I am replacing the right strut rod and bushings on my 73 coupe. It's fun on the left, and went perfectly well. It is a sad story on the right. First: I removed the strut rod nut and the two nuts on the lower control arm. So far, so good. Then I removed the strut rod, replaced the bushings and put the rod back in with the new bushings. I made a brain fart mistake on the right side, and had to remove the nut and change the way they were set up. No sweat. Going back on, the lock and threads stripped.
I ordered and received a new strut rod and new locking nut from Rare Parts. I had to remove the adjusting nut from the old strut rod, since the new part didn't come with it, to put it back in the car. It came off with great difficulty. On the bench, in a vise, I start the adjusting nut, and immediately encounter undue resistance. If I keep going, I'm pretty sure I'll cut the threads up, and wind up with another stripped rod, adjusting nut, and/or locking nut. Not thanks!!
So, I get the new locking nut, just to see what's up when I thread it onto the new strut rod. It is also producing a good deal (too much, it seems) of resistance. What the Heck? I stopped, and I'm writing this and having a cold one instead right now. (the adjusting nut is a 1 1/8", the locking nut is 1") From what I can tell, the thread count is 18. Can't be certain, can't count that high. That's just what I read when I looked them up.
Anyway, should I just bull the SOB on there, put it in, install the bushings, and bull the locker on? (small metal filings be damned?) I don't think so...but what choice do I have? Is that the way these locking nuts work? I can see that if it is, taking it off more than once would not do good things for the threads. Man. I do NOT want another stripped rod. What am I missing?