Watch out, talk about getting lucky, and Thanks!

[GShail]

Well watch out for improperly torqued lug nuts. Had my tires rotated at Discount Tire before going out on my weekly trip to So. Cal, got 357 miles out of town at 3:00 a. m. and felt a sudden lurch to the right. Luckliy I was only running 65 mph, and luckily there was an exit handy right there and then. Took the exit, coasted to the bottom of the ramp, made it across the intersection and slid in behind some semi trucks. It was pitch black outside, got out and looked under the truck. Nothing broken or leaking. Went around the truck, no blown tires. Hmmm. . . . Truck is parked a bit cockeyed. Need to move it. Truck shifts fine in neutral and clutch feels fine when depressed. I'll just back up a little bit . . . bang! Get out, my dual wheels are laying on the ground, axle and rotor in the dirt. ALL 8 STUDS BROKEN.



Went to sleep in truck.



Wake up and call around, no wheels in Vegas, St. George or anywhere closer than Salt Lake at Hinckley Dodge. Pay for the parts at Hinckley and get them delivered by a buddy who was going down to Vegas anway. Get the parts at 10:00 p. m.



Went to sleep at the little Glendale Hotel 100 yards from where truck is on side of road.



Next day at 8:30 a. m. my TDR buddy MMeir shows up with some differential fluid, a punch, a carpet, some muscle and humour. We get the truck repaired. Can't thank Mark enough for helping me AGAIN! Also thanks Sag2 for responding to the private messages to ensure we did the procedure correctly.





So far . . . so good. Wheels are still on.

Going to go have a talk with Discount Tire.



Your's Truly your lucky TDR brother, George

 

[BLively]

wow! im glad you posted this! just got some tires put on by them saturday. im gonna go check mine right now!

 

[Graphic man]

glad to hear everything went ok for you..... even tho what happened really sucks



nice to hear you had some good help from the TDR guys Oo.



way to go guys !!!!!!!

 

[ENafziger]

Any idea what they might have done wrong? Do you know what they torqued them to?

 

[jnelson]

I was coming back from a hot shot run to Lafayette LA, while i was strolling thru the red lights on 90 I could hear a clanging sound. It would dissappear when I got up to speed. Pulled over, pulled off my RR center cap and 3 lug nuts were layng in the cover and the others were loose. thank you Discount Tire.



Me and a buddy were on our way back from Linn TX, I was towing a Schlumberger Trailer, he was towing his g/n with 16,000 lbs of drilling jars and subs. When we got to the truck stop in Rivirea TX, I casually looked at his right front axle and said "Hey, your tires are gone". 2 new tires, electric brake assembly, hub, bearings, seal, and labor at a price tag of Almost $900. Discount Tire did however pay the entire bill.



They have great prices, but you gotta watch'em.

 

[nickleinonen]

for this reason, i want to do everything myself if i can... then i have no one else to blame for fubar happening. .

 

[CStraface]

Just had my tires and wheels installed at a 4 wheel parts. What do I need to re-torque the lugs too?

 

[DSpears]

i put my 20" tires on about a week and a half ago, i went to the southern part of the state to look at a job, i get about 10 miles from the shop and i hear this clunking sound coming from the drivers side front tire, pull over and all eight nuts are loose, now i put these on with my snap on cordless impact, well i start tighting them with my 3/8" rachet and i notice i am missing a lug nuts, turns out the stud broke off, so i get home and all my wells were loose, not alot but enough to get a turn or two with my breaker bar, NEVER have i had this happen to me, i dunno if someone wanted to steal my wheels and astarted taken them off or what but i am certianly gonna check once or twice a week now.

 

[HighRanger]

Damn, discount tire in desoto just threw some new shoes on my truck. I will be checking them in the morning.

 

[Pawpaw]

I stopped using Discount Tire years ago after they warped two sets of front rotors on my '91 Dodge van. I didn't catch on the first time. Later I caught them just using the impact wrench and just making a "show" of using the torque wrench. The guy never even checked the setting.



