To All Adults on the Board

[69C10@16]

Adults, if you have children driving an older vehicle such as these, PLEASE check periodically every single aspect of their vehicle that could cause them to get seriously injured. I was EXTREMELY blessed to find my trailing arms in the condition they were before they broke. Check out page 2 of my build thread (signature) to see how bad they were. I know your kids will get annoyed at you for performing an inspection of their car evrey once in a while, I know I would, but trust me, it's worth it. Had I not found them, I probably wouldn't be alive a few weeks from now. Just put up with them for yelling at you when you check it and tell them you love them.

Thanks,
Newton

[Palf70Step]

Although I don't have to deal with the rust issue as much as many of you, I just went trough my daughter's car to make sure all the pieces would stay attached during her trip on Saturday.

(They did too, which is good!)

[retodd7711]

Why not check it together? That way you are teaching youngster valuable knowledge as well as spending quality time together.
And as every parent knows, our time together is so short...

[cdowns]

an best solution would be to keep them off the road till they can manage the responsibility of making sure thier vehicle is safe// they're old enough and know enough to install blowmasters on thier vehicles why cant they maintain them or walk

[Woobie]

Time together is WAY too short!

Paul

[retodd7711]

Don't get me wrong 6910@16, it is a parent's responsibilty to ensure their childs safety. And I'm not ripping on you. I've got a boy who will be 16 in a month,and part of my teaching him to drive is teaching him how a car works, what breaks,and how to identify potential safety problems. I can't just throw him the keys and say, good luck.

[69C10@16]

Oh I totally agree that kids need to know how to maintain them. I certainly know how to maintain mine. It just scared me SO much to find those arms the way I did. I just wanted to make sure all parents were on the lookout in case their kid doesn't know how to maintain and check things out on a vehicle. I completely understand where you're coming from. And I agree too that checking everything together is a good idea.

[Walts_restoration]

On the truck i just bought from randy (teeitup) the trailing arms are just about to snap, so thats one of the first things im gonna fix, he made sure i knew the trailing arms were rusty though, and by some force of god they are sitll holding on


Edit: its gonna be a farm truck, so its not gonna see any street driving, so thats another factor i thought i should include, id fix those before i made it a daily driver.

[corn]

Originally Posted by cdowns

an best solution would be to keep them off the road till they can manage the responsibility of making sure thier vehicle is safe// they're old enough and know enough to install blowmasters on thier vehicles why cant they maintain them or walk

[LockDoc]

-
My daughter has always changed her own oil & filter. When she had her '68 Chevelle she did a complete brake job on it, tune up, and rebuilt the carb. She also put a new in tank fuel pump in her Beretta when she had it. She has a new car now so she doesn't do the mechanical stuff any more but she still changes her own oil & filter. I'm proud of her....

LockDoc

[Walts_restoration]

ha, my sister didnt know what tranny fluid was, and my dad owns 150 cars. so she must have been adopted, i always told her i was right.

[MisterE72]

As overprotective as I am about my boys, I know i'll be taking your advice. In the meantime, i'm just as frustrated with my sons steering issue as he is.

['68 C-20]

Hope you don't consider this hijacking the thread but..When I was a kid back in the 60's early 70's we (My Grandfather and Father) owned a filling station/Garage. My father taught Auto-Mechanics at the Manpower training center and did Body Work in my Grandfathers Garage. I grew up around some great cars, trucks and people. The week I turned 16 I bought my first car. My father went with me to pick it up (and approve of it). It was a Chevy Impala with a 283. He approved the deal and I forked out 250 dollars that I had spent weeks earning sticking lumber in a local lumber mill. My father drove the car home for me. When we got home I started to put on the plate with dreams of cruising in it. Dad said, "until it passed inspection it was not going anywhere". I told him that since I had just registered it, I had 10 days to get it inspected. He said that I evidently did not hear him right. He was not concerned with the State of New Hampshire inspection. It had to pass his inspection. Dreams of cruisin’ passed quicker than gas through a funnel and eggs through a hen. We spent better 'n a month repacking wheel bearings, putting breaks on wheels whether they needed it or not, fully understanding' (by explaining it to him) exactly how emergency brakes worked and how to adjust them. It ran good when he brought it home but I still needed to do a tune up, flush the radiator, and change the hydro-matic filter screens. We did not paint it, but we did weld in patches and do body work. It was a good 6 -8 weeks before I ever drove it on the road, but when I did I knew how to maintain it and repair it, furthermore I had so much money and time invested in it, I did not dare to beat on it. All that it was it was because of my money and time. There was no way I was gonna' do anything to sideline it. At the time I never really did appreciate what my Dad was doing, but after that things were a bit different between us. We seemed to be a bit more eye to eye with each other.

