Lefty loosey, righty tighty

[daveleau]

Hi everybody!

I learned a valuable lesson in car repair today. Or at least was reminded of the importance of the phrase I used in the subject of this thread. The started went out on my Jeep on Wednesday. Well, reading in the Haynes manual, it says on some models it can be very hard to get to. In some instances, the entire motor must be lifted to get to the starter. Because of this, I was not looking forward to working on it. I went out today and tried to locate it. Sure enough it was on the bottom of the engine. Climbing underneath, though, showed that it was easily accessible. I priced the part and put one on hold while I took the old one out. Taking the first bolt off was very hard. I cranked and cranked and it didn’t seem to be getting any easier. Then finally I cranked and it broke loose and turned easily. The only problem was that it didn’t break loose, it just broke...off. Stupid me was turning it to the right to loosen it. Dumb! Well, noting the bolt broken off in the engine block, I checked the wrench and then successfully got the other bolt out without incident. I traded the part out at AutoZone and told the parts guy what the “guy working on the truck” (me) had done. He pointed me out to a drill bit set that would extract the broken off bolt. After about an hour and a half of drilling, the bolt came out easily. I was truly amazed. I then inserted and hooked up the new starter (it set me back less than $70) and the truck fired up like it had not been sitting for 4 days. Sweet! So, part #2 is now on the truck. (part one being the gas cap…again my fault and lesson learned).

I am updating our site and will let you know when I get it online. I plan to put up a Jeep/ bike off-road picture page.

Have a good one,

Dave

[RedFury]

Easy mistake to make when you are looking at something upside down.

At least you didn't run across the problem I did with my old Fury.

Couldn't break the lug nuts on one of the wheels when I bought the car, so I brought it into the shop to find out that the first side I tried had left handed threads. NO wonder I couldn't loosen the lugs! Apparently they felt it necessary to have the bolts tighten in the same direction that the tires would be spinning to avoid lugs loosening on their own. Lesson learned. If it won't come off the way you think it should, try the other way before you break something.

[Xeroid]

My brother had an old Pontiac like that RedFury.

[Omardeth]

my 75 ford courier has lugs like that . didn't i feel stupid after 45 min of messing with it and a elec impact wrench .....


i use to be a plumber we had a saying
" hots on the left colds on the right , SH@$@ goes downhill , and payday is on friday "

and ya know what plumbing is almost that easy ......

[caddmannq]

MY old Plymouth has left handers on the driver's side, and they're bolts to boot. Fortunately, they're still very common on boat trailers, so they were easy to come by.

[vass0922]

actually omar, I've been in a house or 3 with the hot & colds switched always nice for a suprise lol

[M_Six]

Of course when you use that saying out loud, you should always do your best Ricky Ricardo. Lefty Luuuuuuuucy!!!!!

[Brainchild]

I hate it when that happens.

Cadd those bolts on the wheel stink. Nearly impossible to changea tire. I hate those things.

I was driving down the road today,and this wheel come bouncing to the intersection,bounced off the light pole,and landed up next to Lightning Lube.As I got closer to the crossing, I saw the 65 Chevy PU scraping,and sliding to a stop in the NAPA parking lot
Sad thing is they were closed

Maybe he should have read this thread

[sKiT]

learned the handy saying when I was in the boyscouts. It's come in handy many a time except on some foreign parts it does not apply.

[Tomteriffic]

I had a Plymouth Belvedere for about 20 minutes with left-handed threads on one side. I bought a tire for the thing and the guy in the shop busted off two bolts with an impact wrench before he figured it out