A good night and a bad night!

[bluesfool]

I had been wanting to visit this Friday night cruise-in in Churchville, MD all spring and summer but hadn't been able to make it until this past weekend. Actually, I missed the Friday night cruise but they also held a Saturday competition which I made. Although I kept hearing something loose clunking around in the back end on the drive down, I wasn't too concerned about it and the 70mph drive down I-95 went well. They awarded trophies at the end and even though I don't go to shows for the trophies, deep down inside I kinda' wanted one anyway. After they awarded 3rd place, 2nd place, and then 1st place without calling me up, I have to admit I was disappointed, especially since there weren't all that many cars in my class (Mopar/AMC)  So I was just waiting for them to finish so I could leave (no need to be rude and start my car up to leave as they are still awarding trophies), when they called me up as the sponsor's choice award! That completely blew me away, not to mention putting a big smile on my face! There were alot of cars out there that were in excellent condition, and I'll be the first to admit the first gen. chargers aren't the typical "fan favorite", but I did allow myself a moment of pride 

My glee didn't last long however. On the drive home, that loose "clunking" sound kept getting louder so I pulled over and checked the lug nuts first. Bingo...found the problem. Not only were they loose, but I couldn't even tighten them up because the bolts actually became stripped where they go thru the axle hub (yes, drums, not discs). I lost count as to how many times I stopped so I could tighten (or at least try to) up the lugs that would take it, but I did manage to limp home without breaking anything else. After I took it apart, I found that only 3 of the 5 lugs were holding any kind of torque, and two of those were stripped as well.

So I have mixed feelings...I can either take this opportunity to replace my whole axle with something beefier, or I can just replace the axle shaft on that side. I'm not putting out a tremendous amount of horsepower so I don't really need anything spectacular. I'm open to suggestions though. Anyone have a right side 8 3/4 shaft they're not using?

[41husk]

congratulations on the win,  If I understand you the lug bolts are stripped?  I had that problem with my 67 Barracuda.  you do not need to replace the axle the lug bolts are pressed in the will come out the back just tap them with a hammer.  you can get new lug bolts at your local parts store and you just tap them in.  I would also buy new lug nuts and dont over tighten them that will strip out the holes in your wheels, (trust me).  good luck!

[BrianShaughnessy]

Cool deal.   


Nothing wrong with a sponsor's choice trophy.   I got one last week at the rib festival car show.   Then I got a warning from the sheriff patrol doing the traffic control because I had an "accidental" throttle sticking problem leaving the show         If ya get my drift 


  Yeah... you can get new studs at almost any parts store.   Shouldn't need new axles but there are new aftermarket axles that are available that are better than any 35+ year old ones that have been stressed a lot.

[cudaken]

 Bluesfool, a cheap way is have a little bigger stud installed then tack weld to help hold them. If you cannot find a axel local I can get you one.

I had one of theose good / bad day's my self. 41 Husk and I went to a car show about 50 miles from where we live. I had to leave early and Allen picked up my 3rd places award. I looking forward to the drive home, sunny day, all interstate and 2.76's gears, yeah baby.

As soon as I hit the high way the Charger started to fall on it's faces, pucking like a pi-sed of bull. Black smoke out the back, dropped to about 5 cylinders. Middel of no where and afraid to stop. Good that was a awfull drive

Was with in 2 miles of the house and she died as I made a left turn toward the home. Well at lest with in walking range. Open the hood, while cleaning the engine, I hit the choke. Want to guess what closed? Open it back up and ran great again. Son Of A Chevy.

                                           Cuda Ken

[BigBlockSam]

it not a breakdown if you make it home. getting a tow really sucks

[MoparYoungGun]

Congrats on the award !

Sorry to hear about you lug troubles. I would just get a new set of lug bolts as other members have suggested.

Me and my dad ran into a similar issue on one of our many road trips. For a while we could feel a vibration. We kept stopping and checking everything we could think of and kept coming up empty. Finally, while we were at a rest stop we decided to pop off the hub caps. The left front wheel was the culprit. 1 stud broke off with the lug still on it. Three lugs were just rolling around in the hub cap. There was only one lug nut still on the stud and was 3/4-1 turn from also coming off. We were VERY lucky.   The rest of the trip we just always made sure the four lugs were tight. Turns out he had the brakes done a couple of days before we left. The morons at Ford forgot to torque the lugs .

[mustanghater]

at least you never got lost going to a cruise. we went to one made a wrong turn and...pow were in the middle of know where.

[volk68]

Good job on getting the award...any award is an accomplishment.

I know the "bad feeling" to which you guys are referring.  I drove my Charger into work a few weeks ago to get it aligned and some other things.  It was its first road trip in 2 years.  Everything was going great driving all over town, but when I went back to work, the car seemed to be running a little rich.  No big deal, I thought.  One of the girls in our office wanted a ride in it, so I obliged her.  Got about 1/2 mile from the office when she completely flooded out    I tried clearing it out repeatedly, but no luck.  I had to walk back to work to get her Jeep for her so she could go home 

In the end, my brother came by with some tools and we threw a pair of vicegrips on the fuel line and limped it home...of course, I didn't have a single tool in the car with me   

[bluesfool]

The threads on the lug nuts and bolts are fine, it's the splines on each of the 5 holes in the axle hub that stripped out.

Thanks for making me laugh CudaKen...I've been in the same kind of predicament before too. Ticked off as anything because something expensive broke(or so you think), only to find out later it's an easy fix. Kinda makes you kick yourself for not checking everything out in the first place, but boyyyyyyy, what a relief!

Hey Brian, consider yourself lucky you got a warning. A friend of mine was leaving a car show in town a couple of weeks ago and he said all he did was tweak his tires as he was leaving. He got pulled over and he said the cop gave a disgusted look and said "how old are you?" Since my friend is 48, he thought he might actually get out of it but he didn't. Not only that, but it's a mandatory court appearance too! Plus to top it off, this guy VERY RARELY does burnouts because he is afraid he is going to break something...doesn't it figure the first time he decides to do something, he gets caught...lol

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Congrads on the trophy

Which wheel was it?  I lost my LR wheel once and so did a friend of mine.....seems to be the norm on old Mopars...always the LR

[bluesfool]

close...RR