!!!!!
I hope Dennis isn't embarrased, but at the time we all laughed hysterically
when he told us the story.
Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Hollands" <bholland@hayes.ds.adp.com>
To: "Datsun Roadster Mailing list" <datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net>
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2001 12:52 PM
Subject: RE: The day the wheel fell off and other stories
> And I thought that had only happened to me - Story Below
>
> I'm heading back from a children's museum that I was doing some volunteer
> work for as part of my high school graduation requirements when I feel
what
> I thought was a rear tire going down. For the SEROCers this happened on
> I-59 at the S curves where 59 meets I-20 just north of the airport in
B'ham.
> Almost immediately I get this horrendous vibration that really startled
me.
> It probably only took about a 1/2 second to realize the left rear was
coming
> off the car - at 65 mph in the middle of three lanes. There was a guy in
> some old domestic sled coming up from behind on the right but I didn't
have
> time to let him pass so I cut over to the shoulder and as I did, the left
> rear made it's move. The car dropped on to the brake drum while I watched
> the tire bounce around directly behind in the mirror. It landed I the
> shoulder about 100 feet behind where I came to a stop. I'd suffered some
> minor body damage and a flat spotted brake drum. So much for those
aluminum
> fins. One day I'll replace that one.
>
> Turns out that the clowns who had mounted my new set of Dunlop's and had
> talked me into new lug nuts figured that all Datsun's have metric wheel
> studs so they managed to find a metric stud that would thread and take a
> little torque. These loosened and came off. The next dilemma was that I
> only carried a small bottle jack with me and since the leaf spring was way
> too close to the ground to get the jack under it I had to jack it on the
> rear frame member. The bottle jack didn't have enough extension to raise
> the hub far enough off of the ground to get the spare wheel on. What now?
> A pair of cops drove past but didn't acknowledge me. Finally this huge
> black guy (had to be 6'5" 250lbs) in a county truck stops. I tell him
what
> happened and he says he's got a jack in the back of his Suburban. It
looks
> like an Abbot and Costello routine as he's tossing all sorts of crap
around
> in the back of the truck. He comes back and says "I can't find the
jack...
> It's a little car. Why don't we just pick it up." He then proceeds to
grab
> hold of the rear bumper and dead lift the car thigh high. I quickly
> compressed the jack and stuck it under another spot at which I could get
it
> high enough to put the spare on. I shook the man's hand and headed home
> stopping several times to check the other lugs as I kept feeling the
wheels
> get loose (they weren't - I was paranoid).
>
> Brian
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