Dang it!! Who told you???
My Duster Adventures
- Thread starter 75slant6
- Start date
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Well, not the kind of updates that anyone wants to see...
Last night I discovered that the rearend in my ‘02 Cummins is starting to bind up, so I parked the truck and the Duster got bumped up to daily driver status. Well that’s not all around terrible. Right?
Well today I’d put about 70 miles on the Duster and was cruising along when suddenly the was a ruckus and commotion and it started riding rough. I thought maybe a u-joint let loose. As I was slowing to come to a stop, the back end of the car bounced up, then slammed down and I see the drivers rear tire rolling on the road behind me. A vehicle passes me going the other way then I see the drum roll off. Finally grind to a stop on a fairly busy two lane highway with no shoulder.
A passing vehicle stopped and the passenger jumped out to stop traffic (gotta love the south) and and an idiot in an suv, paying no attention very nearly rearended me.
Once I got out, I discovered the lugnuts that held the 5x4/5x4.5 adapter/spacer to the axle came loose, causing the spacer and wheel to come off, buggering up my quarter panel. Probably should’ve checked the torque on those lugs periodically, at least I haven’t replaced the quarter panels yet!
So now I need to chase the thread on a few of the studs and get some new lug nuts. If I had the money, now would be the time to upgrade to rear discs and bbp axles but rebuilding my truck rearend is of higher importance right now.
Anyway, here are some pics. I didn’t get any of the wheel or spacer, was more concerned with getting the wheel back on and limping it up the road a little ways to a buddy’s shop.
Last night I discovered that the rearend in my ‘02 Cummins is starting to bind up, so I parked the truck and the Duster got bumped up to daily driver status. Well that’s not all around terrible. Right?
Well today I’d put about 70 miles on the Duster and was cruising along when suddenly the was a ruckus and commotion and it started riding rough. I thought maybe a u-joint let loose. As I was slowing to come to a stop, the back end of the car bounced up, then slammed down and I see the drivers rear tire rolling on the road behind me. A vehicle passes me going the other way then I see the drum roll off. Finally grind to a stop on a fairly busy two lane highway with no shoulder.
A passing vehicle stopped and the passenger jumped out to stop traffic (gotta love the south) and and an idiot in an suv, paying no attention very nearly rearended me.
Once I got out, I discovered the lugnuts that held the 5x4/5x4.5 adapter/spacer to the axle came loose, causing the spacer and wheel to come off, buggering up my quarter panel. Probably should’ve checked the torque on those lugs periodically, at least I haven’t replaced the quarter panels yet!
So now I need to chase the thread on a few of the studs and get some new lug nuts. If I had the money, now would be the time to upgrade to rear discs and bbp axles but rebuilding my truck rearend is of higher importance right now.
Anyway, here are some pics. I didn’t get any of the wheel or spacer, was more concerned with getting the wheel back on and limping it up the road a little ways to a buddy’s shop.
Well, not the kind of updates that anyone wants to see...
Last night I discovered that the rearend in my ‘02 Cummins is starting to bind up, so I parked the truck and the Duster got bumped up to daily driver status. Well that’s not all around terrible. Right?
Well today I’d put about 70 miles on the Duster and was cruising along when suddenly the was a ruckus and commotion and it started riding rough. I thought maybe a u-joint let loose. As I was slowing to come to a stop, the back end of the car bounced up, then slammed down and I see the drivers rear tire rolling on the road behind me. A vehicle passes me going the other way then I see the drum roll off. Finally grind to a stop on a fairly busy two lane highway with no shoulder.
A passing vehicle stopped and the passenger jumped out to stop traffic (gotta love the south) and and an idiot in an suv, paying no attention very nearly rearended me.
Once I got out, I discovered the lugnuts that held the 5x4/5x4.5 adapter/spacer to the axle came loose, causing the spacer and wheel to come off, buggering up my quarter panel. Probably should’ve checked the torque on those lugs periodically, at least I haven’t replaced the quarter panels yet!
So now I need to chase the thread on a few of the studs and get some new lug nuts. If I had the money, now would be the time to upgrade to rear discs and bbp axles but rebuilding my truck rearend is of higher importance right now.
Anyway, here are some pics. I didn’t get any of the wheel or spacer, was more concerned with getting the wheel back on and limping it up the road a little ways to a buddy’s shop.
