Close Call Today

[MarkM]

Driving in to work this morning in my 96 80 series. I live in NJ, so we got a mix of slush, snow, and freezing rain all over the roads. I get about 15 minutes in to the ride and I start to notice a vibration when turning the steering wheel. Mind you these are gentle bends on an interstate. The vibration is not there when going straight, but is there when turning in both directions.

I slow it down, swerve a little to feel what is going on. Turn off the radio. Can't hear anything due to road noise and the 80 being, well, an 80.

Get to work, check the front driveshaft and joints to see if there is any play. Nothing.

Start rocking the wheels, and nothing. I notice there is a stud on the drivers side front wheel that is sticking out a bit further than the others. I can spin it by hand. In fact, I can spin all of them by hand.

A big sense of relief that the wheel stayed on the truck, I was able to find the problem, and it appears to be the simplest thing that could of happened outside of ice and muck inside a wheel.

I have driven it about 300 miles since doing the wheel bearings, and properly torqued the wheel nuts to spec. Reading through some of the threads here, members are noting that they have never seen properly torqued wheel nuts come loose. I guess I am the anomaly, and it can happen.

I'll keep an eye on them for now, as I went around to the other 3 wheels and checked them and all of the lug nuts were tight. If this becomes an issue, I will swap the nuts out for a new set and see how that goes.

 

[Hornd]

if 95-97 Aluminum Wheels then 78 ft/lbs of Torque.
I did the same thing one time and luckily caught it.
I keep a Harbor Freight 1/2" Breaker Bar in my truck with their socket set. Small investment that pays off 1st time.

 

[MarkM]

Horn, that is what I torqued them to. I have a torque wrench here at work that I will use in a little while to confirm.

 

[scottryana]

All aluminum wheels I have ever seen say to retorque them after driving x miles. I make it a habit of checking mine a few days after having the wheels off.

 

[MarkM]

Looking at the FSM, it shows 76 foot lbs for this year. Scott, I re torqued the wheels after I drove about 60 miles after installing the wheel bearings, and the nuts didn't need additional tightening.

This one is a little weird to me, but at least it is food for thought if I ever feel any sudden vibration to pull over and check the lugs before something really bad happens.

 

[702FZJ80]

Verify torque wrench is in spec.....

 

[LINUS]

Learned this lesson once & only once when I was 16-17y.o. With an old VW Scirocco.

Had a loose steering wheel for a few blocks, then BOOM! - I lost 4-5" elevation & came to a quick halt as a rotor planted itself in the asphalt, my FR tire rolling into the nearby ditch.

Only once & after that you modify your post -wheels off habits, even at just 25MPH & it being some 25 odd yrs ago, you remember it like yesterday.

 

[Kentex Rick]

Possibly some asshat trying to steal your rims and tires? I came out of my house years ago and saw two s***heads running down the street; they had most of the lug nuts off of my K-5 Blazer and a couple of cinder blocks in the side yard.

 

[MarkM]

I won't put that past anyone. I don't have too many enemies that I know of, but I guess anything is possible.

 

[Hornd]

Possibly some asshat trying to steal your rims and tires? I came out of my house years ago and saw two s***heads running down the street; they had most of the lug nuts off of my K-5 Blazer and a couple of cinder blocks in the side yard.

Ex Wife or Ex Lover setting you up?
Did you turn down Girl Scout Cookies?
Hosed down any kids playing in your yard?
Over Jealous J&*P owner next door?
Land Rover Terrorist Group?

Check the steering link to make sure it's still attached and brake lines kinked.

I know a lot of the LX crowd were having their Rainbow Stickers come up missing.

Your gonna have to go Columbo/Dangerous Minds to figure this out.

Get a wheel lock if your nervous.

 

[MarkM]

Ex Wife or Ex Lover setting you up?
Did you turn down Girl Scout Cookies? I do all the time, but I always give them cash.
Hosed down any kids playing in your yard? I live in an apartment building, and dogs crap all over the grass.
Over Jealous J&*P owner next door? Actually, there is not one Jeep that I know of in our parking lot.
Land Rover Terrorist Group? None of these either

Check the steering link to make sure it's still attached and brake lines kinked.

I know a lot of the LX crowd were having their Rainbow Stickers come up missing.

Your gonna have to go Columbo/Dangerous Minds to figure this out. -Prince Humperdink might be better.

Get a wheel lock if your nervous. I have one on there already!

Maybe I'll bring in the FBI. But I hear they are busy with certain political candidates....

