Hi! I'm new to the board, and as the title of my post implies...an idiot. Driving my '70 442 (gold/gold 455 4 speed SSI's) last Saturday, and the left front wheel/tire fell off the car. Little warning, a quick vibration and before I could even think what was happening...it happened. Apparently, it was very loose lug nuts.

Doing maybe 35 mph. Amazingly, the car "skidded" straight ahead and over to the shoulder on the left front brake rotor. The entire bottom of the car was untouched. The fender got a nice dent/crease from coming down on the tire then spinning it across the fender itself. Managed to get the spare on using spare lugs, and the car drove 100% fine off the exit and into a bank parking lot w/o any pulling issues. Made a small noise, one that I'm assuming relates to a brake rotor now somewhat the shape of a moon

I'm not worried about the fender so much, but mechanically. It really seems like I could replace the rotor, wheel bearing, caliper mounting plate (?) and brake pad, and be good to go. This time I'm going to tighten those lug nuts until blood runs out of my ears.

Can anyone help me with some input into whether my thinking is correct, and what else to look out for?

Also, if someone could give me the procedure to remove the old rotor and replace with a new one I would be very appreciative.

Thanks!

 

Welcome and sorry about your "wild ride". Glad you're OK. I'd be surprised if the rotor is actually bent, but it's possible. Replacements are cheap for these cars anyway. The caliper mounting bracket is on top of the spindle and unlikely to have been damaged. What you're looking at is the splash shield, which is thin sheet metal. It is not structural, so you can just straighten it if it's not too far gone, but reproductions are available as well. You should not overtorque the lugs. Factory spec is 90 ft-lbs if I recall correctly. In any case, check your Chassis Service Manual and ALWAYS use a torque wrench on the lug nuts, torquing in a star pattern. Good luck.

 

Joe,

Definitely extremely lucky on this one, could have gone bad about 100 different ways. If the worst thing that happens in my life during a drive is a little repair work to the car, it's a good day

Yep, the splash shield is what I think I meant....the thin metal "plate" behind the rotor.

Anyone have a rough procedure on the rotor/bearing/shield etc. replacement?

Thanks

 

BTW, here is a picture of the 442 in question....

 

Glad things turned out as well as they did. Nice looking ride. I don't have a service manual for your year. I am a early Olds guy. Its a simple procedure and I am sure someone will chime in with the details soon

 

Glad that there was not much damage. welcome to CO

 

Welcome to the site, and yes glad your OK!

Joe mentioned the caliper bracket, it will have two bolts with allen head tops facing the inside of the wheel well. Once you remove those be sure to have a block to set the caliper on so it's not hanging by the rubber hose.

Then you can remove the dust cover in the center of the rotor. Under that will be a big nut with a "keeper" that will have a cotter pin running through. Straighten and remove the cotter pin, pull the keeper off, then you can use a large wrench or socket to remove the big nut. The nut won't be too tight but you will need to loosen it with a wrench. Then you can grab the rotor, one hand on each side and pull it off the spindle. Before you do that though put a rag or newspaper on the ground in front of it as the outter wheel bearing will drop off and land on the ground. I think that will get things apart for you.

If you choose to keep this car and do your own maintenance I would highly recommend you get some good manuals for it. The first I would get is a Chassis Service Manual for your year. That will cover much of the mechanical and interior items plus some sheetmetal and maybe the bumpers. And...........I'm drawing a blank on the name right now but there's another one that covers the body. Someone else will have to chime in with the name.

Anywhooo, it is a nice looking car and I hope your able to get it back on the road soon.

John

 

Welcome aboard and glad you are Ok as well. Sounds like it could have been a lot worse. Nice car by the way

 

Glad your ok. Did you figure out how or why the lug nuts came loose? Did you or someone else have the wheel off for some reason?

 

No, you are not and idiot. Careless maybe but not an idiot. Things like that have happened to us all at one time or another. Glad things were no worse than they are. That is a beautiful car. The black vinyl top looks really nice over the gold. As they guys said, get the service manuals. The originals are better than the repros. Several are available on ebay at the present time. Here is one.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1970-...e#ht_854wt_732

 

Welcome

Sorry for the mishap. Glad you're Ok

 

Glad you were okay and kept it all under control. Best thing to do after getting it fixed is to prevent it from happening again.
Are you using spacers on your wheels? Did a tire shop not tighten them? Did you not tighten them?
An important tip is to take any clunks or strange noises seriously and try to figure out where they might be coming from. I heard of some people hearing them, then ignoring them, then this happens. Now if going in a straight line, it might not have even been heard or felt.

I will be replacing front suspension components this winter, so i will get to try my luck at it, too.

Best advice right there...

 

Glad to hear that you are ok. That looks like an AWSOME car!

 

I ALMOST had this happen years ago with my 1972 Monte Carlo. For the whole month before I sold it to a buddy of mine (which I regret), it sounded like I was dragging a chain under the car, especially when I made a lefthand turn. After he got it and and gave it a once over, he said that all but one of the lugnuts were so loose he could turn them by hand. Its just one of those things I never thought about till then! So now its part of my routine maintenance just to make sure.

 

Go to http://wildaboutcarsonline.com register as a member (Free). Then approx 1 hour later you will get a confirmation email and they have all the factory service manuals 1964-1972 in PDF form available for download.

 

Wow, thanks everyone for the input and information....looks like I found a great community here

As far as the loose lugs goes, I have owned the car since 2007, and never checked them as part of regular maintenance like I should have. It's a basic, and the responsibility is mine for the resulting incident.

The car has either 3.91's or 4.33's I believe, and the day it happened was the first day I had it on the highway, ever. It was screaming (factory tach not working, so no idea on exact RPM's...felt like about 3,500-3,800 at around 50) and then the sudden vibration and wheel loss. Happened in about 5 seconds.

I'm thinking that maybe they were loose for a while, and tach'ing it up at that RPM range sort of finished the job.

I really am grateful it wasn't worse. Nobody got hurt, it affected no other cars but mine. I can fix the damage, and if anything it is going to be a lifelong reminder to never overlook the basics again.

I feel like I can fix the rotor area pretty well myself, maybe slap on a re-pop fender in primer for a while and just worry about pretty-ing it up later down the road. Besides, I like the look of cars "in progress" and it's a good excuse to turn some wrenches for a while.

Maybe a good time for some upgraded wheels and tires as well

 

Welcome to our site! This is the best place to be.... these guys are great!! Glad your incident wasn't any worse! Nice Olds!!

 

You really dodged a bullet on that one, also glad it wasn't any worse.

I had a lower ball joint stud break off once, the tire folded right inder the car so I drove it home sliding on the tire. It smoked a lot and left a nice rubber trail to my driveway.
I picked up a police escort on the way home and those cops almost died laughing.

The service manual says that the wheel and drum/rotor mating surfaces should be bare metal or the lug nuts can work themselves loose over time.
I don't know if that was the problem but it's something that's good to know anyway.


Redgoat is the reason for editing Sandy?
Poor Redgoat, gets blamed for everything.
He told me he feels like Charlie Brown in the song of the same name, "Why's everybody always pickin' on me?".
Redgoat always called his teachers "Daddy-O" too.
The original "Daddy-O" was Ransom E. Olds.

 

Hey, I think I really lucked out. Member "74 Omega" just posted this picture album and in doing so gave me exactly the general view of what is going on and coming off that I needed:

Album - New Brakes

Always better to have some idea of what to expect when taking things apart

 

All that mech advise is very hard to do, don't chance it, ship it to England, I will give you £1,000 pounds for it and keep it off the USA motorways for safety reason, would not want anyone hurt in the States. Andy