View attachment 1715348371 View attachment 1715348372
If you had put some shiney paint on the poor Duster it never would have happened!!!! LOL
Or as Forrest Gump said, right after he made his first million, :Chit happens!?" lol
No, this is exactly why I’m alright with it not being all painted up and shiny. It sucks that this happened but if I’d have the body and paint work done, I’d be pissed and sick! Lol
I had a buddy from high school driving his freshly painted nova home from the body shop, pretty orange.
A center pin on one rear spring broke and threw him over a hill, banged the car up, but he was ok.
He was sick over that for a few weeks.
He did have the car fixed and painted again.
A center pin on one rear spring broke and threw him over a hill, banged the car up, but he was ok.
He was sick over that for a few weeks.
He did have the car fixed and painted again.
At least you are ok and those around you.
That’s for sure!! I was taking some curves pretty hard earlier, had it come off then it could’ve been really bad. Also, I’m thankful that when my wheel crossed the other lane there wasn’t any oncoming traffic.
Reminds me of the old classic song
"You picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel".
With 3 missing lugnuts an crusing in 5th gear.
It was my adapter that caused much laughter when my shorts I had to peel.
You picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel.
"You picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel".
With 3 missing lugnuts an crusing in 5th gear.
It was my adapter that caused much laughter when my shorts I had to peel.
You picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel.
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Hahaha! Love it! Although I had to make a small change.
Damn That Sucks... Sorry
I do see a Menacing Honda behind the car.... scary
I do see a Menacing Honda behind the car.... scary
R4Sedan
Larry
Caleb, your telling that story. I can see people around you looking. I'm glad you are ok buddy.
Well, not much to post on here other than the fact that I got the spacer and wheel back on and tightened up with new lug nuts. I’ll pull the wheel in a few hundred miles and re-torque the spacer like I should’ve done to start with. My one muffler is completely rusted out and the exhaust is annoyingly hitting the trans crossmember so I need to clearance that and change mufflers. Also need new tires, install my QA1 UCAs and get an alignment.
What kind of mufflers would you like? I could help you out with that...
I actually just bought a pair of 2.25” jegs deep tone chambered mufflers yesterday for $40. Not sure how they’re gonna sound but gotta be better than one solid muffler and one rusted out muffler. Lol
Well, sometime during all the work I’ve been doing out in the pastures and woods, a bug must’ve crawled up my *** cause I’ve actually been doing some work on the Duster again! Lol
It all started when I FINALLY ordered new front tires. The alignment had slipped, causing excessive camber which ate up the inner edge of drivers tire and made for a not so great handling car. I ended up pulling all the wheels off since the fronts needed tires mounted and balanced, drivers rear needed rebalanced after that wheel came off the car and the passenger rear needed a hole patched!
So here was the car, sitting on blocks. Maybe I’ll storm Area 51 and put UFO tech in my Duster.
I put the rear wheels and tires back on (no pics) but left the fronts off to change out my UCA’s with QA1 UCA’s.
So this evening after I got home from work, I tore into it again.
Passenger side torn apart.
Drivers side.
Old vs New.
I would’ve gotten the new ones installed but the front arm of the QA1’s hit this tab.
Now here’s what I absolutely love about FABO. As soon as that bar hit that tab, I had a flash back to a thread I read on here once about this very issue. 30 seconds and a google search later, I found the thread again!
Can I cut here? (QA1 upper control arm issue)
I don’t currently have any cutoff wheels for my grinder or a cord at the house long enough to reach out to the Duster to cut those tabs so I called it good for this evening and I’ll see if I can’t slam it all back together tomorrow evening.
Oh, another reason I wouldn’t’ve been able to finish this evening is I believe the alignment slipped due to the lock washers being worn out. The passenger side was still pretty tight and the drivers rear cam was fairly tight, the drivers front however, wasn’t tight at all. It didn’t take any effort to get that bolt loose!!
I know they had been tight because I was there when the car was aligned and he torqued those cams GOOD when he was done. I’ll grab new lock washers tomorrow as well. Can’t wait to see how much better the handling is again after this is all done.
It all started when I FINALLY ordered new front tires. The alignment had slipped, causing excessive camber which ate up the inner edge of drivers tire and made for a not so great handling car. I ended up pulling all the wheels off since the fronts needed tires mounted and balanced, drivers rear needed rebalanced after that wheel came off the car and the passenger rear needed a hole patched!
So here was the car, sitting on blocks. Maybe I’ll storm Area 51 and put UFO tech in my Duster.
