Almost bought the farm tonight!!!

I worked on Don's T for him today. I tightened up some play in his steering box and dialed in a couple more degrees of caster to his front end. Just before we left for Daytona two weeks ago, we installed a brand new chrome pitman steering arm on the Flaming River steering box. Bought it from Speedway and they get them from Total Performance.

Took the car out for a test ride and as I am driving along at about 35 on a 6 lane street I sped up a little so I could move from the slow lane to the left turning lane so I could go back the other way. All of a sudden I heard a loud pop and had no steering! I'm not super religious, but God was watching out for me because the street was jammed with traffic and the T went to the right and into the emergency turning lane. I got it stopped and when I climbed under it I found the new steering arm had cracked in half!

I called Dan and he brought me some tools and another steering arm from the shop and we changed it and drove the car slowly home. This could have been majorly bad. Worst part is that Don was planning on using it tomorrow and it could have happened to him instead of me. I am going to be on the phone with Speedway tomorrow if they are open and raise hell. I am also going to look for an original Corvair arm like I have on my T because it is forged, not cast like this thing.

Here are some pictures of the fractured arm. Tonight I have a special prayer to say.

Don

I take it you already changed your shorts?

All joking aside, We are glad to know that you are alright...

Good news is you are unharmed. That could have been disaster.

Just one question. Did you have a clean pair of shorts with you?

Man ,that is scary lookin !?But it does make me fill a little better about my home made stuff,kinda.
makes ya think .

Almost needed new shorts. I was shaking like a leaf when I got it stopped. If the car would have gone to the left instead of the right I would have run right into all the other cars in those lanes.

You know, you buy new parts and you think they are going to be ok. I wonder if the chroming process caused hydrogen embrittlement? I have read about this but never gave it much thought.

Don

Wow!

Don,
Wow... that is too scary!!! I'd say... forged is *best*! I recently had the panhard bar come loose on the old Daytripper so I'm considering doing some re-welding on the front end. Losing steering is *no* good... glad u're alright! Got u're attention... didn't it!?!?

BoB

Lucky man DON! I can see the recall notices coming out already, was it made in china?

It probably was made in China. Look at this profile shot. One corner is discolored like it has rust in that corner. I think there was some casting flaw in the piece. A metalurgist could probably tell me for sure what happened.

Darned thing snapped like a twig.

Don

Don,
1 word of advice.............MOOG..........

Close one, glad your ok. As I was reading this I was thinking "It was made in China"
China is gonna kill us all eventually if we dont change our buying ways.

I absolutely hate things made in china ( and yes I have some)

That sucks.

There is an original Corvair arm on Ebay right now and I am going to watch it. These are forged. I heated and bent the one on my T and it was very strong.

I can't wait until I get someone in authority at Speedway.

Don

Glad too hear your ok,that's scary biz right there, I once lost a tire on a an Opel GT no fun at all.

I'm going to look my pitman over really good (might just toss it)that i got from speedway.

wow, glad to see your ok, that's scary stuff right there

Thanks for the heads up Don, this needs some good follow up. It will be very interesting to see how Speedway responds. From China we expect some indeference and stuff not up to par , but Speedway ? well we will see wont we. Follow the money.LFE

Wow!! Don glad it all worked out ok for you. That is super scary .

Glad you are OK Don!
The good Lord was watching over you!
In 2000 I had a heim joint steering piece on a big truck that I built break on me.The truck was a Suzuki Samurai with a Dana 60 up front a D-70 rear with a SBC for power and it was riding on 44'' Boggers.I was driving it to work(which I drove it alot on the street)at 4:30am and while running 60 mph and coming into a sweeping curve the steering was gone!I jambed the brakes and held on the wheel with both hands with my head tucked low and it went off the left side of the road into a 4ft. ditch and rolled end over end and landed upside down in some guys front yard!(don't know how many times I rolled I had my eyes closed)From where I left the road to where I stopped was 92 ft.
I crawled out and not a scratch on me!(I built a great roll cage)
God had his watchful eye on me too!

WOW!!

That must have been a horrible feeling!!

Glad to hear you and the car made it out unharmed..

Please keep us updated on Speedways response.

Thanks guys for the concern. Yeah, I am Godfearing, but not an overly religious person, however He was watching over me last night for sure. It could have been so much worse, and I am so happy it happened to me the way it did rather than my Son driving it today.

The more I think about it the more shocked I am that a part as important as a steering arm would be made of cast steel. This is actually the second exactly same arm that has been on the car in the last month. The first one had the teeth round off where it goes onto the steering shaft, and we were only driving it in our shop parking lot. We figured we screwed that one up by not torquing it far enough onto the shaft, but now I am not so sure. The teeth were very soft, and the ones on my forged original Corvair arm are very hardened. I had to cut new teeth in mine to reindex it and it was all I could do to file and hacksaw notches in it. I tried calling Speedway this morning but they don't open til 9 Central time.

MrGusset, Wow that is scarey. Glad you too walked away from it. We take these things for granted and to think something like that could break is a real concern. Less experienced rodders sometimes think we older guys preach safe construction too much, but there is a reason for it. You can end up on your head real quick in one of these non-airbag, non-crash zone, unpadded hot rods we like to drive around in.

Don

Glad to hear you're alright Don!!! I've bought alot of parts from speedway and have been seeing lately Made in CHINA on everything!! With the lack of quality and concern from china I'll have to rethink where I get my parts!!!...grouchy

Don...........When we were stupid kids we would put our cars together with coat hangers and tape and never gave it a second thought. The only reason we didn't get killed was the parts we used were made with good materials by people that cared. I don't want to think about the silly things I did as a kid, but that being said, I never had a part that important break like the one you are showing...................I have purchased a few front end parts from Speedway and I am pretty happy with them, but I believe we all have to be careful and use the best parts we can afford....................Great to see you're OK.