Always check EVERY nut & bolt!!

I normally wouldn't post something that makes me look stupid. But I am so anyone here can take this to heart.
I took my wagon on it's second trip on the street. Stopped for gas and took a leisurely ride. Figured I would drop over at my work place to show everyone there as they have only seen pictures.
I left there with the thought of just taking a nice cruise. I headed down the road which empties to a major highway. As I slowed down and saw a car in front stopped to enter the highway, I heard a thump and the right front wheel pulled hard and the brake pedal went to the floor. I hit the e-brake and fortunately slowed enough as to not coast onto the highway.phewwww!!!
After checking everything I found the right front brake hose pulled right out of the caliper. I got it flatbedded home and took off the front wheel. The caliper bracket was missing one ear and the other hole had no bolt in it.
I figured I did not go over the caliper bolts and tighten them so one fell out and allowed the caliper to be yanked hard enough to pull the hose right out of the caliper.
I am presently going over EVERY nut and bolt under the car.
I figured with towing and ordering the new parts , it cost me around $300..............but as my wife said..............I was lucky I wasn't going faster and didn't hit anything or anyone else. The car is intact and no damage.......other to my ego.
Reason for passing this on is ..............as you get a vehicle near it's finished state ..........there is excitement in you to drive it............you move from one thing to another getting parts installed...............BUT!!!!.........TAKE THE TIME TO CHECK EVERY NUT AND BOLT!!! Make all castle nuts have cotter pins in them as well.

Glad to hear that you and the car are okay! Well, maybe just a bruised ego.. but that's better than any other option!

You bring up all good points too! Safety first right! Thanks for sharing your experience, maybe it'll keep one of us from harm or worse!

Ego's heal, so no problem there. Takes a good man to relay a story like this, hope everyone commits it to memory!!!! Racing, we use a checklist to make sure things aren't overlooked.....think it might be time to start using one on Hot Rods, too!!!!!

I've found that as I get older the CRS hits at random moments, and going back for that final check of fasteners is a necessary step. Too often I've hand tightened things to get everything in place, and then forgotten to go back. Thanks for the story, and glad that it wasn't worse than it was with the wagon. Another 1/4 mile and imagine the ending, accelerating up the ramp to highway speed .....

i dont trust me for chit . i keep a list on the windshield of things to do or check . no matter how careful you are it's a long hard road from pasture to boulevard . glad you are ok .

Nothing wrong with telling friends about your boo-boos, that's how we all get some learning - no matter how long we have been doing stuff like this. I used check lists - we called them punch lists - on the job, and carried the habit over to my other endeavors, although not to the degree of the ones at work. At times, when I was lazy and didn't lay one out, I might get lucky and not have any oopsies, but most of the ones I have had were from not using some means of double checking my work. :o:(:mad:

i do that punch list thing in a big way.
and since i dont trust myself i end up checking things over and over.
the scary part is i usually find something after checking more than once!
no wonder i am paranoid...

Thanks for sharing the learning experience and glad it wasn't a worse outcome for you. I'm a bit obsessive about tightening procedures and fortunately haven't found any I left loose but I have found things loose that others have done so that gets me paranoid. Another thing that crosses my mind occasionally is how vibration can loosen things so checking things over once in a while is a good practice.

To update......................went out this morning.....took off the other wheel and after putting a socket on the bolts, they were just alittle more than hand tight.........WOW !!!
Took both out and added the blue Loctite to both and then put them back on gorilla tight.
Will be away most of the day, but 1st thing in the morning am jacking up the rear and checking both calipers on the rear.................as well as the e-brake assembly.

Finding loose fasteners was my trademark when I was teching professional race cars. The drivers would find my twisting every nut and bolt on the car amusing, until I unscrewed one or two and placed them in the driver's hand. Then they normally went ballistic with the crew chief. :eek:
Loose clutch can bolts were the usual offenders.

As said-- Thanks for the safety tip, and glad all is well!!
My experience last week-- changed radiators...for sitsh & giggles did a quick bolt check on serp system bolts...2 of the 4 waterpump pulley bolts were finger loose!!

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Originally Posted by techinspector1

Finding loose fasteners was my trademark when I was teching professional race cars. The drivers would find my twisting every nut and bolt on the car amusing, until I unscrewed one or two and placed them in the driver's hand. Then they normally went ballistic with the crew chief. :eek:
Loose clutch can bolts were the usual offenders.

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Which led to a lot of racers saying there was a loose nut or two in the Tech Crew?????:LOL::LOL::LOL::LOL:

Sorry Richard, somebody had to say it!!!!!!!;);)

Been there,done that....:o..had the front wheels off the f100 one day,for some reason.. Put them back on,,wound the wheel nuts on,and dropped it on the ground..Phone rang,,got to it before Lynda did,,and after ten minutes yakking,,told her..''Come on,,we're outa here''..Got a couple of miles up the road,,and realised my wallet was still at home,,so we turned around and went back for it,,round the corner,,down the last stretch of road to our house,,and a funny noise coming from the right front wheel..Bugger,,,,what now?? Whoops,,loose nuts..Hmmmm..Phone got in the way of the job..:o :o.

Glad to hear you and the car are good. That could have been way worse. I also use check lists. It's so easy to forget something in a build. I have had my brothers help me on a couple and it gets even worse then. :LOL: I've had my brother forget to recheck caliper bolts on the vette and the caliper almost fell off after a 1/4 mile pass. After that stunt I rechecked everything. On my 72 chevy, when the injection pump got timed, it was never finished. My brother went to do a burn out and had it at about 4000rpm, let the clutch out, the tires started to spin, and the truck died. WTF? :LOL: Well the lock washer for the nut was never put on so that means some one timed it and was supposed to go back and recheck and it never got done. These pumps are a taper shaft and gear. I can't believe it made it through good guys and did a burn out there. The only thing that kept the pump shaft nut from falling in the geartrain was my tach drive. Could have been a messy deal.

i have to remember there's an old fart suffering from oldtimers building the car ......................

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Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Which led to a lot of racers saying there was a loose nut or two in the Tech Crew?????:LOL::LOL::LOL::LOL:
Sorry Richard, somebody had to say it!!!!!!!;);)

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Yeah, some of the car owners hated to see me coming, while others requested that I be the only inspector to tech their car, because I was more likely to find stuff wrong and they wanted me to find stuff wrong before they committed to a 200+ mph pass. Human nature is a very curious thing.

Getting a different set of eyes going over things will usually help too. On critical things we partner and one guy will work one side and i'll do the other and we'll check each other and verify. When you have 45minutes and the asphalt is 135 degrees you can make a lot of mistakes, esp tuning a multistage fogger system. A single misplaced pill will cost an engine, the expense of getting your there and make for a long ride home.

When we were back in high school my brother was in a hurry after changing his air cleaner to hit the road. That night his car was towed home late with a blown motor. It seems he lost the wing nut to the air cleaner, and instead of searching took a nut out of our spare bolt jar, to hold the lid of the air cleaner on. When the pulled the heads of the engine, they found part of a wing nut!

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Originally Posted by stovens

When we were back in high school my brother was in a hurry after changing his air cleaner to hit the road. That night his car was towed home late with a blown motor. It seems he lost the wing nut to the air cleaner, and instead of searching took a nut out of our spare bolt jar, to hold the lid of the air cleaner on. When the pulled the heads of the engine, they found part of a wing nut!

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I did the same thing wth my '66 beetle, it took a couple weeks for the nut to work its' way into the valve but i was doomed, no question.

It taught me a few things, one take your time when doing work to your car, and 2 don't work at night when it's easy to lose stuff in the dark!