I put the rear wheels and tires back on (no pics) but left the fronts off to change out my UCA’s with QA1 UCA’s.
So this evening after I got home from work, I tore into it again.
Passenger side torn apart.
Drivers side.
Old vs New.
I would’ve gotten the new ones installed but the front arm of the QA1’s hit this tab.
Now here’s what I absolutely love about FABO. As soon as that bar hit that tab, I had a flash back to a thread I read on here once about this very issue. 30 seconds and a google search later, I found the thread again!
Can I cut here? (QA1 upper control arm issue)
I don’t currently have any cutoff wheels for my grinder or a cord at the house long enough to reach out to the Duster to cut those tabs so I called it good for this evening and I’ll see if I can’t slam it all back together tomorrow evening.
Oh, another reason I wouldn’t’ve been able to finish this evening is I believe the alignment slipped due to the lock washers being worn out. The passenger side was still pretty tight and the drivers rear cam was fairly tight, the drivers front however, wasn’t tight at all. It didn’t take any effort to get that bolt loose!!
I know they had been tight because I was there when the car was aligned and he torqued those cams GOOD when he was done. I’ll grab new lock washers tomorrow as well. Can’t wait to see how much better the handling is again after this is all done.
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Loose bolt on a front end, I can believe.
I took my car in for an alignment, and the guy after it was done said every bolt was loose.
I said to myself BS but kept my mouth shut, because I knew I tightened everything up.
But I did hear him at the alignment shop air hammering the crap out of everything.
So maybe his tight and my tight are different.
I took my car in for an alignment, and the guy after it was done said every bolt was loose.
I said to myself BS but kept my mouth shut, because I knew I tightened everything up.
But I did hear him at the alignment shop air hammering the crap out of everything.
So maybe his tight and my tight are different.
Well, I got the Duster slammed back together this evening. I just put the cam bolts in for max caster and it already drives way better. I did run into an issue though that I figured might happen. The way the QA1 control arms are designed around the ballpoint, caused the wheel lip to hit the UCA.
As you can see I ground that massive ring down enough on both arms that the the passenger wheel clears everywhere except full droop and turning either direction. The drivers side also rubs a little at ride height when turning sharp to the left. I’ll get the car aligned and see if that helps anything at all. If not, I’ll grind a little more off the UCA or the wheel or maybe at an extra 2-3mm spacer on either side to move the wheels out just a touch.
Here’s how close the drivers side is.
As you can see I ground that massive ring down enough on both arms that the the passenger wheel clears everywhere except full droop and turning either direction. The drivers side also rubs a little at ride height when turning sharp to the left. I’ll get the car aligned and see if that helps anything at all. If not, I’ll grind a little more off the UCA or the wheel or maybe at an extra 2-3mm spacer on either side to move the wheels out just a touch.
Here’s how close the drivers side is.
Got the ride height set on my Duster and did a little more fine tuning on the UCA’s with the grinder on Saturday.
Yesterday, I took a channellocks and a hammer to the buggered up lower quarter and got it about as good as I’ll be able to get it considering the damage and rust. Better than it was at least.
I was amazed at the amount of crap that fell out while I was beating on the quarter!
I dropped the car off at the alignment shop this afternoon and told the tech to just get as much caster as he can with -.5 to -.75 camber and 1/16-1/8 toe. He saw the car pull in and told another worker “I hope that’s here for an alignment! I wanna work on that!” Apparently he did a lot of work on old cars at his previous job.
I also have had an annoying clunk in the driver front wheel area every time I’d brake, so when I got to the alignment shop, I looked underneath and discovered the one caliper bracket to spindle bolt was backed out about 1/4-3/8”. I told him about it and said he can go ahead and tighten it back up while he’s right there.
Yesterday, I took a channellocks and a hammer to the buggered up lower quarter and got it about as good as I’ll be able to get it considering the damage and rust. Better than it was at least.
I was amazed at the amount of crap that fell out while I was beating on the quarter!
I dropped the car off at the alignment shop this afternoon and told the tech to just get as much caster as he can with -.5 to -.75 camber and 1/16-1/8 toe. He saw the car pull in and told another worker “I hope that’s here for an alignment! I wanna work on that!” Apparently he did a lot of work on old cars at his previous job.
I also have had an annoying clunk in the driver front wheel area every time I’d brake, so when I got to the alignment shop, I looked underneath and discovered the one caliper bracket to spindle bolt was backed out about 1/4-3/8”. I told him about it and said he can go ahead and tighten it back up while he’s right there.
