[Tigers] Check Your Nuts

Mon Mar 10 12:37:07 MDT 2025

Jay

As the saying goes “Stuff Happens”.

Nylock nuts are generally fine.   I would say anyone with Nylock nuts should put a witness mark on them as an easy visual safety check.   Seems to me I have some Nylocks on the front suspension; I will check them and put a witness mark on them.

As with any product some are junk.   I remember installing a Nylock nut and as I tightened it down the nylon insert popped out.   I threw those Nylocks away.

Your situation is most likely OK.   I would check the torque on the nuts and put a witness mark on them.

I think the problem we have with why the nut came off is because we generally think in terms of static conditions.   Vehicles are on the move, vibrations can facilitate a nut or bolt to turn.   I’m sure there are other dynamic forces working here too but they are beyond my grade level.

Ron Fraser

From: Tigers <tigers-bounces at autox.team.net> On Behalf Of Jay Laifman
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2025 1:45 AM
To: modtiger at comcast.net
Cc: tigers at autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Tigers] Check Your Nuts

I remember a light blue Mazda Alpine.  What ever happened to it?  

I am not sure I understand how friction in the ball causes the taper to come lose.  But regardless, I think it is pretty likely my lower ball joints were sourced from Rick about 1994, and it is nyloc only.  Are you suggesting they are all an accident away?  

On Mar 9, 2025, at 7:43 PM, Tom Hall via Tigers <tigers at autox.team.net <mailto:tigers at autox.team.net> > wrote:

It's hard to believe that this is still happening.  It started when Rick at Sunbeam Specialties changed suppliers way back in the mid-eighties.  The OEM suppliers had always used castle nuts and cotter keys, but this new supplier went with the Nylock nut design. which Rick initially accepted.  My daughter had this "accident" happen in her Rotary powered Alpine, back in the 80's, a couple of blocks from home, exactly as you were, having the lower A-arm fall on the ground, and again luckily at low speed.

Rick arranged a meeting with reps for this supplier shortly after it happened.  Rick and I sat down with them and they insisted this this had never happened before and it must have been My fault.  Rick and I talked at length and they told us that they were not going to modify their product. Rick however changed his receiveal methods so that the Nylok nut was tossed and a castle nut and drilled hole were installed in his lower ball joint stock from that time until the current time.  This supplier made an acceptable ball joint but they also deleted the copper plating of the genuine OEM supplier.  What happened is that during storage after manufacturing, moisture got into the joint and started the rust process.  With only the Nylock nut, it was only a matter of time before the friction in the joint started to turn the Nylock nut and unscrew it from the taper cone. 

Conversely, the upper ball joints have also had this Nylock nut but I've never heard of anyone loosing one to this friction un-screw mechanism.  Different loading's, different results.

On Sat, Mar 8, 2025 at 2:19 PM Joe Brown <jbbrown1980 at gmail.com <mailto:jbbrown1980 at gmail.com> > wrote:

So,  I took my Tiger out yesterday for a short drive and as I was just about home (maybe a hundred yards from my driveway) the right front suspension dropped to the ground and I skidded several yards before stopping.  All I could think of was the old stories about exploding ball joints. 

I walked to my house and threw a floor jack and some jack stands in my truck and drove back to the Tiger.  I managed to get the front end jacked up and discovered that the nut on the lower ball joint was gone and the lower A arm had dropped to the road.  My suspension pieces are at least 30 years old and the ball joints were held on with nylock nuts. I managed to wrap a ratchet strap around the upper and lower A arms and I was able to slowly drive the car into my garage. 

I am very lucky that: 

1. I was going pretty slow at the time

2. The front end landed in some loose gravel on the side of the road

3. None of the body work was damaged

4.  And nothing else in the suspension looks to be damaged; just scraped up

If this had happened 5 minutes earlier I would have been doing 60 on a winding road and I would have wound up in a ditch.

So I'm ordering a new set of ball joints and I will drill them out for castle nuts so I don't have to worry about a nut working its way loose again.  

Regards,

Joe Brown

_______________________________________________

tigers at autox.team.net <mailto:tigers at autox.team.net> 

Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
Archive: http://www.team.net/pipermail/tigers http://autox.team.net/archive

Unsubscribe: http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/tigers/jay.laifman@gmail.com

 <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient> 

 <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient> <image001.jpg>

Virus-free. <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient> www.avg.com

_______________________________________________

tigers at autox.team.net <mailto:tigers at autox.team.net> 

Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
Archive: http://www.team.net/pipermail/tigers http://autox.team.net/archive

Unsubscribe: http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/tigers/christopherson2023@gmail.com

_______________________________________________

tigers at autox.team.net <mailto:tigers at autox.team.net> 

Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
Archive: http://www.team.net/pipermail/tigers http://autox.team.net/archive

Unsubscribe: http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/tigers/modtiger@comcast.net

-- 
Tom Hall
ModTiger Engineering LLC
5712 San Luis Court
Pleasanton, CA 94566
(925)462-3876
modtiger at comcast.net <mailto:modtiger at comcast.net> 
http://tigerengineering.net/ 

_______________________________________________

tigers at autox.team.net <mailto:tigers at autox.team.net> 

Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
Archive: http://www.team.net/pipermail/tigers http://autox.team.net/archive

Unsubscribe: http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/tigers/jay.laifman@gmail.com

-- 
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
www.avg.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/tigers/attachments/20250310/f9c8cf52/attachment.htm>