But clenching ride home

[Smokinyoda]

So I had just picked up a 1009 and was flat towing it home. About 2 hours from the house I suddenly get jerked clear across to the other lane, as I try and ease it back over it jerks again. I finally get pulled over to the shoulder, expecting to find a flat tire. What I find was the front passenger wheel has sheared all 6 studs! I dont see how it didnt fall completely off, but it was riding on the hub.

Luckily it was late at night with no traffic. Had there been anyone in other lane, or had I been in a curve things could have been much worse. I picked it up from a private individual and it drove fine, no hint of any problems at all with steering on the test drive. I did a quick inspection for the obvious before dropping driveshaft and hooking up towbar and chains but never actually put a lug wrench on to check the tightness... bet I will from now on!

Got home at 1am and will go back for it in morning, after I pick up some studs and lug nuts. Never pulled a rotor on one of these so will be fun, considering I will be doing it in the grass 6 feet off the interstate. Got it as far over as I possibly could without going in the tree line. More good news, 100% chance of rain tomorrow!

Anything special about the studs on these, or same as civilian blazer? Want to be prepared on what to ask for when I get to NAPA when they open. Now gonna try and study up on removing the rotor on a 4 wheel drive so I will at least know what to expect before I get a couple hours of much needed sleep.

 

[WILDBOY6X6]

info

HI nope the M1009 is a k series blazer so any parts will be the same other than a 2nd alt and 24v stuff.

 

[AceHigh]

100% rain today. Can you just get a trailer and pull her home till better weather and conditions? It is straight forward but not a simple road side job in my opinion.

Anyway, good luck on it! Hope it all goes well for you- you deserve a break today.

 

[Skinny]

Grab a whole spare hub from a junkyard. Slide it on, adjust the wheel bearings, and drive it home. Once you get it back, then fix the problem right with some new parts. You could probably find a whole new hub assembly for free, 10 bolts are everywhere.

Good to hear no one was hurt!

 

[gungearz]

Glad to see you and everyone are alright... These are the things one should always check during a recovery. My brother inlaw had a similar issue. He didn't check the tire pressure ( just looked and kicked the tire) when he recovered his m1009 and it turns out the original owner that he just bought truck from. Pumped 70psi in all of the tires and at highway speeds. He blew a steer tire and side swiped a tanker. Nobody was hurt and there was no reports of damage but its just the common sense that's neglected when someone gets hurts. Be safe guys....

 

[Smokinyoda]

100% rain today. Can you just get a trailer and pull her home till better weather and conditions? It is straight forward but not a simple road side job in my opinion.

Anyway, good luck on it! Hope it all goes well for you- you deserve a break today.

Wish I could but with no front wheel dont know how I would get it on a trailer. It has 35" tires so dont think it would even fit on a uhaul. Trust me, last thing I want to do is tear down an axle in the rain, on the side of the road, but at this point I see no option.

Its sitting about 20 miles south of Asheville so close enough to town I can run back for parts if needed.

 

[biggestc69]

I could possibly be the king of lost tires due to lug nuts. 2 trucks and an Arctic cat Prowler. I've lost more than one wheel due to lug nut issues. What make's it so weird is that sometimes it will give you a warning, shimmy, brake pedal pulsating up and down like the devil when hitting the brakes. Other times and I have literally said this after catching something in my peripheral vision "that looks like my tire" right before a nose dive into the asphalt. After that I always hit the lug nuts with the 4 way. Last Thursday I bought a brand new Buck Dandy car hauler. I know that when they ship them they take off the tires and stack them on the semi trailer. So when it gets to the dealer there is some assembly required. He's a good ol boy and told me she was ready to hit the road. I got the 4 way out and found about half of them I could get 3/4 to a full turn on. Good deal in your case it was late and no one was hurt. I hope the recovery goes smooth and the weather is in your favor.

 

[Tanner]

- the worst part of the deal is having to pull the 2 feet of seat upholstery out of your tush from the incident itself, after realizing what occurred....

'Tanner'

 

[Jimma]

Wow, glad you okay.

 

[rickf]

Make sure you get yourself a wheel bearing socket for that vehicle, same as the civilian one. Has four tits on it. Allen wrench kit for the locking hub cover, External snap ring pliers for the axle snap ring, real thin screwdriver and a medium/small screwdriver for the large internal ring in the hub. I would get the studs in and put the bearings in and then just wrap duct tape around the hole till you get home. You will want to go over it again when things clear up and get it all cleaned up so no use in putting the locking hub back in. It is not needed to go that short of a distance.

Rick

 

[Smokinyoda]

Well, this has been a helluva learning experience let me tell you!

Showed up ready to go, or so I thought. Had my spindle socket, new studs, new lug nuts, and a crap load of other tools I thought I might need. Got it all tore apart, was making good time even. Of course it was a steady downpour the entire time, I hate working outside in the rain!

Anyway got everything tore apart and cleaned up, go to hammer in the new studs... and they just fall in/fall out. Evidently the holes got wallered out and there is no way to hold them so I can get the lug nuts on.

So load everything up in the truck (we were sitting on side of interstate doing this) and head to nearest town, 20 miles away. Of course NO ONE has a hub in stock. They have plenty of rotors, and can order the hub but cant find one anywhere. Finally after calling everyone I can find in the yellow pages a guy at a salvage yard gives me the number of a local mom and pop store. The kind we all used to go to before the autozones, oreilys, etc ran them all out of business. And they had one!
So back out to the middle of nowhere to once again put everything back together... did I mention it was still raining?

We finally get done, packed up, towbar and lights back on, go to pull out... and the thing doesnt want to be pulled! Its really jerking me to the right, I barely have control. So we pull over again. At this point im thinking the bearings seized or the brake is seriously grabbing. or anything but god forbid another wheel falling off!

Thats when I realize the wheels are turned, so I check and sure enough I pulled the key when we went to town and the steering wheel had locked with them turned to the left!

Insert key, unlock steering wheel, and everything is good, it even stopped raining.

Rest of the trip went smooth as silk, got home around midnight. Time to drink a beer and head to bed, and put this trip behind me. This thing is cursed!!!

 

[rickf]

Glad to see it all worked out in the end. It never seems to work right on the first try on the side of the road does it?
Hopefullymy tools list was accurate enough, I was tired last night and it has been a while since I did one.
Rick