• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Stuck Cross Tube Lock Nuts

Share this page

W

wlivesey

Senior Member
Offline
I am in the process of aligning the front end on my BT7. The distance between the rear of the wheels and the front of the wheels is over one inch (it is supposed to be 1/8-1/4 inches). No wonder my tires have been wearing so badly!
I was doing fine until I tied to loosen the lock nuts on the cross tube. I can't budge those suckers! Does anyone have any suggestions...Should I be able to loosen them without any disassembly? I assume they loosen if I turn them counter clockwise...Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Bill L
BT7
 
One end has left hand thread, the other has right hand thread. This allows you to change the length of the rod by simply turning the center portion of the rod.I suggest cleaning any exposed thread with a wire brush to see which way you need to turn the nut to loosen it.
hammer.gif
sky
 
Thanks for the response, Sky. I finally got the lock nuts off by using a "crow's foot" wrench which allowed me to get pleny of torque on it. The front end alignmeeent spec calls for about 1/8" difference between the front and rear measurements. After many many adjustments, I got it down to 3/8" difference. I hope that will be OK. Thanks again...
 
Bill,
Wow -- something must have really been out of whack to have it 1" out. 3/8 is still a lot. I think that you will have better handling & less tire wear if you can reduce it to 1/8.
D
 
how did you lock the cross tube in order to free up gthe locking nut? Did you use vice grips or did yiou find a way to lock the tie rod ends?
 
You replied to a post last added to in 2003. Hard to believe the Forum has been theiving for so long. I know Dave Russel is no longer with us, not sure about the OP.

BTW, a bit of heat and soaking in penetrant works well if you are twisting in the correct direction.
 
roscoe said:
You replied to a post last added to in 2003. Hard to believe the Forum has been theiving for so long. I know Dave Russel is no longer with us, not sure about the OP.

BTW, a bit of heat and soaking in penetrant works well if you are twisting in the correct direction.
Click to expand...
I believe the lock nut on the right side is right-hand thread and left-hand thread on the left side. A 7/8" crow's foot with an extension and breaker bar should do the trick.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. I finally heated the crap out of it and it finally broke free. It had been soaking in penetrating oil overnight as well.
 
How do you measure the back of the tires? I can measure the front but am having trouble measuring the back. Too much stuff in the way. Is there a good reference point to use that is the same on both sides?
 
Methods I have used:

Drop a plumb bob from a center tread of the tire in front and rear, mark floor where plumb bob touches, roll car out of the way, measure the distance between marks.

Alternative: use a framing square against the outside of the tire at the front and rear, mark floor, roll car out of the way, measure distance between marks.
 
Ok I can try that but my car is on a lift and not much room to be rolling the car out of the way to do the measurements. I was hoping for something on the frame that is the same on both sides that I could use as a reference point to measure from the inside of the front and rear of the tire to at least get close.
 
You have to have the full weight of the car on the suspension and the car at normal ride height or you will not have real numbers. When the suspension is at full drop the alignment is waaay different. Putting the wooden 2" blocks under the rear side of the upper a-arms will get you close but not necessarily correct. BTW, you also need to roll the car a bit before taking any measurements so all the suspension rubber bushings have a chance to settle into their normal positions.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top