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Check your Nuts!

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Old Jul 20, 2009 | 10:20 PM
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Default Check your Nuts!

All season I've been hearing a "bang" sound when launching and also between the 1 to 2 shift. However there was never any bang when on course in second until yesterday. The "bang" sound was loud enough to make me think that I broke the rear end, but the car still moved under it's own power no problem.

Further investigation between runs revealed that the torque arm to pumpkin nuts/bolts were loose. They were actually no more than finger tight. I'll be honest I probably haven't checked them in over 5 years so shame on me.

Well tonight I "fixed em good" with some blue loctite and 97 ft lbs of torque (per the GM service manual).
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Old Jul 20, 2009 | 10:30 PM
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Good call ... I need me a service manual. Any idea where I can get one from?
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Old Jul 20, 2009 | 10:38 PM
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I got mine thru the dealer on the same day I took deliver of the car back in march of 99
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Old Jul 20, 2009 | 10:52 PM
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well noted my friend
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Old Jul 20, 2009 | 10:57 PM
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Those bolts usually don't checked and can cause some damage when they let loose
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Old Jul 21, 2009 | 08:24 AM
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I would look at the torque arm for damaged holes or elongation.

If you are driving your car at events on a regular basis, you should add nut-n-bolting to your periodic maitencance list.

A 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18 and 21mm are the only wrenches you need. Put the car on stands and ly down on a creeper and spend 5 minutes putting a wrench on every fastner you come to.

Don't forget to check the trans crossmember and the car side mount. It's very common to see stress cracks and fractures there.
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Old Jul 21, 2009 | 09:13 AM
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I've been meaning to check my nuts for a while. They say every once in a while you should roll them around with your fingers to make sure they are ok.
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Old Jul 21, 2009 | 09:21 AM
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Originally Posted by mitchntx
I would look at the torque arm for damaged holes or elongation.

If you are driving your car at events on a regular basis, you should add nut-n-bolting to your periodic maitencance list.

A 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18 and 21mm are the only wrenches you need. Put the car on stands and ly down on a creeper and spend 5 minutes putting a wrench on every fastner you come to.

Don't forget to check the trans crossmember and the car side mount. It's very common to see stress cracks and fractures there.
You know Mitch, I check every suspension and brake fastener on the car after every event except these two. Why? Well because I have a slight fear of being under cars (Highschool friend was killed by a car falling on him). But I'm just gonna have to add these two to my list regardless.

I went over the mount with a fine tooth comb and saw no evidence of stress cracking, hole elongation or even bending. Weird, I expected to see all sorts of damage, I guess I got real real lucky this time...
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Old Jul 25, 2009 | 06:21 AM
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I was going to swap the factory Tq arm for an aftermarket on my '93 road race car, but I could NOT get the nuts to come loose, so I gave up, and left the stock one in place! (I tried with a long breaker bar first, then with an impact, and no luck!! ..... hopefully they don't suddenly come loose anytime soon? ).
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Old Jul 26, 2009 | 09:10 PM
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good call on this....I installed a prothane tq arm bushing a few months back and I didnt use loc tite. Come to think of it I didnt torque it down to specs either.

Well I had to dis assemble this weekend to change the clutch and sure enough the nuts on the tq arm were loose.

After we were done assembling I made sure to torque it and loc tite. thanks for the tip!
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Old Jul 26, 2009 | 09:44 PM
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Yup, thread locker (i used red) and torque to 100 lb/ft.
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Old Jul 26, 2009 | 10:01 PM
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Mine is drivein me crazy...I can't get the damn nuts to stay tight. I used red loctite and 130 pounds on my BMR torque arm and it still give me a thump. I actually thought about putting some spot welds on the torque arm mount to the rear. I'm getting ready to get under it again and retorque and loctite. I'm really getting irritated though.

Any chance the holes on my rear are warped a bit causing some slop?
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Old Jul 26, 2009 | 10:07 PM
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yall got any pix what nut to tight ?
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Old Jul 26, 2009 | 10:25 PM
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Originally Posted by killagt
yall got any pix what nut to tight ?
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Old Jul 26, 2009 | 10:31 PM
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Originally Posted by z28ss4me
Mine is drivein me crazy...I can't get the damn nuts to stay tight. I used red loctite and 130 pounds on my BMR torque arm and it still give me a thump. I actually thought about putting some spot welds on the torque arm mount to the rear. I'm getting ready to get under it again and retorque and loctite. I'm really getting irritated though.

Any chance the holes on my rear are warped a bit causing some slop?
So even at 130 lb/ft you are getting a clunk or only a clunk when they are loose? If when tight, seems like you have other issues. What kind of clunk are you getting?

I'm not sure if you re-used stock hardware. I used a new hardware kit when installing my UMI TA.
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Old Jul 26, 2009 | 10:35 PM
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Originally Posted by JamRWS6
So even at 130 lb/ft you are getting a clunk or only a clunk when they are loose? If when tight, seems like you have other issues. What kind of clunk are you getting?

I'm not sure if you re-used stock hardware. I used a new hardware kit when installing my UMI TA.
No, when it's tight, the clunk goes away...then a few days later or after some hard launches it comes back and gets progressively more consistent.

I'm using a UMI hardware kit.
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Old Jul 26, 2009 | 10:35 PM
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those 2 nuts ?
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Old Jul 26, 2009 | 10:51 PM
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Originally Posted by killagt


those 2 nuts ?
yup...but you have to hold the bolt heads at the top of the rear while putting torque on them or the whole bolt will just spin.
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Old Jul 27, 2009 | 12:22 AM
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Originally Posted by z28ss4me
yup...but you have to hold the bolt heads at the top of the rear while putting torque on them or the whole bolt will just spin.
What size are those bolt ?
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Old Jul 27, 2009 | 07:32 AM
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Bolt head? 21mm
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