Almost lost the front Wheel, check your Lug Nuts!

[mt4x4]

Last night driving home the truck seemed like it started to shake a little. I have felt this before and it has never really lasted more than a few seconds. This time it started getting worse. I decided i would pull off at the next exit. Just when the exit was in sight i could start to hear noise. I thought it was something with the wheel bearing. I slowed down to about 30 mph till i got to the exit. On the off ramp the truck started shaking almost like the right side was jumping off the ground. I pulled over and stopped right there. My front right tire was hanging off the axle at almost a 45 degree angle held on by only one lug nut that was half way off. Three of the studs were snapped off. I got my jack out and got the wheel off the ground. My first thought was i can just take one off the back. Bet you know how that went. I knew the other side was left hand so that was not going to work. I went for a walk back up the off ramp and got lucky. I found a broke stud with the lug nut on it. The fun part was getting the stud out. I did not have any tools that would grip the stud. a set of vise grips would of been nice. I used the jack under the frame to grip the stud. That worked. The studs that broke off were all together on one side so i could not even get the lug nut on across from each other. the threads were also messed up. I found a file to take the first few threads off so that i could get the lug nut started. This was at about 11:30 pm last night and my cell phone was dead. I got lucky. I manged to drive 3 or 4 miles to my house with the two lug nuts at about 10mph. After getting a charge on my phone i took a picture of what it looked like. Wish i had a picture of it with the tire half way off. I had cheeked all my lug nuts in the summer. I would of never thought they would come loose that easy.

 

[Chief_919]

That is why I always had my units use a torque seal type indicator paint to give a good visual indication of any nuts that started loosening. Made it easy for my mechanics and the operators to do a visual check for issues.

This stuff works well and is easy to see once applied. If one starts backing off you will see it easily.

 

[MuleMac01]

Dang glad you're ok and got it just in time.

 

[AZK9]

Wow! Glad things worked out and you got home safely!

 

[HanksDeuce]

Glad you pulled over, and you were lucky to make it back home. Get yourself a 24v to 12v converter (click here) and keep your phone charged in your truck. It may just save your life one day.

 

[doghead]

Makes me wonder when you visually checked them last. What you used to torque them in the past and how many ft/lbs.

 

[juanprado]

Wheel check indicators is what I use. A quick part of your pre trip inspection. Used by many bus fleets and sanitation trucks.

http://www.wheel-check.com/

Might save your bacon!

 

[juanprado]

That is why I always had my units use a torque seal type indicator paint to give a good visual indication of any nuts that started loosening. Made it easy for my mechanics and the operators to do a visual check for issues.

This stuff works well and is easy to see once applied. If one starts backing off you will see it easily.

I went to universal studios in Nov. I started to notice and looked at all the rides I went on. They use this stuff on every fastener!

 

[snowtrac nome]

first as I remember checking lugnuts is part of your daily inspection and is also part of a cmv pretrip inspection. so checking once a year is wrong. I usually look for rust traces coming from the nuts if they are coming loose. and the torque for bud nuts as I remember is 550 ft lbs. Glad you are safe, I had a buddy get pretty messed up when this happened while descending a hill with a tractor trailer, it went right over the side of a long drop off.

 

[CARNAC]

I[ve been in your shoes before driving from Atlanta to Aberdeen show in 2010 and I barely made it into a gas station. I remember Clinto, Maddawg 308, Atankersdad (RIP), and a former member Daniel worked the phones to get me off the road. I learned a lot that day, even if it was the hard way.

 

[Chief_919]

I went to universal studios in Nov. I started to notice and looked at all the rides I went on. They use this stuff on every fastener!

It really is good stuff for keeping an eye on fasteners.

The local diesel injection shop uses it in injection pumps they rebuild to see if anyone has been in it, if so they void the warranty. They usually have 2-3 colors on it.

 

[snowtrac nome]

I was kind of hard on those who don't look at their lugnuts the funny part is you never find any loose nuts when you have to change a flat

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Glad you discovered the component failures BEFORE the catastrophic failure!


This reminds me: "NUTZ!" said the Queen. "If I had a couple I'd be King!"

But I digreass.

Carry on.

 

[mt4x4]

Thanks for all the reply's. I will be checking lugnuts more. I'm going to mark them to help keep an eye on it. I looked closer today and see the stud at about the six o'clock in the picture had been cracked for some time. you can see the rust on it. That might of helped get me in trouble. Probably would of been a non issue if i was checking them.

 

[rustystud]

Wheel check indicators is what I use. A quick part of your pre trip inspection. Used by many bus fleets and sanitation trucks.

http://www.wheel-check.com/

Might save your bacon!

All our buses use these now. A few years ago a bus lost it's front tire and it ran over a pedestrian (an elderly woman) . I don't remember if she died or not but the accident was pretty bad. After that all our buses (1400 ) got these indicators installed on them. All it takes is a glance and you can see if a lug nut has come loose. I plan on installing them on my deuce later this summer.

 

[KsM715]

All of us need a reminder every once in a while why these checks are important. This just happened yesterday.

http://www.kmbc.com/article/wheel-flies-off-trailer-on-i-435-kills-kc-man-driving-minivan/8647151

 

[rustystud]

All of us need a reminder every once in a while why these checks are important. This just happened yesterday.

http://www.kmbc.com/article/wheel-flies-off-trailer-on-i-435-kills-kc-man-driving-minivan/8647151

That's right, and you know who will be held responsible for the death ! Bad enough that someone died but since it was negligence the damaged parties can come after everything you own to.