Re: Jack Stands and Stupidity

[Daniel Hussey <GY3WSX@VM.SC.EDU>]

    Hey guys,

       Funny you mention this, but I did almost the exact same thing this weeke
nd, and it could have been a real disaster.  Anyways, I jacked up my car, not b
othering to put a jack stand under it and was going to take the lug nuts off.
Anyways, in the meantime, the hydraulic jack (must not have been locked all the
way over) had slowly colapsed.  Anyways, I go to take out the lug nuts and the
second to the last was pretty hard to get out, then I get to the last one and i
t is VERY hard to get out.  I was sitting there thinking to myself "damn, this
lug nut is really stuck" without even taking notice that the car is on the grou
nd!  Anyways, I hear a pop and then, I finnaly noticed what was going on!  I qu
ickly jacked up the car and removed the wheel.  It scares me to think what coul
d have happened!  A true no brainer on my part!  I feel like a class A moron!

       I guess I should look at this from a positive perspective that the car d
idn't fall and that I will learn from my mistakes.  Unfortunately, I make a LOT
of them and my car (and wallet) suffer in the mean time.  Anyways, that last lu
g nut got kinda stripped.  I noticed some silver shavings in the thread of it a
nd the thread looked a little messed up on the end of it.  I think the little s
havings I was seeing was the lug nut thread getting stripped and am hopping it
was not the threads inside the rotor, etc!  Anyways, I cleaned up the lug nut a
nd put it back in when I put the wheel back on.  It did not go in easily, but i
t went back in OK.  Anyways, I was wondering whether I should replace that lug
nut?  I remember reading a post about two weeks ago on the list about the impor
tance of good clean lug nuts and the importance of torquing them down properly.
I just wanted some input on this.  My dad told me that it would rethread itself
and it would be fine, but I just thought I'd ask the list for a second opinion.

                                                                Later,
                                                                Dan