this is why nobody touches my vehicles but me. to many shops have no idea what theyre doing. they dont follow proper procedures. they use the wrong tools for the job. they dont believe in torq wrenches. that draglink has a pinch bolt on either end. nuts should be only 90ftlb at very most. the top portion of the bar has adjuster sleeve in it. the bar is probly clamped to tight on the sleeve or it may even be crimped into the sleeves notch. remove the bolt and pry apart the pinch bolt ears and the adjuster sleeve will turn
It was the summer of 1972. I'd just gotten my license in June. I already owned my first car (1968 Falcon... 6 cyl, automatic). I had my little Craftsman tool chest (still have it). I had just enough tools to do the basics myself, had and still have a Chilton's repair manual for 1968-1972 domestic cars, and just enough ambition to get into trouble... BUT I also knew what I DIDN'T know. So, I got into my car to drive to school one morning and the auto trans would not shift from 1 to 2 until the engine was maxed and I was doing 40 or so. The automatic transmission was a voodoo black box to me and my buddies back then, and I didn't have very much money, so, I took the car to an AAMCO store. They had an ad for a free roadtest and diagnostic in the newspaper, so over there I went.
The big bellied manager who'd road tested the car with me directed me to have a seat in the customer waiting area.... which had big glass windows so one could observe the goings on out in the shop. They racked it up and beckoned two of their shop mechanics and I observed them discuss and point to the right rear area of the transmission, nod their heads, and the coterie disbanded.
Big bellied man comes into the customer lounge with a look on his face akin to a surgeon telling a family that their loved one passed away during surgery. He informed me that my transmission needed an overhaul, and I was in luck because it was on sale for a mere 325 dollars! That's $2031.00 in today's money! Now, where is a high school kid going to scrounge up THAT kind of money? I had 3 dollars in my billfold!
Needless to say, I thanked him and left! And took it to 2 more Transmission "specialists" who gave me the same story. One of the subsequent 2 even "salted" my pan! That means they put metal shavings in it and brought it into the customer lounge and told me my transmission "Might not make it home"! His misfortune was I SAW him put the shavings in my pan! Keep in mind, I had no money, so these visits were me reacting to newspaper ads, and all of these places raised the car up on their lift, and looked at the transmission. Discouraged at the rife dishonesty, I went home and got out the Yellow Pages... and began calling around to transmission shops. Most didn't want to talk to a kid over the phone... until I reached one over by Hobby Airport.... across Houston from where I lived at that time. A crusty, gravelly voiced man listened to my story of symptoms and what I'd experienced. After a pause, he barked "The Fu%%ing vacuum line either split or fell off the modulator"! He went on to explain it, and I thanked him for his time.
I went out and crawled under the car and, wouldn't you know, the 3 inch long piece of vacuum hose which went from the steel tubing to the vacuum modulator was split along one side. I went to Pettigrew-Smith auto parts and bought a piece of vacuum tubing for 10 cents. I put it on the car and it was fixed. I never had another moment's trouble from that transmission... even after I passed the car to my brother, who used the car to deliver news papers later on during his college years!
That experience galvanized me... I never trusted anyone ever again in their assessment of my car. I certainly did all my own repairs that I could. As a final observation, the 3 places all raised the car up and looked right at that split vacuum hose.... it was on the right rear of the transmission. You make your own conclusion.