Cool Duster! It has some character like my old 71 year old ***!! ha
Pull the drain plug on the inside of the rear qtr ( trunk extension) and hose it out good!!!
Pull the drain plug on the inside of the rear qtr ( trunk extension) and hose it out good!!!
Well, I took the car in Monday for an alignment. I’d told him I want as much caster as possible with -.5 to -.75 camber and 1/16”-1/8” toe in. Tuesday I called to see if it’s done and they said something wasn’t right with it. I stopped in to get it and he said he got the passenger side adjusted close enough but the drivers side wouldn’t adjust right. He gave me the printout and apparently instead of adjusting to the specs that I told him, he went closer to the computer specs! He claimed I had the lock washers in the wrong place on the cam bolts and they wouldn’t allow the cam bolt to turn properly (I put the lock washer between the cam washer and the nut, just like every single photo I’ve ever seen) he didn’t charge me anything since he wasn’t happy with how it turned out and he ran out of time. So next Tuesday I’ll take it back in and I’m gonna stay there and offer any help or input that is needed. Here’s the printout.
When I put the UCA’s on I just set the cam bolts for max caster and didn’t have a way to measure camber. The passenger side was great! 7.9* caster and -.6* camber! The drivers side was a touch off at 7.7* caster and -2.2* camber and the toe was in a total of .51”. The car drove awesome with that much caster!! Currently it’s at 0* camber on the left, +.6* on the right.
4* caster on left and 3.2* on right and apparently the new machines don’t do toe in inches anymore but in degrees...
As I said, I’m taking it back Tuesday, I want my 6+ degrees caster back!! It drives fine as is but not near as nice as it did with the 7+ degrees caster! Lol
My 02 Cummins is down with a bad lift pump so my Duster is my daily driver now. Put 100 miles on it yesterday and today
He claimed I had the lock washers in the wrong place on the cam bolts and they wouldn’t allow the cam bolt to turn properly (I put the lock washer between the cam washer and the nut, just like every single photo I’ve ever seen) he didn’t charge me anything since he wasn’t happy with how it turned out and he ran out of time. So next Tuesday I’ll take it back in and I’m gonna stay there and offer any help or input that is needed. Here’s the printout.When I put the UCA’s on I just set the cam bolts for max caster and didn’t have a way to measure camber. The passenger side was great! 7.9* caster and -.6* camber! The drivers side was a touch off at 7.7* caster and -2.2* camber and the toe was in a total of .51”. The car drove awesome with that much caster!! Currently it’s at 0* camber on the left, +.6* on the right.
4* caster on left and 3.2* on right and apparently the new machines don’t do toe in inches anymore but in degrees...
As I said, I’m taking it back Tuesday, I want my 6+ degrees caster back!! It drives fine as is but not near as nice as it did with the 7+ degrees caster! Lol
My 02 Cummins is down with a bad lift pump so my Duster is my daily driver now. Put 100 miles on it yesterday and today
Well, only thing I’ve done to my Duster since the last update was power wash it and change the initial timing from either 8 or 10 to 12-13. That changed definitely helped the power and bumped my mpg up from 11 to 13.8. I need to get a new tach and see what my timing curve actually is, I know there’s a lot more there because it’s still not great for power and I should be getting 20+ mpg with the overdrive transmission.
Anyway, other than those two things, all I’ve been doing with the car is driving it. I’ve put several hundred miles on it this past week. Sunday, we drove 60 miles to go take Christmas pics with a 46-48 Plymouth (I’ll post those later) and on the way home, I deciDe tho come home through Adams, Tn. Just as I got into Adams, I saw this row of AMAZING abandoned buildings and had to stop and take pics!
Anyway, other than those two things, all I’ve been doing with the car is driving it. I’ve put several hundred miles on it this past week. Sunday, we drove 60 miles to go take Christmas pics with a 46-48 Plymouth (I’ll post those later) and on the way home, I deciDe tho come home through Adams, Tn. Just as I got into Adams, I saw this row of AMAZING abandoned buildings and had to stop and take pics!
These photos were also taken in Adams.
R4Sedan
Larry
Nice pics Caleb.
I bet there is some good stories about those old buildings.
I got curious and googled the Robertson & Co. sign and found this.
Video: Exploring Abandoned Downtown Adams, Tennessee (Home of the Bell Witch Legend) - Catching Shadows
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