I don't know if this was a fluke or what but I noticed a vibration in the front end about a week ago and went out this evening to check out the basics. I know I need a tire rotation but this was getting progressively worse much faster than a tire that needs rotated. It's dark out this evening so I knew I probably wouldn't see much, or at least I EXPECTED not to see much. I didn't think I'd be pulling off my tire sans tools. I had my truck in the shop about a month ago getting the upper/lower ball joints done and it rode great afterwards, no issues. Now out of nowhere, I have 4 sheared off lugs, 2 missing lug nuts and 2 BARELY holding the wheel on. Is this something I should take up with them or can this happen from wheeling? I did some hard wheeling this past weekend in 4 low trying to get up some icy roads in the backwoods of PA.

Not really sure what happened, just glad I didn't have any of my 3 kids with me had anything happened.

Need some advice if I should take it up with the shop (who I really do trust) or just fix it myself and be glad nothing major happened?

 

If you trust the shop, and are familiar with the folks there, bring it to their attention. They might take care of it completely, go in halves, or blow you off, but they need to make sure they are checking the torque on all wheels they have removed. Could have been a HUGE liability for them if they were the last ones to touch it.

 

Last wheel removal is the likely culprit... So I'd take it up with the shop. They may be totally trust-worthy but everyone makes mistakes. If they are that solid, then they will stand behind it. Sounds like they forgot to torque the lug nuts.

Find 2 more lug nuts and tighten down those 4 as you GENTLY drive to the shop....

 

when u say you were wheelin..

is there any chance u stuffed ur wheelstuds into some unseen ground level object or frozen tree stump ??

a spinning tire stud aint gunna take to meeting a frozen tree very well..

if u didnt feel any wheel vibration after taking the vehicle from the shop its unlikely it left there with a loose wheel..

but if u like the place i'd still take it there, tell em what happened and ask their opinion.. see were they stand and try to keep things freindly..

either way u DEF. need to get it fixed...

 

I agree with all of the above. Also, if it really is a good shop and trustworthy people, they will probably want to know about it so they can avoid something like this in the future. Mistakes happen and thankfully, nothing serious like a wreck or injuries resulted from it. I would definitely let them know about it though. Good luck.

 

Let them know. Anything can happen. But do it in an un-accusing way. I would take care of it at my shop. In fact I have....

I watched a tech impact lug nuts on a customer car, then another tech went behind him and torqued them. Two weeks later a guy came back in with sheared off lug nuts. We took car of it, and advised him of our procedure. Like I said, anything can happen.

 

I have an aversion to having an impact wrench used to tighten the nuts on wheel studs. The sharp force of an impact wrench will fracture the studs. An old fashion 4 way lug wrench followed by a torque wrench is the best way to set the nuts on the wheel without damage to either the studs or the wheel IMO. Yes the impact wrench is faster but a 4 way only takes a couple of minutes longer to use. Speed leads to damage. Also if the nut is cross threaded you will feel it with a 4 way wrench but an impact wrench will just ruin the stud and nut.

 

I suppose. I think that is more a case of over tightening. I find nothing wrong with installing the nuts by hand, running them on with the impact, and bringing them up to torque with the wrench.

In this case the wheel came loose, being the point, as in the OP's statement even though I know they were fastened properly. They break from being forced over sideways by the weight of the car.

Hey, the factory impacts them on, but their "gun" probably costs $50,000 or more!

 

I've seen under tightened lugs nuts cause lug shearing and loss of a wheel.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Redford, I think you're onto something there.

I spoke to the shop owner this morning and he swore up and down that his brother (who's the head certified mechanic) double checks torqueing the lugs down and that they use a checklist when a job is complete. I told him I wasn't doubting him but that I didn't really understand how it could've happened otherwise. He asked if I thought someone might've loosened them and I told him of course there's a chance, there's alot of whacko environmentalists that might not like my truck, but I live in a new neighborhood that's full of dead ends so we don't get alot of traffic. And the parking lot at my work is monitored by security (which doesn't mean much). Anyways, he said we'd get it figured out and to bring it in so after the holidays I'm going to take it in and see what he does with it. As others have mentioned, I think the right thing to do would be for him to pick up the tab but I imagine it's not going to cost alot to replace them if he does charge me.

To be continued....

 

Do ask what value they used to torque down your lug nuts. I've caught shops trying to tell me the lug nuts only need to be tightened to 80 lb/ft. I had to show one shop owner the manual where it said the lug nuts need to be tightened to 150 lb/ft.

 

the only thing I have to add to this thread, is that you may be able to tell if they were too loose or too tight by the type of fracture on the lugs that broke.

they will either be shear or tensile fractures.

overtightening would most likely stretch the studs, and once they stretch past their elastic point, don't have enough tensile strength to hold the wheel against the hub flange.

undertightening would allow a wobble in the wheel. some lugs might back themselves off and disappear. Once enough lugs (all except 2 actually) back off enough to allow the wheel to pivot around the line that those two points make the wheel will wear against the studs. The impact of the wobbling might cause tension fractures, but the wobbling itself would wear against the holes in the wheel itself.

in short, check the holes that the fractured studs were in...if there is apparent wear from the wheel rubbing against the studs, it is likely that they were never properly tightened.

I wouldn't blame the guy doing it too much, unless it's a common problem...humans get distracted sometimes.

 

most shops that use impact wrenchs to tighten wheels use the torque to yeild socket extensions designed specifcaly for tightening wheels..

they have special colors depending on what torque value is required..i dont have a problem using this type of method to tighten wheels faster

but using a basic socket with a impact wrench def. leaves room for overtorqueing studs...

 

Too often the problem with wheels coming off is under tightening. Overtorqueing can lead to other issues, like difficulty in removing the wheel during a flat tire, warped rotors etc. On most vehicles, especially the superduties, it takes a lot to actually twist a stud off. If the OP was missing some, this is definitely the case. Only smaller cars, ones where the recommended torque is 60 to 80 ft lbs seem to suffer broken hardware from over zealous impacting.

Torque sticks are a reasonable effort to prevent over torquing but are dependent on a lot of factors and shouldn't be relied upon to make sure the wheel is adequately tight. IMO the should always be followed with a torque wrench. And again, on a superduty, 150 ft lbs is a fair amount of torque.

For those of you who didn't know, later model ford trucks have the torque value stamped on the washer part of the lug nut. I think this was done since some trucks took 12mm studs and others took 14mm studs and there is a difference in the amount of required torque.

 

AGREE AGREE AGREE!!! I've double checked torque sticks an not happy with results.

Also, did you check other wheel(S)? May want to use a torque wrench to check first for a idea of how tight they were

Simpson Tire at New Kensington bridge is a great guy to use!