Lucky save.

[66FBK]

I would like to share a incident which could have been catastrophic. A few weeks ago I noticed a 1/2 in nut sitting just under my Mustang ( that's the lucky part). I took the car out with this in mind and stopped in to a mates place who suggested it may be cross member or lower control arm or even the upper wishbone. Hearing this I cruised home carefully noticing a bit of a rattle in the front. Having a good look underneath I found the lower control arm missing a nut and had about 1mm of thread left before exiting the chassis and causing a pretty violent incident with my front LH wheel and Stage Left exit off the road. The replacement nut uses a lock type nut but the 65/66 standard issue uses a stock 1/2 nut and washer as was the other RH bolt. This was not uncommon for the early falcons too. It might be wise to check your lower control arm to see if it has a lock nut fitted.

[fredm666]

Thanks for sharing, good info.

[65 GT HIPO]

Close call, I’m curious you stated the r/h side has  a stock nut and a washer, , these should a spring washer.

[66FBK]

Yes GT the other side had a standard nut and spring washer but not a lock nut. The replacement nut is a lock nut. I only found the original nut on the garage floor. The washer could have dropped off anywhere. I suppose after a good few years, if the lower control arm bolt starts to bind onto the control arm bush then the bolt would start to move and spit off the nut. A locking nut may stop this.