Hello USA!

My Dodge Monaco -72 is finally through Swedish inspection , Thursday 17 of October I revived the reg.plates!
After giving the steering ball-joints a good grease treatment, and finding out that the cone wheel nuts won`t stay in place!?? (can anybody help me out?) I think the problem sits in the hub.
So my dream travel with my family went to the biggest warehouse in Sweden 100 miles from our flat.
The Wagon rides steady like a rock, ventilation and heating works fine. The weather was grey and rainy but
the power and smooth feeling from the 400 cu. Detroit V8, all kept us warm and cheerful.
This was a good test ride, now I will call around to get some rust and welding done.
The colour is Golden Leaf Metallic but it`s a shining diamond for Me.
Cheers Kim Johansson

 

Thanks for the update!
Those Dodge Monacos are very prized as collector wagons here in the states, mainly for their unique woodgrain pattern Di-Noc material.

Happy Trails......
Marshall

 

Johansson
thanks for the update, wondered if you disappeared?

 

Hope you get the answer to your question and enjoy it for a long time.

 

Hmmm...I've heard of Mopar lugnuts coming loose on cast wheels (the most famous one happens with a hundred miles!), but on steel wheels? I'd go ahead and remove the wheels, inspect the lug studs and nuts. One thing that comes to mind is if a previous owner put grease on the studs. American lug studs and studs are NOT supposed to have any lubrication. Whether they have grease or not, clean the studs and nuts with brake cleaner and wire brush the studs, hub faces and wheel mounting surfaces, then properly torque the nuts, drive 800Km (500 miles) and retorque. Then pay attention to what the wheels do.

 

Sweden, Kim and family from USA.
That's a great looking wagon. Don't drive it with loose nuts. Seems like a simple fix like Andrew wrote. I'm betting on lube on the studs.
Make sure the stud threads and lug nuts are not stripped. Even then it's not a big deal to replace all of the studs and lug nuts. At least here in the States they are available.

Make sure they are the correct cone taper nuts for those wheels. Sometimes lugnuts are replaced with those that don't fit the taper of the holes.
My son had problems with a GM with different wheels. Even with my 1955 Chevy wagon I had to swap to metric studs and lugnuts when I went to modern Camaro wheels.

 

I'm happy to hear you are enjoying your big beautiful station wagon, despite the small issues.
I was wondering if this year Mopar still has the left hand thread on the left side of the car and right hand thread on the right side?

 

Oh, yeah, I forgot about that....

 

Hey Andrew! You`r perfectly right. There was alu.paste on the wheel studs. The cones on the nuts measures 1/8", when
I look inside the hub it looks like only 1/16. should`t the cone be countersink t more than the nuts?
Allot of thanks for your technical support!-Kim.

 

Hello Mr Illinois! Yes Andrew was right -a lot of alu.paste on the studs. After cleaning I marked some nuts with a tush pen.
I noticed the tush was off only at the tops, and some wasn`t straight in the cone? The threads look`s fine, but there is
a little jiggle in nut on stud. what do You think?
To be continued... Thank`s Kim!

 

It depends on the actual style of nut used, yours should be the "acorn nut" style because of the wheel design, and the taper is supposed to be flat, as opposed to some that are rounded, usually for cast wheels.

 

Oh, and the width of the taper on the wheels doesn't matter, as long as the taper on the nuts does contact the wheel taper.

 

Hello Krash! Yesterday I took a closer look at the woodgrain pattern, and I there was signs of branches in the pattern.
Is it this that the makes the pattern unique?
Oh what a good feeling to ride around with the Monaco to different car body welders and learning about rust repair.
Today there is just a few left over here, but today I found the right guy ! a old friend from my biker days-"Putte".
He has an incredible garage. In late winter he will be ready for my Dodge.
Funny story #1 : On one early careful test ride I went down a small hill, and there was a sound like the gates from hell
followed with a big bang!??- I had forgot to close the tailgate...
F.s.#2: After one satisfied evening service work I open the tailgate, dropped it then it came over my fingers. Did I swear
of course not! It`s not good for the soul of the Wagon.
The cupè Dodge 1931 with a straight 8 flathead. The blown GM 350 will fit in his A-Ford.
The crutches is from a "high sider" with his riceburner Honda in a roundabout....

 

What makes the Monaco unique in regard to the Di-Noc wood grain is two things:

1. The decal overlay has both light AND dark wood patterned on it. Also, there are no separate wood-grained or chrome 'surround moldings', like you would find on other wagons, such as a Ford Country Squire - it's just the wood-grained decal.
2. The placement of the wood grain is unique, in that it is not just confined to the side body area below the side windows. It also wraps up the rear pillar and goes forward on the outside roof rail area, reminiscent of older vintage wagons that had their side windows totally framed in real wood.

 

You have an excellent wagon there. I really love the way the wood grain is installed on it. That's the first time I've seen one like that.