My wheel fell off while driving! Major bummer
- Thread starter Sempertoy
- Start date
Sempertoy
Explorer
Ah yes, that is my personal cell phone tower to avoid dropping calls with AT&T. I still drop calls all the time, so I'm not sure if I will continue lugging it around on my rig.
you reminded me of when I lost a wheel on my 1976 Beetle...when I was in college...
the pin in the middle of the axle was rusted out and broke, and the central nut eventually unscrewed itself...so I lost the wheel, with the brake drum still attached to it!
It was quite an experience. the rear of the car started sliding left and right like if it was on ice, and I had no more brake....luckily compression is pretty good on an old Beetle when you down-shift in first gear.
it tooks us a couple hours to find the wheel. I could not imagine how fast these go! the wheel had gone down a ditch then rolled on the other side and jumped the fence, then continued rolling a good 500 meters in the field, passing right between a house and a barn.
I will always remember that day...
the pin in the middle of the axle was rusted out and broke, and the central nut eventually unscrewed itself...so I lost the wheel, with the brake drum still attached to it!
It was quite an experience. the rear of the car started sliding left and right like if it was on ice, and I had no more brake....luckily compression is pretty good on an old Beetle when you down-shift in first gear.
it tooks us a couple hours to find the wheel. I could not imagine how fast these go! the wheel had gone down a ditch then rolled on the other side and jumped the fence, then continued rolling a good 500 meters in the field, passing right between a house and a barn.
I will always remember that day...
sleeoffroad
Adventurer
If all the nuts backed off the studs then I would go with installer error. Was the spacers seated all the way? The hub to spacer fit is tight on the hubcentric flange. If you had corrosion on there and the spacer did not seat properly, then I can see this happening. From the description it seems like that wheel studs are still in place and none of them broke. My guess is that the nuts that hold on the spacer was tightened, but then the spacer seated properly after driving for a while and the nuts became loose. Did you use a torque wrench when installing?
We install a lot of wheel spacers and have never had this happen.
We install a lot of wheel spacers and have never had this happen.
FJR Colorado
Explorer
Using spacers on a vehicle that will travel at highway speeds is bad, bad policy. Period.
I've been round and round on this subject on other forums and frankly, have no desire to do that here. But this is perfect example of what can happen.
I don't think I've ever seen a spacer manufacturer that officially sanctions them for highway use. If you use them on the highway, you put yourself, your passengers and all vehicles around you in danger.
I've been round and round on this subject on other forums and frankly, have no desire to do that here. But this is perfect example of what can happen.
I don't think I've ever seen a spacer manufacturer that officially sanctions them for highway use. If you use them on the highway, you put yourself, your passengers and all vehicles around you in danger.
redthies
Renaissance Redneck
I lost a wheel off my Tundra from a spacer. Toyota dealer had just replaced an axle shaft on warranty. They put the studs from my old axle in the new one. Toyota probably should have said "with the studs just being hammered into the new shaft, best to retorque in a few hundred". PO had installed spacers, which I had forgotten about. I felt the wobble, checked all my lugs, and a couple of miles later watched a 35" MT roll down the highway into oncoming traffic. If not for the spacer, i would have found loose lugs on the wheel. Instead, the loose lugs were on the spacer, hidden behind the wheel. This was while towing a very heavy trailer through the super twisty, redwood lined highway out to Fort Bragg Ca. If any of you have driven this stretch, you know it is not a good road for a trailer, let alone one with a three legged tow rig. New were very lucky nobody was killed.
Long and short, Toyota refused to help with $2800 repair to Tundra, due to "non oem parts". Read "spacers". They are a BAD idea for more than one reason. Just buy proper offset wheels and do it right the first time!
Long and short, Toyota refused to help with $2800 repair to Tundra, due to "non oem parts". Read "spacers". They are a BAD idea for more than one reason. Just buy proper offset wheels and do it right the first time!
Driver-Navigator
Explorer
Yikes, glad to hear that you are OK and no one was hurt. Glad the LC is intact too!
That SUX!!! My buddy had a wheel come off his 80 while going down the highway last year (non spacer related). He ended up needing a new rear axle. I hope it doesnt end up being an expensive fix for you!
The subject of spacers is like the argument of solid axle vs. IFS. there are pros and cons to both sides and no one ever wins the argument. I am also running Just Diff's 1 1/4" adapter/spacers and have had no problems. I use blue thread lock on them and recheck every so often. However, I will be going to 10mm spacers soon....
The subject of spacers is like the argument of solid axle vs. IFS. there are pros and cons to both sides and no one ever wins the argument. I am also running Just Diff's 1 1/4" adapter/spacers and have had no problems. I use blue thread lock on them and recheck every so often. However, I will be going to 10mm spacers soon....
MoGas
Central Scrutinizer
Wrong.
95+ with factory alloy wheels use shank style lug nuts. The FJ Car wheels are steel, so those should be acorn.
yohavos
Member
Glenn-BJ74
New member
The instructions for the Spidertrax spacers I have are to red locktight them and torque to 80 ft-lbs - no more. I am surprised how few people seem to read the installation instructions - I often hear "well I cranked up the impact gun on them". Over torquing them can pull the steel studs through the aluminum billet. All the failures I have seen can be traced back to improper installation procedure.
I check them every wheel rotation (5,000 km) and they are tight.
I check them every wheel rotation (5,000 km) and they are tight.
Sempertoy
Explorer
Well at least your spacers came with install instructions. Mine came in a box, no invoice, no instructions or anything. I will be applying loctite this week before driving on them any more.
Driver-Navigator
Explorer
Looks like they have instructions, FAQs, etc. up on their website. One of their spacer FAQs mentions "the included red thread locker" or something to that effect. I might be irritated if my spacers were supposed to include instructions & Loctite but didn't.
At least you can say you drove your Cruiser 'til the wheels fell off!
