- Joined
- Apr 24, 2020
- Messages
- 1,237
- Reaction score
- 1,300
- Location
- Pittsford, NY
- My Car
- My all time favorite vehicle is our 1969 Shelby GT500
What did we do with our car today??? Where do I begin??? Actually, that may imply that I ran into difficulties, and such is not the case. The prior weekend our son got married, and he wanted to drive our 1973 Mach 1 to the wedding and reception, and later to his house. No problem, we regard it as his car anyway (inheritance plan). Unfortunately, on his way home from the reception the Right Front outer wheel bearing decided to let loose. And let loose it did. Actually, I have seen worse, but this was bad enough. Funny thing, I wa splanning to pack the bearing in both 73 Mustangs this coming week... "Missed it by that much!" (Get Smart, Don Adams).
We had Hagerty, with their Roadside Assistance policy, handle getting our Mach 1 flat bedded to our house. I was still able to get it from our driveway onto our 4 post lift, despite a very wobbly RF wheel. Once on the lift I used the hydraulic center jack to raise the front end a little more via the crossmember. Long story short, here is what Lynda and I ended up replacing over the past week spending a few hours each day until Saturday (6/18) in the late afternoon:
RF Rotor & hub
RF steering knuckle and spindle assembly
Upper ball joint (made it easier to pull the knuckle off)
Both RF wheel bearings and grease seal
Brake pads and related hardware
Then, because what I do with brakes I do in pairs we also replaced:
LF Rotor & hub
both LF wheel bearings and grease seal
Brake pads and related hardware
We then lubricated all the Zerk fittings (Tie Rod Ends, Upper & Lower Ball Jpints, Upper Control Arm Bushings). This coming week I will get it aligned due to the new steering knuckle and upper ball joint being replaced.
It was not a particularly large job. But, at my age and post-operative condition it does not take much to wear me down. Back "in the day" that would have been a one day job, assuming I had all the parts I needed on hand. In this case I ordered the parts the night it got towed to our place, and began tear down the next day. By the time the parts began to arrive (Tuesday) we were pretty well prepared for the reassembly to begin. The process went well, with the only real half-surprise was that the right outer wheel bearing's inner race pretty much welded itself to the spindle. I got the inner race off with a small bearing puller, but the spindle was already damaged. Luckily I had ordered one as soon as we had the car parked at our place, figuring I might just need it. Whew...
As we do with pretty anything we work on or tinker with, we video recorded the project. We do that so we can post little "How I Did It" videos on YouTube so folks can get an idea on how do diagnose and repair these First Generation Mustangs. It is going to take me a few days to edit, splice, and enhance the final video. Once done I will upload it to my YouTube channel (under "Gilbert Hale") on the YouTube.com site.
We did suffer some loss with the project, however. Lynda has her iPhone set up (unknown to us until it was too late) to send her various video files to the iCloud location with her Apple account. When that happens the source file is removed from her iPhone. By the time I figured out what had happened to some of the file clips, and downloaded the "missing" video clips, I ran into another challenge. Apparently the files saved to her iCloud account were "slightly" renamed. The renaming was enough to disrupt the chronological naming convention of the video files. And the file Date/Time stamps were now based on when the file was saved on iCloud, not based on when it originally was created.
Anyway, I reviewed each video file and ascertained their proper location in the sequence of events. But, it seems there are some gaps that I am not thrilled about. For instance, in one video the front disc splash shield is attached to the steering knuckle, and in another segment a little while later it has been removed with no explanation. In another segment the RF spindle is clearly shown, with the brake caliper housing tied back out of the way. Then suddenly, as if by magic the rotor is installed with no video or narration explaining some of the little info I gad shared re: the installation of the rotor, how to properly tighten and adjust the wheel bearing retaining nut on the spindle, etc. It is not that huge a deal, but it is going to be a little more choppy than I would have liked. It is not so bad that I feel inclined to do the project over again just to fill the gaps... heh heh
But, I will still post it despite the few gaps it has. I think I still covered some good info for anyone who may be interested in it.
Damn, do I have fun, or what?!? We have some nice pony cars, and I have a wife who is also a 'Mustang/Shelby Chick" and enjoys working on these cars with me (lucky me, eh?). And in this day and age we have some cool technologies that allow me to share what we are up to with other fellow enthusiasts. But there is even more! During Car Season there are still enough local car shows to help keep us busy and entertained.
