[Tigers] Check Your Nuts
Arden Bedell
sixtysixtiger at hotmail.com
Tue Mar 11 07:19:42 MDT 2025
Here's some interesting information to consider about nylon and nyloc nuts:
https://nycoa.com/recent-news/2020/moistureinnylon
On 3/10/25 12:15 PM, Ron Fraser via Tigers wrote:
>
> Jay
>
> I’m not familiar enough with the history of your Tiger so it comes
> down to how do you feel about the Nylocks.
>
> I’m assuming they have been on for some time, have not moved and are
> probably very safe.
>
> I would check them, mark them, then regularly inspect the witness
> marks for any movement, then decide.
>
> Ron Fraser
>
> *From:* Jay Laifman <jay.laifman at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Monday, March 10, 2025 2:42 PM
> *To:* Ron Fraser <rfraser at bluefrog.com>
> *Cc:* modtiger at comcast.net; tigers at autox.team.net
> *Subject:* Re: [Tigers] Check Your Nuts
>
> Thoughts on pulling off nylocks and putting on two nuts to jam tight?
>
> On Mon, Mar 10, 2025 at 11:37 AM Ron Fraser <rfraser at bluefrog.com> wrote:
>
> 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> 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> 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
>
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>
> --
>
> Tom Hall
>
> ModTiger Engineering LLC
>
> 5712 San Luis Court
>
> Pleasanton, CA 94566
>
> (925)462-3876
>
> modtiger at comcast.net
>
> http://tigerengineering.net/
>
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>
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