Loose wheel leading to axle seal leak and eventual broken studs

[Mike NXP]

Not many folks will be interested in this but here is a quick post to share my misery


I got my rear left tire fixed because it had a slow leak. I decided to bring the tire to the shop to make it quicker. I usually just tighten everything up with a big socket and move on but since I had a big road trip coming up I decided to get a torque wrench, BUT I cheaped out and went with the HF option. I clicked it up to 90-100 ft lbs and thought everything was good to go.

• Fast forward 1000+ miles into a big off roading trip and my back left tire started smoking as I was riding brakes for a long time coming down a hill in the middle of nowhere Nevada
• I tired to convince myself it was mud or something burning off since we just crossed a big pit but then the undeniable stank of old burnt diff oil made itself known.....yuck... So not much we can do but muster on and top off the fluid eventually when back in town
  
  
• A day or so later I'm back on the pavement and start noticing a droning bearing type noise. I think nothing of it, assume dirt and fluid and crap are in my brakes and move on as I try to get myself closer to home......
  but the noise didn't change when applying the brake and it did change when turning the vehicle / shifting weight. This should have been my first clue to check the wheel.
  
  
• day or so later the noise is getting louder and bothering me so I degrease and clean it all up and convince myself the noise went away but I was in denial.....I push closer to home and about 1-2 hours from home I start getting a shaking / out of balance tire feel but only at like 65+mph
• So I slow down, keep cruising, and it feels fine at lower speeds
• then it started getting a violent shake even at lower speeds and I decided it's finally time to pull over and look . I noticed two broken studs and 3 lugs barley hanging on to what was left. DOH!
  
  
  I never thought to check torque on these lugs throughout any of these symptoms until it really started to shake......I want to blame the habor freight torque wrench but the reality is I should have checked it sooner. It was just riding so totally fine for several days I never thought anything of it.
  
  
  Long story short I gave up and drove it to the mechanic, very slowly, for 2+ hours from where it all fell apart........hopefully I didn't do too much damage. I assume the axle seal leak was due to the wheel being loose? Or just coincidence, who knows.

Will post back once I hear the damage report from the mechanic

 

[tmoneyallday]

Yeah, I just use the OEM wrench and just pull pretty damn tight and have never had an issue. I would only use torque wrenches on something that needs precision like spark plug.

 

[Jack90210]

I *always* follow up on lug nuts after a day or two. If the mating surfaces aren't completely flat to each other (i.e. a dented front hub from some clown pounding on it with a hammer) then one of the surfaces can deform to fit the other over time, which removes the tension from the torqued fasteners.

Then again I also have a 1/2" 50-250ft/lb Proto clicker wrench that I know is accurate, so there's that as well.

 

[SteveH]

Seems like your 90-100 lb-ft should have been enough.

I'm oldish and forget - so after leaving lug nuts loose 30 years ago, my new method is to never reinstall any hubcaps until I have done the final torque on the nuts. This keeps me from stupidly tightening them 'some' without doing the 'final'.

So, when I slap on the hubcap, it's road-ready. This also helps when you're working with your kids or friends and getting distracted.

 

[Mike NXP]

Yeah for sure, lessons learned on this one. I'm just surprised I didn't feel any clunking or have any symptoms for 4-5 days of driving. Strange to see the seal leaking before the lugs coming loose and showing some signs of an issue.

Could the fluid leak have caused the lugs to come loose? Doubt it, still blaming the torque wrench and me not thinking to double check once out on the trail.

 

[MechE30]

Reports I’ve seen on the calibration accuracy for Harbor Freights torque wrenches have been actually very impressive. On par with the big boys, or better in some cases.
Sorry to hear about your lugs though, that stinks!

 

[Mike NXP]

Reports I’ve seen on the calibration accuracy for Harbor Freights torque wrenches have been actually very impressive. On par with the big boys, or better in some cases.
Sorry to hear about your lugs though, that stinks!

