[Tigers] Check Your Nuts
Ken Tisdale
ktisdale at ix.netcom.com
Tue Mar 11 16:04:25 MDT 2025
Thank you for this! Explains what us wet/snowy winter drivers need to
look out for! Wash & dry with a hair dryer...
Ken
On 3/11/2025 7:19 AM, Arden Bedell wrote:
>
> 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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>>
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>>
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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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>>
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>>
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>
>
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--
Ken Tisdale 303-807-5488
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