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Disaster Hath Ensued!

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 10:01 pm
by Jeepbone1
Disaster hath ensued. We had EVERYTHING ready to go together on my 26 engine tonight and tragedy struck in the form of a drive plate bolt hole breaking out of the brake drum.😭 now to take it ALL back apart to find a replacement. It was the third bolt I started to tighten down and then it suddenly went loose. Just my freekin luck. It was all going so smoothly too fresh field coil, recharged magnets, new spools and screws all set darn near to perfection. Keith Helgeson add this to you book of what else could go wrong. Y'all have no idea how much I wanted this thing to run this week and it definitely would have. There's nothing like something so small to throw the proverbial wrench into things. Stay tuned.

Re: Disaster Hath Ensued!

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 10:27 pm
by Bill Anziani
Typical! so sorry to hear. Please keep us posted

Re: Disaster Hath Ensued!

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 10:43 pm
by JTT3
Murphy’s Law- Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

O’Reilly’s Corollary- Murphy was an Optimist.

Re: Disaster Hath Ensued!

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2019 10:38 am
by John Codman
Part 2 of Murphy's law - ...at the worst possible time.

Re: Disaster Hath Ensued!

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2019 10:49 am
by Tom Hicks
Nothing but time, you will get it, and it will be right.

I have a ball peen hammer with a head that tends to fly off and a cold chisel if you think it might help.

Re: Disaster Hath Ensued!

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2019 11:30 am
by Jerry VanOoteghem
Have you ever heard of Cole's Law?


It's nothing more than thinly sliced cabbage with some dressing on it.

Re: Disaster Hath Ensued!

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2019 12:54 pm
by Jim_PTC_GA
Brad I understand and empathise with your frustration. Everything and I mean everything I have done on my T this year had been 2 steps forward, 1 step backwards. It gets very tiring and sometimes you have to just back away and breath. When I hit these walls I take a break and think about how no one else is coming to fix it so I have to buckle down, disassemble and fix it.

Don't give up. Breath and just think how much expertise your accumulating.

Re: Disaster Hath Ensued!

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2019 1:03 pm
by Tom Hicks
Jim_PTC_GA wrote:
Sat Apr 13, 2019 12:54 pm
Don't give up. Breath and just think how much expertise your accumulating.
BINGO! AND at a young age!

Re: Disaster Hath Ensued!

Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 1:08 am
by Allan
On a scale of 1-10, with Admin Jeff's in-car blown transmission drum at number 10, where does your disaster rate? I know which I would rather be dealing with. I guess 'disaster' is all a matter of perspective.

Allan from down under.

Re: Disaster Hath Ensued!

Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 1:40 am
by JP_noonan
I think its pretty unfair to numerically judge someone else's bad fortune compared to other's here on the forum. The OP was upset, as we all would be about getting his T about to run and then having a problem. How about a little more compassion, and a little bit less snark.

Re: Disaster Hath Ensued!

Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 2:32 am
by Erik Barrett
It’s very common for late brake drums to be cracked in that area. In fact almost all of them are. We have built many of them with no problems but you cannot over torque the bolts. I use Loctite on the bolts and tighten them by hand to about 20 ft/lbs.

Re: Disaster Hath Ensued!

Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 2:51 am
by Erik Barrett
It’s pretty safe to say that if you are going to drive these antique cars on modern roads at speeds that are comfortable, it is likely you are going to have what we call an “event”, if the car has not been completely rebuilt with these conditions in mind. Admin Jeff is a friend of ours. This is not his first rodeo, he has experience with cars. We will be working with him to get his T back out on the road.

Re: Disaster Hath Ensued!

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 3:10 pm
by DHarrison
I have broken the drum when tightening the bolts and I believe the cause was the plate not being completely seated in the drum. I am now very careful to make sure it is seated. Very lightly start to tighten the bolts and you can you can tell it it pulls up tight with just a little rotation. If one bolt does not pull up tight as quickly as the others, back everything off and get the plate fully seated. And don’t over torque.

Re: Disaster Hath Ensued!

