Near disaster!!!

[Jaysea]

In the last few days the camper has been in getting new hubs and wheels installed.  So with the weekend here it was off to The bush to test it out.

We hit the freeway then the narrow windy Bells Line Road up the Blue Mountains.  Heading towards Bilpin all of a sudden there is a large bang from the rear.  The wife lets out a yelp and looking in the side mirror something is definitely not right. 

Washing speed off the rig a small opening on the shoulder opens up and I manage to wrestle us off the road.  Hoping out this is what I find........





Yep - one missing wheel 

Looking at the hub there are four studs left and two pulled clean out of the hub. 

Walking back down the road I find the wheel off in a paddock. The wheel has the two remaining studs with nuts still on them.

With the hub stuffed only one option and that is a tow.

Luckily we are with the extended care with NRMA who were fantastic and organised everything.

So we are sitting at a friends place in Bathurst thinking how lucky we're are.

- glad it didn't happen while doing 100km along the freeway
- lucky the wheel did not hit another oncoming car
- luck it was not while we were coming up the windy narrow part of the mountains
- luck we had a spot to pull up well off the road
- luck we have such a good car that it stuck to the road so well

I will leave it to another day to get angry about the company that fitted the wheels and what the cause may have been.

The family are safe and that is the most important thing.

[Swannie]

Wow very lucky. At least everyone is safe
Swannie


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[muzza01]

Have you contacted the guys that fitted news hubs yet. Sounds like one hell of a coincidence.
Thank God no one got hurt, that is the main thing.

[GraemeL]

WOW! Jaysea, you certainly were very lucky and I am glad nothing bad took place, it certainly could have been a lot worse.

I have seen those Skidzz and have been thinking about those for mine, they bolt onto the axle and are designed for situations like yours.

http://www.skidzz.com.au/

[berlitza]

Wow dam lucky,Would have thought the remaining 4 studs may have been just enough to hold the wheel on, I would guess there buggered aswell

[Talawana5]

Yes luck was on your side thank goodness. Happy that you are all well, that is the main thing.

Cheers

[GeoffA]

Wow!! Great that everyone's OK. Could have been a lot worse.

Seems odd that 2 studs were pulled from the hub and 4 remain.
I guess 4 wheel nuts have disappeared, and that left 2 to carry the load.

Any brand on the new hubs?
Some hubs are much lighter than others.

Were new wheels and nuts used?

Good luck sorting it out.

Cheers,

[fuji]

Slater and Gordon?

[speewa158]

It sounds like a timely warning to all . When work is done Check Check & recheck . Sometimes standards today are not what they used to be . l am prepping for a tour , a solid once over . Checked the bearings only to find new grease in the front bearing , but dark used grease in the rear . Its the old wack a handful of grease in to make it look good trick .
You might be on the money Fuji , the no win no cost clause could be handy ,, Climb into them Big Time 
Glad you are all well 

[D4D]

Wow you had a lucky escape, that could have ended badly. Did you check the nuts prior to leaving? What wheels did you have fitted?

[Nomad]

I hope your bought yourself a Caskett Ticket that day.

Well done controlling the stop.

Cheers Nomad.

[speewa158]

Nomad you mean Lottery ticket by the look of it almost got a casket ...

[KingBilly]

Wow, every CT owners worst nightmare.  Glad there were no injuries.  Be interested to hear what the hub and tyre fitters have to say.  Bit of a coincidence.

Hey speewa, Nomad would be a Queenslander (watch us roar on Wednesday).  We had the Golden Casket Agency up here long before they were called lottery tickets by them mexicans 

KB

[Black Diamond]

Geez mate how lucky is that.

[letsgo]

Wow, glad you are all ok. You have great happy hour story to tell

[Jaysea]

Thanks for the support.

The trailer is back with the company. I made them stay back last night until the tow truck arrived.  They have been very apologetic and said they have already ordered new replacements and will have a good look over the next few days to see what may have gone wrong.

Rims are original toyota factory and all studs and nuts were also toyota genuine.

My assessment is that they mustn't have set the nuts properly and over short distance they worked loose. Once a few nuts dropped all the pressure was on remaining 2 which then pulled out of the hub.

What is annoying is that when I picked it up I thought about checking the nuts so walked around and tested them with my hand.  In hindsight this was obviously not enough.  Next time I'm carrying my torque wrench and checking myself.

