Check those lugnut torque, y'all!!! (1 Viewer)

[alia176]

This happened to a TJ yesterday as we were heading home from Ouray, CO. The father was on the lead and his front dropped and saw his wheel go past him then into the canyon below. The wheel came to rest against a dead tree, approx 500' below the hwy.

Anyway, we dissassembled the Warn locking hubs, removed the hub with the rotor that's now missing a chunk of it. They found spare studs but the holes got wallowed out so badly that the studs weren't engaging the holes. Dad found a roll of mechanic wire that we used to give the studs some traction so that the lugnuts can be re-installed w/o pushing the studs back through.

This was a Dana 60 hybrid with Ford parts. All in all, it took us about 1.5 hours to get them rolling off of the hwy into a safe zone. My daughter took all the pics and actually enjoyed the process of helping out someone in need, as did I.

My guess is that the lugnuts lost their torque and wallowed out the holes over time. The two were from TX and were very appreciative of the help and traffic management. The son was wrenching and he was shaking from the Adrenalin from almost watching his dad go over the edge. My GF was trying to get him to drink water and the horse flies were something awful. The Sheriff was driving by and stopped to take up the traffic directing while we concentrated on the repair job. I always keep a reflective vest in the vehicle for when I walk the dogs in the dark during winter so she was sporting it!

All in all, this was a great lesson for the son and dad and nobody died or got hurt. The OEM Toyota jack came in handy in raising the axle high enough to mount the tire as the hi-lift was the short version and not able to raise the body high enough or safe enough to get the job done.

 

[evanz80]

Ash - Thanks for the reminder. It's gotten to be a habit with me to check the torque on the lug nuts, and I usually have a torque wrench with me on the road as well. It seems to happen more than you would expect (losing a wheel), and depending on the circumstances (like where you were), it could certainly be fatal. I am sure those folks appreciated your help!

 

[Devil Frog]

Yikes, that happened to me a few years ago. In addition to torque, if you are running aftermarket rims, make sure you have the proper lug nut seat type for your wheels.

 

[Poupon]

Wow - let me check mine now. Thanks A!

 

[alia176]

Another thing to check if you're running wheel spacers, is to check the torque of those nuts as well. 80 owners should also check the spindle studs and the corresponding nuts torque. The 80 section is reporting few failures due to them backing out over time. This is a two step process: first clean the stud threads and install them "dry", meaning no thread locking compound. Then install the nuts and torque them down per FSM, again no need to use thread compound. There's a whole dissertation on the "dry" vs "wet" on the 80 section that you can read when you're feeling insomniac.

 

[Poupon]

Another thing to check if you're running wheel spacers, is to check the torque of those nuts as well. 80 owners should also check the spindle studs and the corresponding nuts torque. The 80 section is reporting few failures due to them backing out over time. This is a two step process: first clean the stud threads and install them "dry", meaning no thread locking compound. Then install the nuts and torque them down per FSM, again no need to use thread compound. There's a whole dissertation on the "dry" vs "wet" on the 80 section that you can read when you're feeling insomniac.

Ok - stupid questions. I am running 2" spacers on my hubs. I guess I take the wheel off to gain access to the bolts that hold the spacer? Do you know what torque both of these nuts should be at (spacer and wheel)? Thanks Ali!

 

[alia176]

Ok - stupid questions. I am running 2" spacers on my hubs. I guess I take the wheel off to gain access to the bolts that hold the spacer? Do you know what torque both of these nuts should be at (spacer and wheel)? Thanks Ali!

Yup, you're correct sir. Remove the wheels in order to gain access to the nuts. I'd use the same torque as your lugnuts, which I don't what they are. The 80 series ('95-'97) uses 76 ft-lb so I'd venture to guess at least 80 ft-lbs!

Some Discount Tire stores won't touch wheels with spacers due to liability reasons, not sure how they are in the ABQ area.

 

[pappy]

Some Discount Tire stores won't touch wheels with spacers due to liability reasons, not sure how they are in the ABQ area.

They won't touch them. It doesn't matter if they are bolt on, or the thin 1/4" slip on. 'em.

 

[Ramathorn15]

Awesome of you to help out Ali!

Another thing to consider is applying too much torque to the lugs which then pulls on the studs and can highly decrease their integrity. I've seen many studs give way because of this (luckily no wheels though!). Most shops just use their impact to replace lugs and apply way too much torque. If I ever have a shop pull my wheels, I retorque all the lugs immediately.

Also, if your wheels are lug centric and use conical bases that apply force onto the rim itself, make sure you recheck your lugs periodically if you get new wheels. The metal of a new wheel (or unused spare) will compress/shift a tiny bit where the lug is pressing on it and can cause the lugs to loosen.

 

[BionicCruiser]

in my old Ford, the rear drums would not seat correctly with wheel torque spec (after a brake job). I felt something wasn't right and pulled over to find several missing studs. no lost wheel fortunately. now I recheck all my lugs after removing the wheels and driving a few miles.

 

[alia176]

Discount tires is good about torquing the lug nuts after a tire job. Other places use a torque stick at the end of their rattle guns which gets them "close enough"!!

Discount tires used to have a torque setting of 104 ft-lbs for all 80 series landcruisers. After they ruined one of my studs, I went on a campaign to have them change the '95-'97 80 series to 76 ft-lb. It took almost a year of pinging various folks, uploading FSM pages, etc but they updated their database finally. I think '91-'94 are 104 ft-lb due to different style of lug nuts.

 

[lurch]