Wheel Comes Completely Off While Driving!!

[5picker]

Originally Posted by spurticus

********Update #2******

Contacted the service manager today. He immediately apologized for the “miscommunication” between their folks. Advised the tire would be replaced as soon as possible with a Goodyear Endurance to match the rest of he tires.

Once that is done, I should finally be good to go.

And the one that carried ALL the weight on that side when the wheel come off?
Do you even know which tire that is at this point?

[ependydad]

This isn't to point blame- it's to help me learn from what happened to avoid it happening to me. That said, I'm also curious about the re-torquing them after installation.

It sounds like the storage lot is only 5 miles from the dealer. Do you have a best guess as to how far was it from the storage lot to where the wheel came off?

[lbrjet]

Simple Ependydad,

If you take off a tire and put it back on, torque it to spec then check the torque after 50, 200, 500 and then every 1000 miles or so. I have a sticker on mine that says 50, 100, 200 and then before each trip. That would certainly work too.

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by lbrjet

Simple Ependydad,

If you take off a tire and put it back on, torque it to spec then check the torque after 50, 200, 500 and then every 1000 miles or so. I have a sticker on mine that says 50, 100, 200 and then before each trip. That would certainly work too.

X2!

[Jakieboy]

Tire woes on several of the TT's I have owned seem to have been a pattern. All four "Mission" tires on our 24-foot Komfort TT failed in less than 1-1/2 years' service from new. We upgraded to a Cardinal 5th Wheel, and last week two more Goodyear Marathon tires failed. Based on the response from several participants on this website, we have replaced all four tires with Goodyear "Endurance" tires, size ST 235/R-80/16. Goodyear claims they are Made in the USA. If not, there is a lawsuit coming their way.

[spurticus]

Originally Posted by ependydad

This isn't to point blame- it's to help me learn from what happened to avoid it happening to me. That said, I'm also curious about the re-torquing them after installation.

It sounds like the storage lot is only 5 miles from the dealer. Do you have a best guess as to how far was it from the storage lot to where the wheel came off?

Not exactly sure. My guess is 40-50 miles of driving.

[youroo]

Originally Posted by Jakie-Boy

Tire woes on several of the TT's I have owned seem to have been a pattern. All four "Mission" tires on our 24-foot Komfort TT failed in less than 1-1/2 years' service from new. We upgraded to a Cardinal 5th Wheel, and last week two more Goodyear Marathon tires failed. Based on the response from several participants on this website, we have replaced all four tires with Goodyear "Endurance" tires, size ST 235/R-80/16. Goodyear claims they are Made in the USA. If not, there is a lawsuit coming their way.

Sorry this is NOT a TIRE issue thread! Youroo!!

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by lbrjet

Simple Ependydad,

If you take off a tire and put it back on, torque it to spec then check the torque after 50, 200, 500 and then every 1000 miles or so. I have a sticker on mine that says 50, 100, 200 and then before each trip. That would certainly work too.

Originally Posted by OldCoot

X2!

^^ Ok, I do that but actually at about 50 mile increments until they stop taking torque.

Originally Posted by spurticus

Not exactly sure. My guess is 40-50 miles of driving.

Man, that's brutal. You're the second "wheel came off" person that I know. One was a good buddy who actually stays on top of maintenance. He actually fixed his roadside to keep going that day.

[joshuajim]

Originally Posted by Jakie-Boy

With a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford, and a 38-year career in the design, manufacture, testing, and deployment of complex mechanical systems, plus nearly 40 years of RV camping experience, please forgive me for putting in my two cents on this issue.


1. The wheel/tire assembly is bolted to the carrier (drum or disc carrier) with 5, 6, or 8 threaded lugs with the same number of lug nuts.


2. The mechanical stiffness of the wheel carrier is much higher than the mechanical stiffness of the lugs and lug nuts.


3. The wheel/tire assembly is in contact with the road, and is subject to deflections and load changes while the vehicle is travelling down the road.


4. The dynamic forces of these deflections are transmitted to the wheel carrier by the seated back of the wheel itself, and not by the lugs and lug nuts alone.


5. Any deflections of the stiff wheel/carrier assembly, when properly seated, will show up on the relatively flexible lugs as very small stress variations. High levels of stress variations cause fatigue and failure.


6. This is why the wheel lugs should be torqued to the recommended values as this stiffens the entire wheel/carrier assembly and isolates the lugs from damaging stress variations.


7. This is also why each and every lug nut should be properly torqued so that all share the static and dynamic loads equally. A single loose lug nut can result in the loss of a wheel/tire.


8. Always check the torque on every lug nut on every wheel before embarking on a trip. It takes only a few minutes, and it is good exercise!!


