The same wheel came off off my Toyota truck. I was running trail gear 1.5" spacers, I did my rear brakes, torqued them, drove to moab and back to provo Utah twice, I didn't re torque my wheels, but it wobbled like hell, I looked it over, didn't see anything, drove on, next thing I know is my wheel is flying by me, ripped off my flare as well. I talked to the guy where I bought them, and apparently that's one of the risks of wheel spacers. It's the studs on the actual aluminum spacer that loose their torque. The spacer is fine since it is bolted to the factory studs. I too hate spacers and have learned my lesson.
Wheel fell off while driving
- Thread starter devildogcruiser25
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The issue is the spacer and the retorque required for the spacer. In the 20 years you have been rotating tires, how many had spacers? Can I guess none? In the 24 years I've been rotating my tires can you guess how many spacers I've had before the ones on my 60? If you guessed none you would be correct. I never had an issue until the spacers. The OP didn't have an issue til spacers. My friend's 4Runner didn't have an issue til spacers. My friend's 4Runner wasn't retorqued at all, wheels started coming off. Me, completely forgot to retorque one tire, oh wait... tire almost came off. The OP....hey I see a trend. The three of us did not install the spacers correctly in one way or another, either initial torque, retorque, Locktite or some combination of the three.
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- #23
Yep that's the plan, loctite them all down nice and snug, and I'll check them after 50 miles.
So on to my next question, do wobbly wheel bearings mean a front end rebuild? Or can I just replace the bearings?
Also does anyone have any experience putting flares back on? There is one good mount left after that accident. I'm thinking maybe some sort of adhesive or silicone or something.
So on to my next question, do wobbly wheel bearings mean a front end rebuild? Or can I just replace the bearings?
Also does anyone have any experience putting flares back on? There is one good mount left after that accident. I'm thinking maybe some sort of adhesive or silicone or something.
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- #25
dagwood85 said:
Thanks. But it seems loctite is a common solution? Why would it be a bad idea?
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^^^ That would be my guess. Proper torque is important for all critical fasteners.
If you intend to work on critical fasteners, get and use a torque wrench, it is the only way to know that the fastener is at the proper tension. All fasteners have a yield point, so it only takes one significant over torque event to permanently ruin the fastener.
When installing new wheels or spacers, the shape of the flat surface that touches the hub often differs from from the old one. The face of the hub should be cleaned of any rust, debris, paint, etc, so the new wheel/spacer will sit flat/solid to the hub. If there is debris between them, the chance of the connection failing is high.
I have run/installed tons of spacers, never had an issue. I clean the hub surface, torque the spacer lugs to 100tf/lb, install the wheel and torque to the spec for the type of lugs. Drive 50-100mi, remove the wheels and recheck torque. The lugs should not move, if they do there is a problem, debris on the mounting surface, stretched studs, etc.
I would never run loc-tite on wheel studs. Properly torqued lugs, that are in good condition will never come loose,,, EVER. Using adhesive on the threads makes the torque recheck useless and it is the best indicator/conformation of a solid connection. If the lug is glued to the stud, the stud could be stretching, the spacer could have shifted, etc, causing the connection to be loose and still click at torque spec due to the adhesive. If the lugs need to be removed, will most likely ruin the studs, due to the force required to turn them off exceeding the yield point of the fastener.
Did you clean the surface where the spacer is sitting on? If you dont clean out the misc junk you will have problems. My Allpro spacers called for a higher torque above factory. I think if your running brand new spacers they should be rechecked. Every time i pull my wheels off i usually recheck torque and have never found one loose.
there really is a lot more to it than just meets the eye with bolts and nuts, despite most of us taking those for granted. Materials, shape of thread, shape of nut face, stresses, deformation etc. I'd rather not stray from strictly OEM parts, if I can avoid it. Having an aftermarket spacer would likely greatly increase the chances of something going wrong, either by user error or due to design, I think.
I have no spacer, but I do check all my lugs everytime I'm off for a longish road trip or a wheeling trip. Never found a loose one, and that's with steelies and conical lugnuts (after having checked the nut face angle) but both from Toyota. But I'll keep checking. Takes all of a minute with a torque wrench. (And of course, I never let anybody else touch those, of if they do I make sure they use a hand torque wrench and I check afterwards.)
I have no spacer, but I do check all my lugs everytime I'm off for a longish road trip or a wheeling trip. Never found a loose one, and that's with steelies and conical lugnuts (after having checked the nut face angle) but both from Toyota. But I'll keep checking. Takes all of a minute with a torque wrench. (And of course, I never let anybody else touch those, of if they do I make sure they use a hand torque wrench and I check afterwards.)
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Yup, after i got my new tires on yesterday i rechecked torque on all of them and they turned a bit. I was hoping they werent going to torque them to steel wheel specs.
Also, fastners are a whole nother animal in itself. Ever see a NASA standard torque spec sheet for hardware, its pretty insane.
