I need to know where on the tC there is a 14MM nut that is fairly unimportant.

I ask this because I was removing my strut bar to replace a freshly painted engine cover. On the passenger side I dropped the rear 14MM nut that attaches the strut stud to the strut bar. I searched for an hour. Took everything above where it fell off (steering resevoir, Coolant resevoir and all hosing). I cant find the nut. i am at work and of course all nut here are standard.

I need a nut that will get me to a store in the morning. So is there a 14MM nut somewhere on the tC that could be removed for temporary purposes. I have looked all over the thing.

Or, and I doubt it, can I drive the car with just 2 nuts? The strut bar is tight with one nut holding it and locks onto the bare study nicely. But common sense tells me not to do this.

Thanks for all help.

 

Is it only the strut bar that's not being held in place? Or are you talking about the nuts that hold up the struts themselves? If it's just the bar, you're perfectly fine. If it's the one holding the strut, I would play it safe and not drive it.

 

Its the one holding the struts up. Yeah I wont drive it. I just got done looking again and cant find the nut. Its gotta be there somewhere.

 

yikes... sucks to hear dude... unfortunately i don't know of any other nuts at this point that can be used to replace it..... kinda sucks since i have a load of nuts in a small bucket in the garage that could easily help you..

 

Thanks man. I appreciate it. Yeah it sucks so bad. I have looked and looked and looked and I cant find the nut. I am at work and I work in the airforce with heavy equipment, we have so many tools and parts but everything is american and not metric. I even drove the car over some boards to maybe shake the bolt loose. Its such a pain. Hopefully in the morning before I go home someone can give me their car so I can run to walmart or something. this sucks. I even stopped by the aircraft maintenance section, but they wouldnt hand out a simple nut.

 

not hand you a single nut? sounds typical... ooh inventory BS... they probably have something you can use too...

 

you can use the nut holding the wiper, its shorter but same size.

 

I am going down to check it. If this works you are god

 

I wont even ask how you knew the whindshield wipper nut and strut nut were the same exact nut. But I will say THANK YOU. You saved me alot of headache.

 

It might work...but it's most likely not the same grade (strength). Why would they waste money on a high strength nut to hold the wiper down? Hopefully everything works. Have you tried taking a magnet and just poking around?

 

Do you have access to a long magnetic rod? They have them at most parts houses.. if the place you works has one you could probably probe (yes.. I said probe ) around underneath that area and eventually pull it out. I have found bolts that I dropped hiding along parts of transmissions and other areas that I could not see that way. Just poked around with the magnet until I found it.

 

I used an extendable magent, I used high pressure air, I shook the car, I jacked the car up, I tried it all. NOTHING.

I will get a new bolt and put it on the strut then return the nut to the wiper. But from looking at the nuts QUICKLY, I would have to say they are identical grade. (and I work around alot of nuts ;) )

Thanks for everyones help. Atleast it wasnt raining on the way home from work.

 

Now that's team work...

 

It was nice to ask a question and get multiple answers. I debated posting something that to me seemed to dumb. But I was desperate and tikbhoy saved me a long crappy morning from happening. Sometimes scionlife can be HALFWAY bareable.

 

heh heh.. I just had a tenacious D moment from that quote....

 

just had to point that out, sorry Nick