9. Always follow a tightening pattern that resembles a 5, 6, or 8-pointed star. Do not simply go around the tire rim from #1 to #5, 6, or whatever. We call this "chasing a gasket".


10. Always torque lug nuts while the RV is planted firmly on the ground. Tires are so much more flexible than wheel/carrier assemblies that they will have no appreciable effect on lug nut torque.


Thank you for your patience.

All good advise, but what you missed is that it takes greater torque than the original value to overcome static resistance. That is, a nut/bolt torqued to 90 FP might require 100 FP to turn.

Just checking a 100 FP tightened nut/bolt will not assure that it is tightened to 100 FP. To do it correctly, you need to back the nut/bolt off and relighted to the proper torque.

Conversely, a nut/bolt over tightened and then checked with the proper torque value will be non-productive.

[Jakieboy]

The key issue here is the relative stiffness of the wheel/hub assembly vs. the relative flexibility of each lug nut and stud. The practice of torqueing each lug nut is primarily to assure that none of the lug nuts have come loose. Most mechanical failures of nut/bolt connections stem from fatigue failure, not static overload. I would never recommend loosening each lug nut before re-torqueing to a specified torque value. Torque is not the best measure of proper pre-load of threaded connections, and loosening lug nuts can re-distribute the load sharing of the total number of fasteners with bad consequences. It also unnecessarily increases wear and tear from friction effects on the threaded connections.

[rockfordroo]

Originally Posted by joshuajim

All good advise, but what you missed is that it takes greater torque than the original value to overcome static resistance. That is, a nut/bolt torqued to 90 FP might require 100 FP to turn.

Just checking a 100 FP tightened nut/bolt will not assure that it is tightened to 100 FP. To do it correctly, you need to back the nut/bolt off and relighted to the proper torque.

Conversely, a nut/bolt over tightened and then checked with the proper torque value will be non-productive.

Checking a 100 FP bolt with a torque wrench set to 100 FP will tell you that it's torqued to "at least" 100 FP. Which is what most of us want to know. Provided you already know you've never over-torque the lug nuts (because you initially torqued them yourself), simply re-checking with a torque wrench WILL ensure they haven't gotten loose, which is the reason MOST of us are checking them.

Now, if you're checking to see if someone else over-torqued them, then yeah, you'd need to loosen them. Of course, I wouldn't call that "checking the torque," I'd call it "re-torquing," or maybe "fixing some else's mistake."

[RobH1954]

they were left loose, I worked in a collision cent for 37 years, and have seen this on cars/trucks and it is from the lug nuts being left too loose- never tightened.I know hindsight is 20/20 BUT a good lug wrench should be stowed in the trailer, and the lugs checked before you leave, same with tire pressure-

[Brother Les]

Originally Posted by RobH1954

they were left loose, I worked in a collision cent for 37 years, and have seen this on cars/trucks and it is from the lug nuts being left too loose- never tightened.I know hindsight is 20/20 BUT a good lug wrench should be stowed in the trailer, and the lugs checked before you leave, same with tire pressure-

The 'fancy' design of the rims on most of these units will not allow a standard lug wrench. Need a thin walled socket to get to the lug nuts.


And I believe the same. lug nuts were never tightened. Tires did a crab walk for a while and sheared the lug bolts.

[gectisme]

Originally Posted by gectisme

On a side note, I just had wheels rotated and a front end alignment done on the truck. When I picked up the truck, Good Year made me sign a note that states I will check the torque on the lug nuts on or before 25 miles. Never seen that before, I wonder if they had some wheels flying off.

Originally Posted by Jmkjr72

Its been on paperwork for over 25 years many times it is just some where on the estimate sheet.

Have to disagree on this one. Last week had 4 new tires put on the truck at Pep Boys, (will never go there again, but that's another story). Went over all the paperwork and it only states for new custom or mag wheels to check the lug nuts at 25 and 100 miles. So not every place does this, that Good Year that made me sign note, was the first time I ever saw it on the paperwork, (I never really looked before and no one else ever made me sign).

[rockfordroo]

Originally Posted by gectisme

Have to disagree on this one. Last week had 4 new tires put on the truck at Pep Boys, (will never go there again, but that's another story). Went over all the paperwork and it only states for new custom or mag wheels to check the lug nuts at 25 and 100 miles. So not every place does this, that Good Year that made me sign note, was the first time I ever saw it on the paperwork, (I never really looked before and no one else ever made me sign).

For most people, they're going to have to drive home and bring it back the next day for Goodyear to check the torque. Very few people actually own torque wrenches. Fewer know how to use them!