 

[MarkM]

Learned this lesson once & only once when I was 16-17y.o. With an old VW Scirocco.

Had a loose steering wheel for a few blocks, then BOOM! - I lost 4-5" elevation & came to a quick halt as a rotor planted itself in the asphalt, my FR tire rolling into the nearby ditch.

Only once & after that you modify your post -wheels off habits, even at just 25MPH & it being some 25 odd yrs ago, you remember it like yesterday.

Yep, I have had experiences that have had the same impact on me. Funny thing is that a loose wheel was the last thing on my mind. I was thinking axle, driveshaft, etc.

Live and learn!

 

[80Greg100]

Cross-referencing to my post in "what did you do to your 80 series this weekend" - when I jacked up and jackstanded my rig today, my lugs came off WAYYY easier than I expected...efffed up brakes could have been the least of my problems.....

 

[inkpot]

Any chance you only torques 3 wheels, not 4? I try to always torque all 4 wheels, even if I am only working on 1 or 2.

 

[Manuelsv]

Learned this lesson once & only once when I was 16-17y.o. With an old VW Scirocco.

Had a loose steering wheel for a few blocks, then BOOM! - I lost 4-5" elevation & came to a quick halt as a rotor planted itself in the asphalt, my FR tire rolling into the nearby ditch.

Only once & after that you modify your post -wheels off habits, even at just 25MPH & it being some 25 odd yrs ago, you remember it like yesterday.

Hooooly Shiit!! Linus I had the same exact thing happen to me when I was 17 on my 1st car... 1984 VW Scirocco!!!

 

[MarkM]

Any chance you only torques 3 wheels, not 4? I try to always torque all 4 wheels, even if I am only working on 1 or 2.

Normally I would agree that I missed this wheel, but in this instance I was only working on the front wheels, and I remember torquing one wheel, and then swapping places with my brother, who was on the impact gun putting the wheels on with me following up with the torque wrench.

Strange. Just something I will keep my eye on.

 

[Haspin FJ]

Just had a similar experience this past weekend. 97 with oem wheels and lugs. Something started feeling loose on the highway. Should of pulled over sooner but did get off the freeway (thank the Lord) and was headed to a gas station right off the exit to check it out. Stopped at the end of the ramp, started making a crazy noise. Thought it was a super low tire. Wanted to be off the road so I attempted to continue only to feel an abrupt motion, a bang, and watch my wheel rolling across the street. Crunched my rear quarter pretty good (although the flare, mudflap, and side bumper cover are still somehow in tact). Obviously if I had to do it over I would of stopped in the emergency lane but had not read any of these threads or ever had a wheel come loose in hundreds of thousands of driven miles over the years. As pissued as I was at myself for this I am now just thankful no one died as we were on I-75 in Sunday summer weekend traffic coming home from a trip, 6 people in the truck, super loaded down and things would of been really ugly if it happened at speed. Turns out to be a huge learning lesson for me and everyone else in the car which may be worth the damage if it causes any of them to realize to pull over immediately if something ever starts to not feel right in the future. Besides pulling over sooner, I did learn a bit more. Where the wheel came loose there were 3 lugs sitting on the off ramp right there. I think the leverage of the loose wheel sheared the lugs off when I came to the fully loaded stop and when I tried to take off turning right the wheel came off the hub. If I would ever have anything similar happen in would gently brake to a stop with as little turning as possible to check things out.

The crazy thing to me is I rotated and torqued them several weeks before (did not do the aluminum rim follow up torque as I had never ever had anything like this happen in countless past miles and aluminum wheeled vehicles). However after the last rotation, we drove from Cincinnati to Niagara Falls, back across to Cedar Point and home. Several weeks of local driving, then this trip down to NC including going through the "tail of the dragon" and back + several hours on the highway at near 80 mph before the issue started. Live and learn, check your lugs and pull over if something doesn't feel right immediately.

 

[BILT4ME]

Lube your shafts and check your nuts......

About 6 months ago, I discovered a missing lug nut on my RR wheel. When I went to check, 2 more were loose. This is the first time EVER that I have lost a lug nut on ANYTHING I have driven or worked on. I am approaching my million-mile mark total for vehicles.

I attributed this to improper tightening due to debris on the back of the rim I installed. This was one of the chrome rims and has been peeling for years. They finally have started oxidizing to the point they are WHITE with oxidation. This allowed slip behind the flange and allowed improper torque-ing of the lugs.

That's my story.....

@NLXTACY lost a wheel on the interstate........ I'll bet that was exciting.

 

[nukegoat]

This is why 8 lug wheels are your friend