I tried to keep this as brief as possible but wanted to make sure I include all of the details for clarity sake. I do not want what happened to me to repeat itself to either me or anyone else.
About three weeks ago I rebuilt the front axle and replaced the front brake pads, rotors, and calipers (one was seized). I followed the FSM procedure supplemented with info from the FAQ. During the axle rebuild I replaced the wheel and trunnion bearings. I also disassembled the birfs from the axles, completely cleaned them and swapped sides. I took special care while installing the the steering arm onto the knuckle to ensure there was no binding and also when installing the axle hub to make sure it was fully seated prior to setting the bearing pre-load using the fish-scale method. In short, everything seemed to button up as expected during reassembly. The front wheels were re-installed and torqued to factory spec for alloy rims (76 ft. lbs.)
After the rebuild I drove the truck for approximately 100 miles to make sure everything was working as it should and then embarked on a 1900 mile road trip that took me and my family in a loop from western Washington through eastern Oregon, central Idaho, southwestern Montana, northern Idaho and back into western Washington. It was mostly highway driving with some forest service roads to get us to some of the camping spots (i.e. no rough 4x4 terrain).
For the majority of the trip the truck handled as expected. Every so often I would hear a scraping noise coming from what sounded like the right front when making a left hand turn. I chalked it up to being a the dust shield scraping against the newly installed rotor.
During the last leg of the trip (Post Falls, ID to North Bend, WA) I notice a wobbling sensation (felt like a flat tire) when getting back onto the freeway. It stopped once we got onto the freeway but I felt it again while exiting the freeway in Ellensburg to refuel. Those of you familiar with this drive will know that, with a few exceptions, the drive from Post Falls to Ellensburg is mostly flat and straight.
When exiting the vehicle I noticed one of my front driver side lug nuts lying on the ground. Upon further inspection, and to my absolute horror, I discovered that in addition to the lug nut that was lying on the ground I had a wheel stud that was completely snapped of, was missing another lug nut, and two of the three lug nuts that were remaining on the wheel were loosened to the point were I was able to remove them from the wheel using only my hand. The wheel was so loose that the five remaining wheel studs had begun to grind away at the lug holes in the aluminum rims. I suspect that this force is what caused one of the studs to snap. Essentially, I was extremely fortunate that I didn't loose the wheel completely while driving down the freeway at 70 MPH. I re-torqued the remaining four lug nuts back on to the wheel and cautiously drove the remaining 70 miles home. Probably not the wisest thing to do but I reasoned that I had driven approximately 2000 miles since the rebuild and approximately 300 miles since first noticing the wobbling sensation (I suspect that most of the lug nuts on that wheel were already loosened by that point) so if I re-torqued the remaining ones I could limp my way home without incident, which was the case.
So that's the long-winded back story and now to my question. Other than not getting the wheel properly installed and torqued properly onto the hub after the axle rebuilt (which I don't think is the case) is there something else inherent to a front axle rebuild that I would cause the lug nuts to loosen by themselves? My only thought is that despite me talking extra care I didn't fully seat the axle hub when reinstalling it and so the bearing pre-load was not set properly and perhaps the wheel bearings are loose. But I would think that something like that would cause issues long before the approximately 1700 miles I drove prior to me noticing the wobbling. I haven't torn into and inspected it yet but I want to know what I should be looking for to make sure this doesn't happen again.
Thanks,
Dave
About three weeks ago I rebuilt the front axle and replaced the front brake pads, rotors, and calipers (one was seized). I followed the FSM procedure supplemented with info from the FAQ. During the axle rebuild I replaced the wheel and trunnion bearings. I also disassembled the birfs from the axles, completely cleaned them and swapped sides. I took special care while installing the the steering arm onto the knuckle to ensure there was no binding and also when installing the axle hub to make sure it was fully seated prior to setting the bearing pre-load using the fish-scale method. In short, everything seemed to button up as expected during reassembly. The front wheels were re-installed and torqued to factory spec for alloy rims (76 ft. lbs.)
After the rebuild I drove the truck for approximately 100 miles to make sure everything was working as it should and then embarked on a 1900 mile road trip that took me and my family in a loop from western Washington through eastern Oregon, central Idaho, southwestern Montana, northern Idaho and back into western Washington. It was mostly highway driving with some forest service roads to get us to some of the camping spots (i.e. no rough 4x4 terrain).
For the majority of the trip the truck handled as expected. Every so often I would hear a scraping noise coming from what sounded like the right front when making a left hand turn. I chalked it up to being a the dust shield scraping against the newly installed rotor.
During the last leg of the trip (Post Falls, ID to North Bend, WA) I notice a wobbling sensation (felt like a flat tire) when getting back onto the freeway. It stopped once we got onto the freeway but I felt it again while exiting the freeway in Ellensburg to refuel. Those of you familiar with this drive will know that, with a few exceptions, the drive from Post Falls to Ellensburg is mostly flat and straight.
When exiting the vehicle I noticed one of my front driver side lug nuts lying on the ground. Upon further inspection, and to my absolute horror, I discovered that in addition to the lug nut that was lying on the ground I had a wheel stud that was completely snapped of, was missing another lug nut, and two of the three lug nuts that were remaining on the wheel were loosened to the point were I was able to remove them from the wheel using only my hand. The wheel was so loose that the five remaining wheel studs had begun to grind away at the lug holes in the aluminum rims. I suspect that this force is what caused one of the studs to snap. Essentially, I was extremely fortunate that I didn't loose the wheel completely while driving down the freeway at 70 MPH. I re-torqued the remaining four lug nuts back on to the wheel and cautiously drove the remaining 70 miles home. Probably not the wisest thing to do but I reasoned that I had driven approximately 2000 miles since the rebuild and approximately 300 miles since first noticing the wobbling sensation (I suspect that most of the lug nuts on that wheel were already loosened by that point) so if I re-torqued the remaining ones I could limp my way home without incident, which was the case.
So that's the long-winded back story and now to my question. Other than not getting the wheel properly installed and torqued properly onto the hub after the axle rebuilt (which I don't think is the case) is there something else inherent to a front axle rebuild that I would cause the lug nuts to loosen by themselves? My only thought is that despite me talking extra care I didn't fully seat the axle hub when reinstalling it and so the bearing pre-load was not set properly and perhaps the wheel bearings are loose. But I would think that something like that would cause issues long before the approximately 1700 miles I drove prior to me noticing the wobbling. I haven't torn into and inspected it yet but I want to know what I should be looking for to make sure this doesn't happen again.
Thanks,
Dave
