HMBCUDA
Well-Known Member
Actually, not so fun, so thought i'd share what i discovered yesterday & today...
that dimple is/was Plymouth's "lock-tight" I assume they assembled the inner plastic grill to the chrome inner grills "studs" then had some sort of press that smacked/squished the nut (opposite sides)on to the stud so they would not come loose. Definitely worked, that's for sure!
some have a rectangle dent.
I decided to try to get them off...thinking they were just corroded on, soaking in penetrating oil did nothing. so next step, I heated to red hot then dunked in ice water...that worked, but they were still hard to get off. that's when I noticed they seemed squished a bit...thought i was seeing things at first...So next tried to screw them on my new stainless studs...no go...OK, no problem, picked up a 8/32" tap to clean the threads.
Ha! Good old USA Steel...dam things must be hardened...go figure...
took three taps to make the 20 nuts usable...
View attachment 1715223141
that dimple is/was Plymouth's "lock-tight" I assume they assembled the inner plastic grill to the chrome inner grills "studs" then had some sort of press that smacked/squished the nut (opposite sides)on to the stud so they would not come loose. Definitely worked, that's for sure!
I decided to try to get them off...thinking they were just corroded on, soaking in penetrating oil did nothing. so next step, I heated to red hot then dunked in ice water...that worked, but they were still hard to get off. that's when I noticed they seemed squished a bit...thought i was seeing things at first...So next tried to screw them on my new stainless studs...no go...OK, no problem, picked up a 8/32" tap to clean the threads.
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