Interesting discussion with the tow ruck driver how common this is with trailers. He gets lots of call outs for boat and caravans.   He said people never check them and it only takes one to come loose to set up enough vibration for the others to then work loose.

I will definitely be checking mine more.  Highly recommend you add it to you checklist.

Will let you know what they say.

[Tractor88]

That really makes you sit up and take notice. Glad you and yours are all ok after that Jaysea. From now on I will regularly be checking the wheel nuts. Can anyone give me a heads up as to what torque the nuts should be done up to? Knowing me I'd go too tight and break them.
Cheers
Daz.

[McGirr]

I know the feeling. On the cape trip in 2009 the rear wheel came of the cruiser and luckily I was only traveling at 30 klm an hour. $5000 damage as it hit the rear panel on the cruiser. Having members with me we got the wheel back on and more studs at Seisa.

Before the trip I had the wheels rotated by a tyre company. Now on every trip the nuts on camper and car are always checked non stop.

Mark

[D4D]

Rims are original toyota factory and all studs and nuts were also toyota genuine.

Alloy? Hmm I am sending up OE nuts for my new camper, didn't think about the studs...

[GeoffA]

.........Can anyone give me a heads up as to what torque the nuts should be done up to? Knowing me I'd go too tight and break them.
Cheers
Daz.

You won't break anything with wheel brace, and a good bit of muscle should be enough.
Do them up in a diagonal pattern, and check with a circular pass.

I yell out "click" when I reckon they're tight enough.....

[fishfinder]

That really makes you sit up and take notice. Glad you and yours are all ok after that Jaysea. From now on I will regularly be checking the wheel nuts. Can anyone give me a heads up as to what torque the nuts should be done up to? Knowing me I'd go too tight and break them.
Cheers
Daz.

nip up as tight as you can with a wheel brace and the re check with a breaker bar

[HKB Electronics]

I'm a bit surprised they pulled out, from what I've seen of car hubs the studs have a mushroom shaped
head and the studs are pressed in from the rear. It is virtual impossible for them to pull out unless
they were to break. Even greatly over tightening will usually result in the nut stripping or the threaded
section breaking.

I would have a close look at the hubs if the studs are just welded in and don't have "heads" on them
I would be looking for a different hub setup.

Cheers
Leigh

[Jaysea]

.

I would have a close look at the hubs if the studs are just welded in and don't have "heads" on them
I would be looking for a different hub setup.

Cheers
Leigh

No definitely proper studs as I supplied them.  You can see where it has pulled the two of them clear through. 

Here is a bit of interesting reading

As the nut is tightened, the stud or bolt stretches very slightly because it is in tension. Even when correctly tightened however, repetitive side loads not only can but do cause the thread within the nut to move very slightly from side to side. The thread being spiral and marginally stretched, such sideways movement momentarily reduces the frictional contact between the stud and the nut: this minutely and momentarily relieves tension in the stretched stud. The vectored forces thus act as a ratcheting mechanism that, in some circumstances, not only enables, but actually causes the nut to undo.

While obviously rare as I am sure many here do not regularly check their studs, it is never fun being that one in a thousand case. 

[nbd73]

Happened to me once in my old series III Land Rover: about an hour out from Canberra on a very cold, drizzly sat arvo in winter I felt a vibration and stopped to check all the wheels. Didn't notice anything so got back in and drove off. About 500m down the road heard a bang, felt impact and back passenger corner of vehicle dropped. Said to my mate in passenger seat "blowout, bugger" to which he replied "um, look out my window" and beside the vehicle rolling along in the scrub was my back wheel & tyre. Managed to recover 3 of the 5 nuts by pure fluke, had 3 others holding the spare onto the back door so with spare in cargo area was able to keep going, not before having to chock the landie up as the standard jack wouldn't lift the damn thing high enuff to get the wheel back on. Raided a handful of newly installed guide posts from the road side, had to smash the reflectors off to keep the posts level, but what else to do? Hub had a flat spot where the braking effect had worn it away, didn't care as the vehicle was a weekend play toy bought for a pittance. Never checked the wheel nut tension, and this thread is a timely reminder to do so.

[briann532]

I love rattle guns.................

NOT