• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

Driving on two wheels - not recommended.

Share this page

Hi There Julian,

1st. Its always good to hear that your OK.

2nd. I agree with everyone here. Get a flatbed & have them put it in your backyard.

3rd. Take your time in taking the front end apart. List what you feel you may need for repairs. As mentioned previously; Should you decide to sell the car (Don`t, Its pretty nice looking), It surely will sell for more $$$ running as opposed to not running & any potential buyer will be thinking the worst case scenario; It had to be in a wreck! Then It "Won`t" sell or will sell for next to nothing.

There must have been a cotter pin or something that broke & let loose the nut. Whatever the reason may be; You can`t cry over spilled milk now. It does`nt appear to be a big deal.

You can always get to the sheet metal work at a later date & keep on driving your TR now.

Best Wishes,

Russ
 
OOof.

"High Pucker Country" for a bit.

Glad you're undamaged. Th' car can be dealt with. The other guys pretty much expressed what I'd say with getting it behind the gate as a "first order of business." Bits n' pieces are available to repair it, THEN evaluate the sell/keep option.
 
Julian, go to a Napa store, buy the inner and outer front wheel bearings, get a nut for the axle (might want to take it in so they can run a die over it). Put the axle back in the vertical link, install the bearings, mount the tire and drive it into your back yard. (You may still have two working hydraulic brakes, but just in case, make sure your parking brake works as that is the only brakes you may have).

Things may not fit nicely, but they should fit well enough to move the car, all with not much money spent.
 
Glad to hear you are ok.
My similar experience was when the vertical link on my TR3 broke on the interstate while doing 65 mph. As Doc so aptly put it, "high pucker country".
Once the shock and frustration wear off and the car is fixed, in time you will gain trust in the car.
 
Julian, seems like the consensus is while it was an unsettling event, your journey with your car is far from over. And while you are questioning your situation, take some solace from Dale's situation and buck up, old chap! If he can carry on in the face of Crypty, surely you can overcome this situation. :smile:
 
Julian's experience is a very sobering one to all of us LBC owners. Just yesterday I was at our club's tech session at a LBC repair shop, that offered an experienced mechanic's eye to check out our cars from above and below. I'm hoping that a problem like Julian's would be caught at such an event. I know I'll be checking out my front suspension more carefully before I commence driving my project TR6.

I'm just glad that the damage was only to the car. That being said, I hope Julian can get the car situated into his backyard. Perhaps a few weeks downtime for the "pucker factor" to subside, will lead him to put the car back together, and only than decide what to do with it. Parting with it now would be a financially foolish decision to make, IMO. However, it's his car, and his feelings on the line.... I wish him well in whatever he decides to do. He'll have plenty of support either way, from the members of this forum.
 
Many thanks again for all the words of encouragement and good sense.

My current plan is to see if I can re-attach the wheel temporarily so that I can push or drive the car into the back yard.

Here is a close-up of the stub axle. It looks to me like it has sheared, but there is still thread remaining. I guess I should order a new one from Moss, which would get here in a couple of days.

2793646544_87b4580343_b.jpg


What else might I be missing that would prevent me from temporarily mounting the wheel back on the car?

2790313795_ba2b35e551_b.jpg
 
DNK said:
What's the back half of the axle look like?
Click to expand...

What do you mean by the back half? The part inside the wheel?
 
It does look like the threads have been striped, either during the accident or at some time in the past. So it depends on whether you can get enough turns on to hold it in. In the end, you will need a new one, so the best thing to do, in my opinion would be to order a new one, the nut, and bearings. Moss has standard the stub axle listed for about $50. If they have it in stock, you can have everything in a couple of days.

You will probably need other front suspension parts, but for a small investment now, you can get it off the road for less then a tow.
 
Safety first. Simply call a towing service, lift the car from the front, have him back it into your designated spot and set it down on 2 good jack stands. You will never get it anywhere near where you want it with a dolly or rolling jack. Cost you maybe 100 bucks. Then proceed to take the front suspension apart, using your Bentley manual. Remember to use a spring compressor designed for this car (TRF, Moss, etc.). You may have to buy some used parts that are otherwise NOS, but everything is pretty much available to rebuild the front end (Both sides!) and get you back in service.
 
Wow Julian, scary stuff. I am glad that you are OK and the car could have ended up so much worse off.
I think that the repair should be reasonably simple to get the car moving and then driving again. Not sure about the bodywork, but it doesn't look too bad from the pictures.
Once you have managed to repair the car you should take the suspect parts to an expert to try and diagnose exactly what happened and why. This may at least give you peace of mind for driving the car in the future and you will also know what to check periodically.

I was just wondering, weren't you in Puerto Rico recently?!
 
He was!
I think the spirit of the Crypt sat idle until Julian was least prepared and HE STRUCK..
Hide your kids Julian! :laugh:
 
The stub axle nut is 1/2"-20 nyloc. Also uses a flat washer. Be sure to get a grade 8 nyloc. Perhaps the PO used a non-locking nut and lock washer instead.

To get things moved to your garage, you can use any 1/2-20 nut that you can find at the local hardware store.

Sometimes instead of using a torque wrench, a backyard mechanic will resort to the impact and tighten as tight as the wrench will go - in your case, perhaps this mechanic over torqued the axle and created a fracture which eventually resulted in the sheering of the axle.

You're on a learning curve and I promise that once you complete this task, you will have newfound respect for the 6 and your abilities. You CAN do this.
 
NickMorgan said:
I was just wondering, weren't you in Puerto Rico recently?!
Click to expand...
It would appear Julian didn't get the proper immunizations prior to going to Puerto Rico! Cryptococcus Pedrominges is at epidemic levels down there!

Julian, when we suggested you drive the wheels off, that's just a figure of speech!

Good luck getting back on the road!
 
Here are some more photos of the damage:

Front wing:

https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3265/2792895021_e0308cef34_o.jpg

https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3015/2792899345_582240962b_o.jpg

Rear of vertical member

https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3059/2793745352_b85db78a6d_o.jpg

Engine compartment: for some reason the battery came out of its retaining strap, and the negative terminal detached. I wondered why the engine had stopped.

https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3075/2793748020_abc7902a35_o.jpg

Here's a shot of the front of the car: you can see the RH wheel is at a crooked angle (probably damage when I hit the tall curb). One piece of good news is that the bonnet/hood is in fact alright.

https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3216/2793747550_f522066413_o.jpg

General view of the wheel arch:

https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3021/2792898989_2dc6b9b44f_o.jpg
 
Pardon me for being so brash.

jjbunn said:
My insurance doesn't cover mechanical failure like this, unfortunately (actually, with the deductible and increase in premiums with a claim, I don't think I'd be better off if it did.)

I think I'm going to have to sell it as-is at a loss: I don't see much viable alternative.
Click to expand...

Who IS your Insurance carrier?
 
I'm just finishing the front stub axle installation in our TR3, so I may be all wet if the TR6 is different, but doesn't it look like the hub actually sheared in two? It looks like part of the hub is attached to the wheel and part to the suspension. Am I all wet?
 
I don't know. Looking at the Moss diagram:

TRS-029.gif


and comparing with my photos, the hub (60) is attached to the wheel, and the mounting plate (30) is still attached to the car. What I appear to be missing is the inner bearings (58,55) and the locknut for the end of the stub axle (51,52). Plus the brake caliper and shield etc (but I'm not looking into that yet).
 
I doubt that it hurt the hub. I think if it were me, I would replace the trunniom no matter how it looks, and I think I would pay to have the vertical link magnafluxed very carefully. Same with the adaptor that the caliper bolts to. Better safe than sorry.
 
Back
Top