Calling Charmer.............

[Ted Parrish]

Matt and Gary,

Matt, I would love to come to Austin. I'll see what I can work out.

Gary, I have already bought equalizer bars, and a sway bar. I haven't tried them out yet, but I've been told they should fix the problem. I know about weighting the tongue properly for towing, and I think the car was far enough forward. I usually pull in in far enough to set the front down about 2 inches at the trailer hitch.

In either case, I don't think I'll be comfortable pulling at 70 mph again, at least not for a while.

By the way, has anyone out there heard of the 12 mm bolts that hold the rear hub on the lower support arm on the rear axle coming loose, and breaking? I broke one this weekend, fortunately not under heavy application. I thought the car seemed a little "mushy" on launch. In making the repair, I discovered that the other bolt (the one that didn't break) was loose. There is no lock washers on these bolts, and doesn't appear to be locktite on the threads.

I'm going to get some aircraft bolts that can be wire tied with safty wire this week. If I'd been racing when this happened I think the car (and maybe me) could have been destroyed.

Gary, isn't Plano near Flower Mound, or McKinney, Tx?

Ted