Please remember to torque your wheels
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Senior User
Joined: Jun 2011
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Please remember to torque your wheels
Last night I was coming home towing my 28ft trailer with my Ex when I heard a wierd noise. I started to slow down and pull over I was on the express way at the time. I got on the shoulder and slowed down to about 15mph and bang, felt like I got hit. I jumped out and the right rear tire is missing and rotor is on the ground. All the lugs are gone. A couple weeks ago I had that tire off when I was installing my new exhaust. I did torque it when I put it back on but I guess it loosened back up. Please check your wheels often I can only imagine what would have happened if I was going 65 when the wheel came off.
Bob
Bob
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 1,407
Likes: 155
From: Milwaukee, WI
Glad you are OK. It's clear you listen to your vehicle and your gut. Slowing when something sounded strange saved your butt.
Did something similar, forgot to torque a front wheel and drove around for a while before noticing. Since the studs were new, the steel rim just slowly etched away at the studs and by the time I figured it out, the studs were only half there.
I think old studs seem to just shear off. I've noticed our Exursions like to shear off the rear studs...heard a couple of stories about that recently.
I'm thinking of getting those lug nut tabs I've seen on the local buses. Little pointy tabs that will visually show if one is out of place. Dunno ?
Did something similar, forgot to torque a front wheel and drove around for a while before noticing. Since the studs were new, the steel rim just slowly etched away at the studs and by the time I figured it out, the studs were only half there.
I think old studs seem to just shear off. I've noticed our Exursions like to shear off the rear studs...heard a couple of stories about that recently.
I'm thinking of getting those lug nut tabs I've seen on the local buses. Little pointy tabs that will visually show if one is out of place. Dunno ?
Post Fiend
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 11,798
Likes: 14
From: Mt. Shasta California
Something funny there OP, it sounds like they were way too tight or you skipped that wheel. I take mine off and on every winter for -+ 40 years, never torqued them, and never had a problem. They should be about 155 lbs if you like to torque them.
Lead Driver
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 5,420
Likes: 16
From: Ouray, CO
Glad you are ok!!!!
I just rotated the tires on my Ex this weekend.
I torqued them to 165 ft-lbs last time
(with my new new craftsman torque wrench).
DANG, I could barely loosen them. My air wrench couldn't budge them either (ok, not the professional kind, but it's worked great before)
I put them back on and torqued to 150 ft-lbs this time.
Interestingly, when I bought it new, my air wrench had NO trouble
loosening the lug nuts the first time I rotated the tires.
Wonder how tight they were then?
I just rotated the tires on my Ex this weekend.
I torqued them to 165 ft-lbs last time
(with my new new craftsman torque wrench).
DANG, I could barely loosen them. My air wrench couldn't budge them either (ok, not the professional kind, but it's worked great before)
I put them back on and torqued to 150 ft-lbs this time.
Interestingly, when I bought it new, my air wrench had NO trouble
loosening the lug nuts the first time I rotated the tires.
Wonder how tight they were then?
Post Fiend
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 11,798
Likes: 14
From: Mt. Shasta California
Glad you are ok!!!!
I just rotated the tires on my Ex this weekend.
I torqued them to 165 ft-lbs last time
(with my new new craftsman torque wrench).
DANG, I could barely loosen them. My air wrench couldn't budge them either (ok, not the professional kind, but it's worked great before)
I put them back on and torqued to 150 ft-lbs this time.
Interestingly, when I bought it new, my air wrench had NO trouble
loosening the lug nuts the first time I rotated the tires.
Wonder how tight they were then?
I just rotated the tires on my Ex this weekend.
I torqued them to 165 ft-lbs last time
(with my new new craftsman torque wrench).
DANG, I could barely loosen them. My air wrench couldn't budge them either (ok, not the professional kind, but it's worked great before)
I put them back on and torqued to 150 ft-lbs this time.
Interestingly, when I bought it new, my air wrench had NO trouble
loosening the lug nuts the first time I rotated the tires.
Wonder how tight they were then?
Junior User
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 78
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Cargo Master
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 2,038
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From: Olathe
Just wondering what do these things look like? I have never heard of them till now.
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Joe Kucinski
Senior User
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 262
Likes: 0
From: Austin, Tx
I think they are locking fasteners, stage8 sells them for everything you can imagine, I saw them on the front of a gas (welding gas etc) delivery truck the other day. I haven't found an excuse to use them yet though, pretty slick.
