JohnOfTheJungle
Member
I had been driving earlier in the day and thought maybe the steering felt a little loose, but nothing crazy.
Then later that night starting a 2 hr drive to our cabin I get on the highway - sweeping right turn - and feel a wobble, but I’m unsure what to make of it.
Within 5 miles the truck really isn’t feeling stable so I slow down to exit, thinking in the back of my head that my LBJ must be going, then sure enough on the exit ramp there’s a clunk and the truck drops. I thought for sure LBJ, but was surprised when I saw my driver rear wheel laying in the road!
I didn’t take any photos, but here’s footage from my dashcam, you can hear me trying to keep it together, in my head I’m quietly panicking.
Shit happens - YouTube
The damage was minimal - the sliding ground down my brake drum, but not all the way through so it’s fine. The holes where the wheel would mount got a little wallowed out, so that’s a permanent spare now.
The lug nuts apparently were loose because I found 5 of them next to the wheel on the ground - one stud snapped (must have been the only lug holding the wheel on) and another bent. I was able to hammer the bent lug straight enough to mount the wheel so I could get off the road and onto a flatbed for a short tow home.
The next day I replaced all studs with dorman’s from advance auto and and drove the 100 miles to my cabin without issue.
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So, I’ve been racking my brain trying to think of what could have happened. All other wheels lug nuts were tight. I last did a tire rotation in November - 3,000 miles ago, I’m absolutely certain I torqued them all down to 95lb/ft. Before this happened the truck had been parked in Brooklyn while I was out of town for a week. I drove it the day before 40 miles to NJ on the highway and didn’t notice anything strange.
My friend suspects that someone tampered with my lug nuts. I’d like to believe that, but my locking lug nut was also loose, and I find it unlikely someone would go through that effort and not steal my wheels. I also have VTX wheels and special lugnuts that you need a special tool to loosen, I didn’t notice any signs of tampering on the lug nuts themselves and the threads looked fine (ie not stripped).
Other possibility is that no shop can seem to get my tires balanced - so there is vibration at certain speeds. Could that be enough to do this? I doubt it since I’ve been running this tire wheel combo for 2 yrs 20k+ miles.
Thing I’m thinking most likely - Maybe I got a little overzealous with my first round of tightening the lug nuts and tightened the first one too much, pulling that side too tight, unevenly. Thus, the wheel would not have been mounted flush and could have had some vibration. Then over time the lug nuts slowly worked themselves loose.
The only other thing could be these aftermarket wheels and lug nuts, maybe I need some extended lug nuts. Here’s my wheels ROGUE SL | GUNMETAL - VTX Wheels
And lug nuts 50MM SPLINE LUG NUT - VTX Wheels
I counted the turns on the lug nuts and I’m getting about 8-9 turns with my fingers, then a few more before they’re fully torqued. Rule of thumb seems to be 7-8 turns, so it should be enough thread engagement.
Sucks because my wife really doesn’t trust the runner anymore, and in the back of my mind I’m always worried about the LBJ’s failing (I replaced mine with OEM 50k miles ago).
I know this particular failure has nothing to do with the age of the vehicle, but I can’t convince her the runner is a great, reliable vehicle, since it is old and has been through a lot.
Anyway - does anyone have any thoughts on what may have caused this? I know I’ll be checking my lug nuts before every trip
Then later that night starting a 2 hr drive to our cabin I get on the highway - sweeping right turn - and feel a wobble, but I’m unsure what to make of it.
Within 5 miles the truck really isn’t feeling stable so I slow down to exit, thinking in the back of my head that my LBJ must be going, then sure enough on the exit ramp there’s a clunk and the truck drops. I thought for sure LBJ, but was surprised when I saw my driver rear wheel laying in the road!
I didn’t take any photos, but here’s footage from my dashcam, you can hear me trying to keep it together, in my head I’m quietly panicking.
Shit happens - YouTube
The damage was minimal - the sliding ground down my brake drum, but not all the way through so it’s fine. The holes where the wheel would mount got a little wallowed out, so that’s a permanent spare now.
The lug nuts apparently were loose because I found 5 of them next to the wheel on the ground - one stud snapped (must have been the only lug holding the wheel on) and another bent. I was able to hammer the bent lug straight enough to mount the wheel so I could get off the road and onto a flatbed for a short tow home.
The next day I replaced all studs with dorman’s from advance auto and and drove the 100 miles to my cabin without issue.
————————-
So, I’ve been racking my brain trying to think of what could have happened. All other wheels lug nuts were tight. I last did a tire rotation in November - 3,000 miles ago, I’m absolutely certain I torqued them all down to 95lb/ft. Before this happened the truck had been parked in Brooklyn while I was out of town for a week. I drove it the day before 40 miles to NJ on the highway and didn’t notice anything strange.
My friend suspects that someone tampered with my lug nuts. I’d like to believe that, but my locking lug nut was also loose, and I find it unlikely someone would go through that effort and not steal my wheels. I also have VTX wheels and special lugnuts that you need a special tool to loosen, I didn’t notice any signs of tampering on the lug nuts themselves and the threads looked fine (ie not stripped).
Other possibility is that no shop can seem to get my tires balanced - so there is vibration at certain speeds. Could that be enough to do this? I doubt it since I’ve been running this tire wheel combo for 2 yrs 20k+ miles.
Thing I’m thinking most likely - Maybe I got a little overzealous with my first round of tightening the lug nuts and tightened the first one too much, pulling that side too tight, unevenly. Thus, the wheel would not have been mounted flush and could have had some vibration. Then over time the lug nuts slowly worked themselves loose.
The only other thing could be these aftermarket wheels and lug nuts, maybe I need some extended lug nuts. Here’s my wheels ROGUE SL | GUNMETAL - VTX Wheels
And lug nuts 50MM SPLINE LUG NUT - VTX Wheels
I counted the turns on the lug nuts and I’m getting about 8-9 turns with my fingers, then a few more before they’re fully torqued. Rule of thumb seems to be 7-8 turns, so it should be enough thread engagement.
Sucks because my wife really doesn’t trust the runner anymore, and in the back of my mind I’m always worried about the LBJ’s failing (I replaced mine with OEM 50k miles ago).
I know this particular failure has nothing to do with the age of the vehicle, but I can’t convince her the runner is a great, reliable vehicle, since it is old and has been through a lot.
Anyway - does anyone have any thoughts on what may have caused this? I know I’ll be checking my lug nuts before every trip
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