Anyway, for anyone still reading this post, if you are interested in the upcoming video, or are curious about what is already on my YouTube channel here is a link I am pretty sure will take you to my channel. And for anyone not particularly interested in my YouTube channel, no harm, no foul. My feelings will not be hurt. I do the videos because it pleases me, and happens to be something some folks do appreciate having.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYzXvUaH0ph4c_O9dR9a1sw
We had Hagerty, with their Roadside Assistance policy, handle getting our Mach 1 flat bedded to our house. I was still able to get it from our driveway onto our 4 post lift, despite a very wobbly RF wheel. Once on the lift I used the hydraulic center jack to raise the front end a little more via the crossmember. Long story short, here is what Lynda and I ended up replacing over the past week spending a few hours each day until Saturday (6/18) in the late afternoon:
RF Rotor & hub
RF steering knuckle and spindle assembly
Upper ball joint (made it easier to pull the knuckle off)
Both RF wheel bearings and grease seal
Brake pads and related hardware
Then, because what I do with brakes I do in pairs we also replaced:
LF Rotor & hub
both LF wheel bearings and grease seal
Brake pads and related hardware
We then lubricated all the Zerk fittings (Tie Rod Ends, Upper & Lower Ball Jpints, Upper Control Arm Bushings). This coming week I will get it aligned due to the new steering knuckle and upper ball joint being replaced.
It was not a particularly large job. But, at my age and post-operative condition it does not take much to wear me down. Back "in the day" that would have been a one day job, assuming I had all the parts I needed on hand. In this case I ordered the parts the night it got towed to our place, and began tear down the next day. By the time the parts began to arrive (Tuesday) we were pretty well prepared for the reassembly to begin. The process went well, with the only real half-surprise was that the right outer wheel bearing's inner race pretty much welded itself to the spindle. I got the inner race off with a small bearing puller, but the spindle was already damaged. Luckily I had ordered one as soon as we had the car parked at our place, figuring I might just need it. Whew...
As we do with pretty anything we work on or tinker with, we video recorded the project. We do that so we can post little "How I Did It" videos on YouTube so folks can get an idea on how do diagnose and repair these First Generation Mustangs. It is going to take me a few days to edit, splice, and enhance the final video. Once done I will upload it to my YouTube channel (under "Gilbert Hale") on the YouTube.com site.
We did suffer some loss with the project, however. Lynda has her iPhone set up (unknown to us until it was too late) to send her various video files to the iCloud location with her Apple account. When that happens the source file is removed from her iPhone. By the time I figured out what had happened to some of the file clips, and downloaded the "missing" video clips, I ran into another challenge. Apparently the files saved to her iCloud account were "slightly" renamed. The renaming was enough to disrupt the chronological naming convention of the video files. And the file Date/Time stamps were now based on when the file was saved on iCloud, not based on when it originally was created.
Anyway, I reviewed each video file and ascertained their proper location in the sequence of events. But, it seems there are some gaps that I am not thrilled about. For instance, in one video the front disc splash shield is attached to the steering knuckle, and in another segment a little while later it has been removed with no explanation. In another segment the RF spindle is clearly shown, with the brake caliper housing tied back out of the way. Then suddenly, as if by magic the rotor is installed with no video or narration explaining some of the little info I gad shared re: the installation of the rotor, how to properly tighten and adjust the wheel bearing retaining nut on the spindle, etc. It is not that huge a deal, but it is going to be a little more choppy than I would have liked. It is not so bad that I feel inclined to do the project over again just to fill the gaps... heh heh
But, I will still post it despite the few gaps it has. I think I still covered some good info for anyone who may be interested in it.
Damn, do I have fun, or what?!? We have some nice pony cars, and I have a wife who is also a 'Mustang/Shelby Chick" and enjoys working on these cars with me (lucky me, eh?). And in this day and age we have some cool technologies that allow me to share what we are up to with other fellow enthusiasts. But there is even more! During Car Season there are still enough local car shows to help keep us busy and entertained.
Anyway, for anyone still reading this post, if you are interested in the upcoming video, or are curious about what is already on my YouTube channel here is a link I am pretty sure will take you to my channel. And for anyone not particularly interested in my YouTube channel, no harm, no foul. My feelings will not be hurt. I do the videos because it pleases me, and happens to be something some folks do appreciate having.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYzXvUaH0ph4c_O9dR9a1sw