After exchanging a few words with the manager :-{} , I never went back.



I told that story on here a year or two ago and was all but called a liar.



Bob

 

[GWoody]

I gotta tell this story, we were in my 91 Dodge 3/4 ton a few years back, pullin a trailer with a pullin truck on the trailer. I felt the left rear of the truck drop, looked in the mirror and seen my left rear tire and wheel about 15 foot in the air. I eased over to the side of the road got out and was looking at the studs. A Toyota pickup pulled up behind me and this guy got out and walked up beside me, I was down on my knees looking under the truck so I didn't see him come up. He said, something came off your truck and hit my windshield. I looked up and he had specks of glass all over his face with little droplets of blood coming out around the glass. He was meeting me and one of the lugnuts, the big heavy chrome ones, went through his windshield just in front of his face but it was traveling at an angle so it missed his head. It went through the back glass and was laying in the bed of his truck. My insurance fixed his truck but if this thing would have hit him in the head he could be dead now. What started the whole fiasco was I had bought tires at Sears and I had stopped by there for a rotation and balance a few days before and they didn't get the wheel tight. I talked to Sears about it and they pointed to the fine print at the bottom of the tire agreement that the owner must retorque after 25 miles. It was an aluminum wheel so it never hurt the studs, I would have thought the drum would have broke but it just rolled. We got new lugnuts, found the wheel down the road about a half mile in a fence row, put it on and on down the road we went. Now I always check the lugnuts after any kind of maintence.

 

[rbattelle]

Wow, these are some scary stories!

GShail, in your case did Discount over torque or under torque the wheels? Probably over torqued, right?

I run mine at 133 ft-lb (factory spec is 135 for aluminum wheels).

Ryan

 

[JVolpe]

Just had my tires and wheels installed at a 4 wheel parts. What do I need to re-torque the lugs too?

I use a local 4WheelParts for tires and lifts. Any time they do tire work of any kind the final check list details the tire lug torque and a request to return in a week to 10 days to re-torque the lugs. I have used these guys for nearly 4 years now for tires, wheels, lift work. This particular bunch have earned my confidence, but I do generally swing back by and have them check the torque on lug nuts. Never hurts to check. Learned this over the years even when I was doing the work myself.

 

[MMeier]

Glad to be of assistance ... again, George! So everything stayed in place for the rest of the trip? Did you make it to your pick up point in time Friday night ?? :-laf

 

[CStraface]

So 135 ft-lb for aluminum wheels, what about steel wheels? More, or less?

 

[rbattelle]

Check your owners manual, but I believe it's 145 for steel wheels.

Ryan

 

[AKaiser]

I use a local 4WheelParts for tires and lifts. Any time they do tire work of any kind the final check list details the tire lug torque and a request to return in a week to 10 days to re-torque the lugs. I have used these guys for nearly 4 years now for tires, wheels, lift work. This particular bunch have earned my confidence, but I do generally swing back by and have them check the torque on lug nuts. Never hurts to check. Learned this over the years even when I was doing the work myself.

My Discount Tire store, Greenwood, IN (suburb town south of Indy) did the same thing essentially, a 100 mile torque check. I bought a Torque Wrench and tool set in Houston at a Sears store on my 7000 mile trip. All the lugs were properly torqued. I checked again in Vegas, some 2000 miles later, good to go.



FYI, in the Army, it is SOP (at least in Europe, apparently) that any long convoy, you check your torque every so many miles, as part of Preventive Maintenance Checks and Services.

 

[CStraface]

Check your owners manual, but I believe it's 145 for steel wheels.



Ryan

The guy at 4 Wheel Parts told me 95 ft/lb's. I thougt this seemed way off.

 

[AKaiser]

135 for aluminum.

 

[BHaden]

I do mine at 145. Steel. I start at 70 and work my way up in 15lb steps. I just rotated mine AFTER Discount re-balanced my fronts and I took 'em on a 100 mile trip. No problems, but it seemed that, even using an air wrench to remove the nuts when I did the rotate, that the nuts came off relatively easy.