Widowmakers or not?
Marmon-Herrington Man
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 11,986
Likes: 446
From: Central Illinois
Back in the 1970s the federal NHTSA and insurance industry had a recall of them advancing through the stages of approval. The one good thing that came from the effort was industry agreed to stop producing them in 1972. Ultimately the lobbiests won and the recall failed, but the service industry, and court rulings, have pretty much eliminated them from usage. Stu
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 1,272
Likes: 130
From: Missouri
Oh gosh, how to say it in a short paragraph? An example - a guy I sold a set of 19.5s to years ago told me that he had just bought an F-4. As he was winching it onto his trailer an inner dual let go. First thing he did was buy wheels. There are stories like that all over the web.
Back in the 1970s the federal NHTSA and insurance industry had a recall of them advancing through the stages of approval. The one good thing that came from the effort was industry agreed to stop producing them in 1972. Ultimately the lobbiests won and the recall failed, but the service industry, and court rulings, have pretty much eliminated them from usage. Stu
Back in the 1970s the federal NHTSA and insurance industry had a recall of them advancing through the stages of approval. The one good thing that came from the effort was industry agreed to stop producing them in 1972. Ultimately the lobbiests won and the recall failed, but the service industry, and court rulings, have pretty much eliminated them from usage. Stu
Marmon-Herrington Man
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 11,986
Likes: 446
From: Central Illinois
The center disc stays, and the side ring leaves. If the wheel is a SRW or an inner DRW, the side ring is trapped around the axle. An outer DRW is the killer. In the early days it was the service techs that got the worst of them. Cages helped, but they still come apart while in service. Stu
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Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 1,272
Likes: 130
From: Missouri
The center disc stays, and the side ring leaves. If the wheel is a SRW or an inner DRW, the side ring is trapped around the axle. An outer DRW is the killer. In the early days it was the service techs that got the worst of them. Cages helped, but they still come apart while in service. Stu
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From: Burbank, WA
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From: SE Wisc. (the Rust Belt)
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Joined: Dec 2003
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From: Foothills of NC
I had a rear outer blow off as I was driving. It was on a 1970 F600. Sounded like a cannon, shot into oncoming lane, passed me up, slower down, cut in behing me, up a bank, and hit a tree in the yard it ended up with. Inner part of rim still on truck, tire, tube, and outer ring in the yard.
It would have killed anyone standing close, and very lucky oncoming car had just passed when it let go, and no other close oncoming traffic. This was at 35 MPH. It looked like a knot coming out on the tire while looking at it in the mirror. I was going to pull over and check it out, then, BOOM !!!
It would have killed anyone standing close, and very lucky oncoming car had just passed when it let go, and no other close oncoming traffic. This was at 35 MPH. It looked like a knot coming out on the tire while looking at it in the mirror. I was going to pull over and check it out, then, BOOM !!!
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 1,272
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From: Missouri
Hotshot
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 16,192
Likes: 4,805
From: Burbank, WA
From the article;
In July 1976, her 18-year-old son Eric was killed when a mounted truck tire he was working on exploded. Parts of the multi-piece split rim wheel struck him in the chest and head, causing massive fatal injuries.
Almost immediately, she took up a crusade to get those wheels off the market, eventually convincing Congressmen, the government and OSHA to press for legislation banning the wheels.
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