My son turned 15 back in October. We stopped the other day and looked at an S-10. He though it was in pretty good shape. I told him I thought it would be good first car for him.

[67_C-30]

Originally Posted by cdowns

an best solution would be to keep them off the road till they can manage the responsibility of making sure thier vehicle is safe// they're old enough and know enough to install blowmasters on thier vehicles why cant they maintain them or walk

Originally Posted by corn

[Bob 68327]

My 7 yr old daughter has her own creeper in the garage and helps me whenever I'm out there . The last brake job I did I loosened the lug nuts and she took them off . I think she's on her way to being a gearhead like her dad . She watches really close and asks lots of questions . she also loves to get dirty !

[69C10@16]

Lock doc - You should be proud. It seems everyday there are fewer and fewer who are willing to do anything to their vehicles themselves. I think Im one of maybe 5 kids in school who changes their own oil and does any type of work. I just don't see the point in paying anybody else to do something so easy. Why not save a few extra bucks?

68 C-20 - I dont see that as hijacking the thread. That is a great story. My dad was like that with every single truck I ever looked at, EXCEPT the one I ended up buying. We both regret not looking closer at this truck before the purchase. We were both struck by that amazing body style. We both think it's the best GM ever produced. About all we knew was it ran and at the time seemed solid. Within a month I had to replace the exhaust, rear springs, and carb. I still need to replace the lower ball joints and upper Control arm Shaft. I havent had the time to get it done. Everytime I think i have a free weekend, something bigger breaks. lol

[COBALT]

When I rebuilt my rear suspension I took the arms, and brushed them down with a wire brush on a drill to see just how rusted they were. Once I realized they were solid (with some areas of separation, etc.) I took them to a fabricator and had them weld plates on the top and bottom, and fill in all of the cracks, etc.

The only problem was getting those U-bolts and spring mount bolts out. They were rusted solid inside the trailing arms. I had to cut the U-bolts out, and I had to reach inside the spring with a dremel tool, and cut the heads off to get the spring to come off. That meant replacing my spring mounts...

It was a lot of work and I went through several boxes of bandaids.

[69C10@16]

Since I knew the arms didnt need to be salvaged we used an air chisel and sperated the arm out away from the U-Bolts. Everything came off pretty swell with the chisel. Had I needed to keep the old arms I'd still be taking them off. We put the old U-Bolts back on it for now with the knowledge that they need to be replaced this spring due to rust. We were going to heve plates welded on these and have them weld the two halves together. Had they come in on a monday or something they would've gotten that treatment but I knew I had to get them on this weekend so they just got a TON of paint in hopes that they'll take longer to whither away.

[dan42]

My dad didn't give a crap, to be honest. I bought a '55 1st series for my first car for $200 back in '73. Total joke when it came to safety. Brakes barely stopped the truck, windows cracked, etc, etc. He did make me insure it, but after that I was on my own. I don't know, he just didn't think about it much, and neither did I, but that was the thinking back then...I would never do that with my son now. That's why he ended up with a new Ranger, I wanted to make sure he had something dependable and safe. 68 C-20's dad turned that into a great life lesson, and took advantage of a wonderful opportunity to get closer to his son. That is what a dad is all about.

[Liz]

Originally Posted by cdowns

an best solution would be to keep them off the road till they can manage the responsibility of making sure thier vehicle is safe// they're old enough and know enough to install blowmasters on thier vehicles why cant they maintain them or walk

and why shouldn't we as parents double check to make sure our kids are safe. It is our job...Yes they should learn BASIC things to check, but lets be real... not every kid is doing mods to their cars and some even respect them

[Ackattack]

Reading a thread like this kinda makes me want to have a kid. I'm hoping to start a restoration with my kid/kids about the time they turn 12ish so it will be finished by the time they're 16. That way they put the hard work into their car, hopefully will take care of it, and will at least know how to work on it.

I guess that won't be for about another 13-14 years though

[69C10@16]

Ackattack - I think you've got it figured out. If they have put a ton of hard work into the truck themselves, I'd think they are a LOT less likely to be stupid with it. They'll want to take care of it because of the fact that it took them so much time to complete. I know I try MOST of the time not to be stupid with mine. I think it's inherant (i think that's the right word) that all teenagers are going to have their stupidity moments and are going to gun their vehicles around sometimes. I've gotten better with it because I cruised around one night for an hour and sucked out a half tank of gas. I don't cruise anymore. I think I might have gotten off topic from what I was originally talking about but oh well.

[corn]

I love my kids enough to give them better vehicles than I have...