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 10:40 pm
by RichardG
BRAD, BEEN THERE. FURTHER TOO, LOOK AT IT IN THIS WAY, THE OLE GIRL WAS LOOKING OUT FOR --U--YOU COULD HAVE HAD IT TOGETHER FURTHER, AND STARTED IT, WHAT THEN. I KNOW THESE WORDS OF WIT, DON'T HELP MUCH,HOW EVER JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW ,THAT'S PART OF DOING THINGS, THINGS THAT MEAN SOMETHING, GOOD LUCK WITH THE REST OF THE BUILD.

Re: Disaster Hath Ensued!

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 11:00 pm
by Tom Hicks
Richard G wrote:
Mon Apr 15, 2019 10:40 pm
BRAD, BEEN THERE. FURTHER TOO, LOOK AT IT IN THIS WAY, THE OLE GIRL WAS LOOKING OUT FOR --U--YOU COULD HAVE HAD IT TOGETHER FURTHER, AND STARTED IT, WHAT THEN. I KNOW THESE WORDS OF WIT, DON'T HELP MUCH,HOW EVER JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW ,THAT'S PART OF DOING THINGS, THINGS THAT MEAN SOMETHING, GOOD LUCK WITH THE REST OF THE BUILD.
Not to worry. When he is done it will be right.

Re: Disaster Hath Ensued!

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 12:23 am
by Allan
John, that's the school teacher coming out in me. Our language has words to describe things which show matters in varying degrees. Like big, large, huge, enormous, gigantic and gargantuan, [and humungus, to delve into the vernacular] to describe the size of something. To describe the broken out bolt hole as disastrous is to go a bit far on the scale of unfortunate occurrences, leaving fewer words left to describe admin Jeff's even worse problem. Is his a catastrophe or even a cataclysm?
In the scheme of things, I would have called the broken bolt hole a setback.

My apologies if I have caused any offence.

Allan from down under.

Re: Disaster Hath Ensued!

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 2:11 am
by Wayne Sheldon
Well Allan B, If someone is going to chastise you for what you said, they may really hate me! I feel so much for Admin Jeff, he does so much for us, I had picked up on his health issues before, and I have been there, blowing something days or even hours before heading out on a planned event I was looking forward to. But on that scale of one to ten? I will say it, Jeff's problem was only maybe an eight. I have seen the aftermath of blown transmissions where even the engine block and crankshaft were not salvageable. That, might be a ten, or maybe not. Maybe a ten is breaking a front spring perch that flips the car!
I wish I was in a position right now to step in and help Jeff get his car together. Right now, I cannot. But I still feel deeply for him. I do not know Brad K other than reading a couple posts here. But I also feel for Brad. I have had more than a few things break during assembly, the race to find another spare and fix it quickly, the disappointment of another delay.
I wasn't planning to say anything here, because I really can't offer anything right now other than minor encouragement. But I thought your point was well taken, if maybe ill timed. My thought reading this thread when it first began is that although disappointing, better to break now with the engine still out, than break later after it is running, and doing major damage.
Some years ago, I had prepared a car that I had driven successfully on a few Endurance Runs and as a final check before loading onto the trailer to leave, decided to check the toe-in on the front wheels. Finding it off only an eighth inch (less than half a centimeter if I recall correctly?), I went to loosen the end clamp, and it broke! The tie rod (connecting rod to some) itself broke! Already running late, my son was afraid I would freak out about it. I replied to him "Are you kidding?! I can't believe my luck! Had I not checked it, it would have held and probably slipped through the tech inspection only to break during the Run! Maybe at speed, on a turn, who knows where and when?" Instead, it broke in my driveway. Where I had spare parts handy. A half hour later, the replacement found, cleaned up, and assembled and adjusted with fingerprints in the paint still wet, we were on our way to another enjoyable two days Endurance Run! One of the luckiest days of my life!

Re: Disaster Hath Ensued!

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 7:31 am
by Hal
Well, I see things are just as bad here on the REAL forum as they are down in the basement on the OT forum.