Hotshot
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 11,950
Likes: 5,076
I made the mistake of not properly tightening the lug nuts back when I was a teenager. I heard a strange noise a couple of days later and by the time that I figured it out I had ruined the studs and the wheel. Lesson learned!
Fast forward to today. I'm a stickler for setting the nuts at the correct torque. The book says 160# for the Ex, so that's where it is.
A few months ago I was following a friend home from a fishing trip. He had a flat on his boat trailer and pulled into a station to fix it. The nuts were too tight for him to back off. In fact, I had run into the store and when I came back out he had the 3-way on one of the nuts and was jumping on the wrench! I told him to get off the wrench and then proceeded to back the nuts off for him. (I'm a lot bigger than most guys and was able to loosen the nuts.)
The moral of the story is, "even if you can't back off the nuts, that's better than having them back off by themselves". (Your wife probably isn't strong enough to back them off either, but that doesn't keep her from driving.)
Fast forward to today. I'm a stickler for setting the nuts at the correct torque. The book says 160# for the Ex, so that's where it is.
A few months ago I was following a friend home from a fishing trip. He had a flat on his boat trailer and pulled into a station to fix it. The nuts were too tight for him to back off. In fact, I had run into the store and when I came back out he had the 3-way on one of the nuts and was jumping on the wrench! I told him to get off the wrench and then proceeded to back the nuts off for him. (I'm a lot bigger than most guys and was able to loosen the nuts.)
The moral of the story is, "even if you can't back off the nuts, that's better than having them back off by themselves". (Your wife probably isn't strong enough to back them off either, but that doesn't keep her from driving.)
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 1,407
Likes: 155
From: Milwaukee, WI
I checked out the Stage8 stuff and it's not an abutment locking system. The tabs are teardrop shaped, look like plastic and are high-vis in color. There is a cutout the shape of the lug nut. A tab is installed (slid over) each lug nut after torqueing. All the tabs are installed pointing the same way so when a lug nut that is backing out, the tab is pointing a different way than the others. Makes the backout obvious.
Post Fiend
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 11,798
Likes: 14
From: Mt. Shasta California
I made the mistake of not properly tightening the lug nuts back when I was a teenager. I heard a strange noise a couple of days later and by the time that I figured it out I had ruined the studs and the wheel. Lesson learned!
Fast forward to today. I'm a stickler for setting the nuts at the correct torque. The book says 160# for the Ex, so that's where it is.
A few months ago I was following a friend home from a fishing trip. He had a flat on his boat trailer and pulled into a station to fix it. The nuts were too tight for him to back off. In fact, I had run into the store and when I came back out he had the 3-way on one of the nuts and was jumping on the wrench! I told him to get off the wrench and then proceeded to back the nuts off for him. (I'm a lot bigger than most guys and was able to loosen the nuts.)
The moral of the story is, "even if you can't back off the nuts, that's better than having them back off by themselves". (Your wife probably isn't strong enough to back them off either, but that doesn't keep her from driving.)
Fast forward to today. I'm a stickler for setting the nuts at the correct torque. The book says 160# for the Ex, so that's where it is.
A few months ago I was following a friend home from a fishing trip. He had a flat on his boat trailer and pulled into a station to fix it. The nuts were too tight for him to back off. In fact, I had run into the store and when I came back out he had the 3-way on one of the nuts and was jumping on the wrench! I told him to get off the wrench and then proceeded to back the nuts off for him. (I'm a lot bigger than most guys and was able to loosen the nuts.)
The moral of the story is, "even if you can't back off the nuts, that's better than having them back off by themselves". (Your wife probably isn't strong enough to back them off either, but that doesn't keep her from driving.)
Cargo Master
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 2,566
Likes: 18
From: The Great White North!
Proper torque on the X, 165 ft/lbs.
Over torquing could cause rotor warping. Under torquing could cause them to come off.
Not hard to crack them off with the supplied tire wrench, but yes the wife would have a hard time to change a tire on her own. That is why we are around. lol
Over torquing could cause rotor warping. Under torquing could cause them to come off.
Not hard to crack them off with the supplied tire wrench, but yes the wife would have a hard time to change a tire on her own. That is why we are around. lol
Cargo Master
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 2,038
Likes: 0
From: Olathe
Two words.
Cheater Bar
