Looking for an alignment expert

Shdwdrgn

Original poster
Member
Dec 4, 2011
589
I always torque the axle nut to 105, same as the lug nuts.
Ah thanks for that. For some reason I had it in mind that the nuts were similar to setting a timkin bearing, but that didn't make sense after seeing how everything rotates together in there.
 

Shdwdrgn

Original poster
Member
Dec 4, 2011
589
Apparently I need to pay more attention to my work. After replacing the front brakes last week and driving around all weekend, coming home from work on Monday I heard a thud followed by squealing. I couldn't see anything obviously wrong so I went ahead and drove home, where I discovered one of the main bolts that holds the entire brake assembly in place had fallen out. Found a suitable replacement at Ace, but the second bolt was also loose. In all my years of working on cars I have never had that happen -- my best guess is I simply forgot to crank down those two bolts as I put everything back together again. <bangs head on driveway>

Had some time this afternoon and got the rear shocks replaced. Good news there, they were NOT two different brands, just that one was turned around 180 degrees so the labeling looked different. Got the new Bilsteins mounted up with no trouble (and yes, I snugged the bolts with the breaker-bar :biggrin:), feels quite a lot more solid now.

The front Bilsteins have arrived but I'm still waiting on the new caps that go at the top. If they show up in time, I'll rebuild the struts next Tuesday. Then I just have to decide when I have enough ambition to replace that lower control arm.

I also received a new set of the rings that go inside the door panels around the handles. Finally figured out why the original broke on one side -- when I replaced the door panel years ago after replacing the side mirrors, I didn't get the top of the panel seated back into the channel, so the whole thing was loose. New rings are working great (so far). I also found a replacement latch for the center console on ebay and got that swapped. The lid hasn't stayed locked in many years, it's nice to see the new part was cheap and easy to replace,

Sheesh at this rate I should have a new truck soon!
 

Mooseman

Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
26,550
Ottawa, ON
I discovered one of the main bolts that holds the entire brake assembly in place had fallen out. Found a suitable replacement at Ace, but the second bolt was also loose. In all my years of working on cars I have never had that happen -- my best guess is I simply forgot to crank down those two bolts as I put everything back together again. <bangs head on driveway>
That happened to me once on my 08 Montana van. Had no idea what happened when I heard the bolt drop and brakes went soft but I was just a couple of blocks from the dealer and they found one missing bolt and the other loose. They charged something like $30 for that bolt and a couple of hours labour to replace it and retorque all the others. I can't say if I did or didn't tighten them on the last brake job. I now use either Blue or Orange Loctite when I put them on and deliberately torque them.
 
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