Successful shakedown cruise completed

[James86004]

What better way to test my newly acquired Salisbury axle building skills, and to bring the Dormobile out of year-long mothballs, than to go straight off on a 1500 mile trip from Tucson, around Death Valley, and back. It behaved like a champ, and the only real mechanical issue was a cracked wheel I noticed when gassing up at Stovepipe Wells.

:sombrero:

 

[Abel Villesca]

Congrats on the successful shakedown.

 

[michaels]

what, no pics??

 

[kcowyo]

I'm checking the ExPo bylaws, but a thread like this with no pics borders on a bannable offense. Please add pics soon or this thread may be deleted for malicious teasing & mocking of the Portal membership. We appreciate your courtesy & understanding of the matter at this time. In the future it will be expected...



:coffeedrink:

.

 

[James86004]

Cheese and crackers! You all are a tough crowd. I get home, and would just assume go to bed, but I go through the trouble of letting you all know how it went, and you complain about no pictures! :REExeSquatsHL1:

Well, here are a few:

 

[kcowyo]

Dear LR owner - we are happy she's up & running again. Thank you for posting the photos from Death Valley. You are back in the good graces of your fellow ExPo people. Looks like quite a group in Saline. Much obliged!


:campfire:
.

 

[Wander]

Hang on a minute......I'm seeing a max speed of 73mph??!!

Nice pics-glad your shakedown went well, what caused the cracked wheel?

 

[James86004]

Hang on a minute......I'm seeing a max speed of 73mph??!!

Yes, that was a mistake. I had the hammer down climbing a grade, we were going 60 or 65, then the grade got shallower and shallower, and then I noticed the handling getting a little squirrely. I let off on the gas and asked my wife how fast we were going.

Nice pics-glad your shakedown went well, what caused the cracked wheel?

Years of fatigue, most likely. The straw the broke the camel's back was probably the dozens of miles of really bad washboard, especially in Saline Valley. Also, someone recently told me the early small diameter wheel studs and small lugnuts put higher stresses on the wheels than the later M16 ones.

 

[65Dormie]

<<Cheese and crackers! You all are a tough crowd. I get home, and would just assume go to bed, but I go through the trouble of letting you all know how it went, and you complain about no pictures>>

Some people would complain if ya hung them with a brand new rope!

 

[Yorker]

wheel was it? the early 109 rims had a reputation for failure IIRC.

 

[Desert Dan]

get rid of the cracked wheel.
you don't want the center to break out especially at speed.

 

[alexcivick]

hmm. You're alot younger than I thought you were.

 

[James86004]

hmm. You're alot younger than I thought you were.

I bet I am cuter, too!

 

[James86004]

get rid of the cracked wheel.
you don't want the center to break out especially at speed.

I have 5 new wheels installed. The cracked wheel is getting a failure analysis done on it.

wheel was it? the early 109 rims had a reputation for failure IIRC.

Who knows how old the wheel was, but probably over 40 years old. I had 5 wheels and only two of them had identical markings on them. They were the early offset - the offset for 109 wheels was increased later in 1968. Also, I had the older skinny lugs and small lugnuts, which I think stresses the wheel more. The newly installed Salisbury rear axle has the later, bigger studs and nuts, and I am thinking of changing the front ones to match.

 

[Yorker]

I have 5 new wheels installed. The cracked wheel is getting a failure analysis done on it.



Who knows how old the wheel was, but probably over 40 years old. I had 5 wheels and only two of them had identical markings on them. They were the early offset - the offset for 109 wheels was increased later in 1968. Also, I had the older skinny lugs and small lugnuts, which I think stresses the wheel more. The newly installed Salisbury rear axle has the later, bigger studs and nuts, and I am thinking of changing the front ones to match.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/daveslandyandngstuff/wheels.htm
272309 109", earlier type (5.5J), 1 3/4" offset

They have been known to fail before- I've seen a lot of them bent but not yet any cracked ones... If it were me I'd get a set of 130 ANR1534PM rims from Vass:
http://www.vass.co.uk/specials.asp?TyreID=%7B94992A8E-3C0E-462B-AEAE-7BA3B425FAB5%7D