Right? I've used one in my past life and have never had any issues so figured it would be good enough to buy again when I needed it this time...I do believe their tools have gotten a lot better, so what the heck happened here?

the more I think about this the more confused I become. If my lugs weren't tight, wouldn't it have shown some issues sooner? I drove 2 days on the highway, 16+ hours, to get to the trails and everything was great....Felt fine over the next few days or trail riding too, with the exception of the fluid leak. If my wheel was loose enough to cause the axle seal to leak you'd think I would have been able to tell the wheel was loose but maybe it just happened really slowly

Not until 7 days later does it start to show signs of wobble and failure.

I did use a wire brush and cleaned up some marginal crud around the rim and mounting surface, maybe this was a factor in me needing to re-torque after driving a bit.


Will just have to add this one to the misery list for now and move on. I suppose the PSA here would be to check your lugs if you see signs of diff fluid leaking in the rear.

 

[MechE30]

It’s confusing for sure. Lubrication on threads will increase the bolt preload at a specific torque, so I could see them straight breaking if they were lubed up and torqued a little over the dry spec. The slow loosening and wobble is the mystery to me.

 

[Mike NXP]

It’s confusing for sure. Lubrication on threads will increase the bolt preload at a specific torque, so I could see them straight breaking if they were lubed up and torqued a little over the dry spec. The slow loosening and wobble is the mystery to me.

Yeah, threads were clean and everything was dry when I tightened it all up. The mystery still remains but I sure thought I was wise enough to detect a tire becoming loose. I know for sure that torque wrench clicked and then I turned it up another few pounds and clicked all of them again.

As it was finally starting to get worse, I kept trying to convince myself it was out of balance or somehow due to the fluid leak since it was fine all week....but what I should have thought is, hmmm is my tire falling off? I'm mostly just filled with shame and regret at this stage in life lol but oh well


another pic from the trip to help ease the pain

 

[samwise]

What did the mechanic say?
Where’d you go, looks beautiful! I’m in the kalispell area if you need help wrenching some time. I’m no expert but happy to figure stuff out.

 

[Mike NXP]

What did the mechanic say?
Where’d you go, looks beautiful! I’m in the kalispell area if you need help wrenching some time. I’m no expert but happy to figure stuff out.

Dropped at the shop but they arent getting me in until Friday . Luckily, even riding on three lugs, once tightened it felt smooth again . Hopefully I didn't trash any bearings or the rim.

The road trip took us through Idaho, down to Nevada , over to California and back up through Oregon . Thanks for the offer to help wrenching if needes

 

[geo5]

Looks like an amazing trip @Mike NXP , even despite the wheel.

Thanks for the psa, I have the HF torque wrench, Icon 50-250ft lbs

Off to check 3 vehicles worth of lug nuts.

 

[Patron100LC]

Mike, I know how painful is to be wrenching while on vacation, but replacing studs isn't difficult, they sell these in every auto part store. I wouldn't feel comfortable driving it as it is since it's been wobbly, maybe the rest of the studs aren't great either. You can get it done in a couple hours with basic tools..

 

[Mike NXP]

Mike, I know how painful is to be wrenching while on vacation, but replacing studs isn't difficult, they sell these in every auto part store. I wouldn't feel comfortable driving it as it is since it's been wobbly, maybe the rest of the studs aren't great either. You can get it done in a couple hours with basic tools..

The sad part here is I had the parts needed to fix on my tool kit but lacked the knowledge on how to do it....i can't believe the tire held on for as long as it did through some pretty gnarly trails...


Anyway this all started because I took off my tire to bring to Costco for a slow leak . They told me the tire isn't leaking and sent me on my way lol

Fast forward til now and the tire is definitely losing air and I have to top it off once a week ...... so now I have to go talk with the tire guys at Costco who for some reason are always so grumpy .... My tires are all still pretty new but it's only a matter of time before they try to pull that s*** about , if I replace one tire i need to replace all four

I'm paranoid to take off my tire again but don't like bringing them the truck, last time they stripped out a lug/ stud....... I've changed hundreds of tires idk what the hell I did wrong but hoping this time Costco just replaces the tire and then I manage to properly tighten it down without screwing up

Maybe skip the torque wrench and just tighten it up gutentight with my breaker bar ? Maybe go buy a better torque wrench ?