Need to know if the rotor is attached to the axle or if they are two separate pieces. Also do I need any special tools to do the front wheel bearings?
Wheel fell off while driving
- Thread starter devildogcruiser25
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Well the tow truck showed up and didn't have a flat bed so we jacked it up and put the wheel back on. Surprisingly everything seemed well even after having slid 75 feet on the rotor. I drove home and now it's parked. Now I need to figure out how to put the flare back on that it ripped off.
So you lost just the wheel? Did someone barrow your lug nuts with a non return policy?
Yeah, there must be a story here. Embarrassing as it may be.
This one time in Mexico I was in a rental car and...
on your way home from band camp???
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- #7
angerhater said:
Yep band camp. I'll divulge the story soon.
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- #8
Ok so here is the story. I recently got FJC steelies on the cruiser. I felt that they sat a little bit narrow so I called up justdifferantials and got a set of 1.5" spacers. I put them on on friday, nice and snug but I did not use loctite. Maybe that is where I went wrong. So fast forward, I took the scouts out to Anza borrego for friday night and saturday. Did maybe 100 miles off road and drove home. About ten minutes from home I felt a slight wobble. I pulled over, checked it out and checked all lugs. Dropped all the scouts off and headed home, next thing I know I am three wheeling it, watching my wheel race past me up the road. I came to a stop, ran out and got my wheel, went over and collected my flair that came off and waited for a tow.
Here is where it gets interesting. The tow truck didn't have a flat bed so we jacked up the rear, bolted the wheel on and went on my merry way. I am going to loctite all the other wheels and have the rotor looked at by San Diego Trux, as well as new bearings installed because I am headed to Death Valley next week. So if I do the bearings should I just do a whole front axle rebuild?
And the required picture
Here is where it gets interesting. The tow truck didn't have a flat bed so we jacked up the rear, bolted the wheel on and went on my merry way. I am going to loctite all the other wheels and have the rotor looked at by San Diego Trux, as well as new bearings installed because I am headed to Death Valley next week. So if I do the bearings should I just do a whole front axle rebuild?
And the required picture
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NLXTACY
Wits' End
With the wheel spacers I was told they MUST be re-torqued after about 500 miles. I'm assuming because of exactly this. Take a look at your wheel studs. Something very similar almost happened on my 60. The lug nuts were not tightened on one wheel. Truck was driving like hell and I noticed that only three lugnuts were holding the tire on but the action of the tire rotating almost cut thru the wheel studs. This thread JUST reminded me that I need to take care of those 
- Thread starter
- #10
NLXTACY said:With the wheel spacers I was told they MUST be re-torqued after about 500 miles. I'm assuming because of exactly this. Take a look at your wheel studs. Something very similar almost happened on my 60. The lug nuts were not tightened on one wheel. Truck was driving like hell and I noticed that only three lugnuts were holding the tire on but the action of the tire rotating almost cut thru the wheel studs. This thread JUST reminded me that I need to take care of those
I think I only had 250 miles on them at most. Either way it was a bummer, but I'm glad I walked away no harm to me or the LC.
NLXTACY
Wits' End
inner wheel nuts have to be carefully torqued with loctite.
You can jam a screwdriver into the rotor vanes to hold it from turning while you apply 80# with the torque wrench.
lucky it was a back tire. front tires = bad news.
You can jam a screwdriver into the rotor vanes to hold it from turning while you apply 80# with the torque wrench.
lucky it was a back tire. front tires = bad news.
That trip back from band camp could have been a lot worse.
Bet you were glad the scouts were not in the rig when it happened.
Man, I just do not like spacers...
Bet you were glad the scouts were not in the rig when it happened.
Man, I just do not like spacers...
What kind of lug nuts are you using? It's important to know not all steelies are created the same and not all alloy wheels are created the same.
I am confused why running spacers is any different then NOT running them. The only diff is that you have 6 more nuts (to mount the spacer) to torque down. So if you don't torque down your wheels then like the spacers they will also come off. I would imagine spidertrax requirement for loctite is a legal issue only.
NLXTACY
Wits' End
The retorque is the issue.
How many folks re-torque their wheel bolts? Been rotating my wheels on all my cars for over 20 years and have never retorque them after 500 miles and have never had a wheel come off.
khoi911 said:
I do mine before every time I go wheeling. At least once a month.
Just think about it. Millions of cars get worked on a very small % actually will recheck the torque on the wheels after removing them. My point is this, if using spacers has lead to his wheel falling off then there are only 2 possible scenarios:
1) The spacer was never torque down to begin with
2) or the use of Spacers is inherently unsafe
Given that a few have run spacers with no issues then I vote for #1.
