So, last night I'm driving the monster truck home from a 90 mile trip when suddenly I feel a slight jerk in the steering wheel and a loud "scratch" noise. Before I can even think about it, the left front corner drops and across the 2-lane I go. Keep in mind I'm traveling at 72 MPH in a 9200 lb. pickup. I collect myself as the truck sits in the ditch on the oncoming traffic side. I get out and assess the damage/what the hell happened.

Turns out that my WELD STONECRUSHER wheel had decided to come apart....funny, they're supposed to be the best. The outer bead behind the fake beadlock beauty ring split about 1/3 of the way around the wheel leaving a HUGE hole for the air to escape. I am so thankful it happened Sunday night at 6:30 and no one was passing me or coming at me in the opposite lane. A myriad of friendly people assisted me in reaching an area where I could get cell phone service and helped me pull my truck to an area where I could change the tire....(the truck wouldn't move under it's own power) and also helped in changing the tire as well.

I got to drive the remaining 28 miles to my house at about 35 MPH in low range with a 44 on the LF corner and no brakes (tire ripped brake line off). Finally got home at about 10:30 (2 hours past bedtime).

Well, it's come down to the straw that broke the camel's back. It's almost eBay time for the monster truck. It started out as a daily driver that got WAYYYY out of hand. At least I can say "Been there, done that". I wanted a truck I could fit 44s on (got 49's on it) and now I'm done. I need a useful pickup now and hopefully, I can sell the pig.

Cody

 

dang man, glad everyhthing is alright....

reminds me of something that happened to me a few yrs ago....riding down the road about 60 mph minding my own buissness, not strange noises or anything...when suddenly my left front corner dropped like i hit a huge pothole, and then i saw a 39 inch bogger pass me in the other lane, go through a persons yard, through another yard, barely miss a truck and smack the crap outta a pine tree. meanwhile i was wrtestling my truck off the road riding on the left front brake disc. I walked a few hundred yards and rolled my tire back, stole some lugnuts off the other wheels and used my highlift to jack her back up and slap the tire back on. This was right after i had swapped my 60 in, turns out i was in a hurry and didnt notice the breaker tripped that runs my air compressor, so the last tire i tightened wasnt all that tight and th elugs all came off.

im not tryuing to hijack, just lettin ya know i kinda know how it feels

 

Wouldn't it be better to return the monster truck close to stock, for a tow rig, and save the 49's for the truck that you were turning into a trail rig, if I remember right, didn't you pick up some axles from a military chebby pickup, D60 and 14 bolt?

 

Man Cody that sounds scary. The gods were definitley looking out for you this night. Glad you made it home alright. I bet thats the scariest thing that youve had happened to you in a long time. But now you are telling us its time to get rid off the truck. No,No,No,no say it aint so. Man you put a lot off hours in that thing. Your baby. You would never seeing me doing anything like that if it was mine. You put lots off sweat and hours in your truck and it shows. Has your name written all over it. Yah I now you think you need something else. Get something else maybe a Ranger (wouldnt set you back to far). I suppose the wife says get rid off that thing. I say never. Maybe Im nuts but thats what I would do. Keep that sweet rig Man.

 

The first time I blew a 44" on the road I about crapped myself. Thats a looong drop when your tires are that big. I can't imagine what it must have been like dropping a 49" at that speed. Glad to hear your safe I have a tendency to sell stuff once I'm finished with them and move onto bigger and better things myself. You learn more with every build...

 

I can't believe that rim split apart like that! Glad to hear you're okay and there was no major incident. IF you get rid of that truck what's your next project going to be? I'll be sad to see it go if you sell it.

 

I've been contemplating returning the entire rig back to near-stock because I miss the 'daily-driver'ability of it. That and the thing is so hard to drive anywhere, the wife can't get in, the dogs can't get in, and I can't haul ANYTHING...not even tail. I don't want to get a new vehicle because I don't want another set of payments, I don't want to transfer insurance, etc. etc. The biggest problem I have returning the truck back to stock is that I threw (or gave) away all the factory springs and whatnot.....anybody want to buy some 12/15 inch springs and a high-steer block for a BJ D60?


I know, man. Nope, the wife doesn't want me to get rid of it either...she likes that I have a hobby. It's just that I won't drive it anymore the way it is. Who's to say it won't happen again, you know? I can't afford to keep it and NOT drive it. So therefore I have to drive it to keep it. I LOVE THE TRUCK, BUT NOW I DON'T TRUST IT. Not that I don't trust MY craftsmanship, but I don't trust large tires and wheels....not for a daily driver anyways.

Yeah, 12-13" of sidewall is a LONG WAY DOWN. According to the logistic guys in the MHP, I stopped in 160 feet....and that's without brakes ( at least I think I was off the brake pedal...who knows? Seems kind of outlandish to me if it WAS without brakes)!! Talk about drag!
I have a tendency to keep vehicles for a very long time, even when I'm sick of them. It's just that I look at it this way:
I can spend lots more time and money buying a new wheel and brake line, selling the 44s and 49s and all of the lift components and buying factory stuff, or I can absorb my losses and sell it the way it is with both sets of wheels and tires...then buy something else.

I can't believe it either. 22 PSI in each front tire should NOT cause a rim to split..especially one designed for 3200 lbs. I will look at the wheel more tonight since it will be light out when I get home and see if I can find out exactly what could have happened.

The next project will be a trail-only 73 F100 2wd converted to 4x4 with the axles listed by 86rustbucket. That way I have a good tow rig(for the new horsetrailer) and I can still have a giant off-road rig. (Watch out SuperBeast)

Cody

 

Give ya $50 for all of it

But yeah man, that sucks. I lost a 35 and that was enough for me. At least it went down fairly gradually (over about 30 seconds) rather than a blow out. I couldn't imagine losing something that big.

But yeah, sounds like it's time for a tow rig and trail rig for ya.

Justin

 

Sounds just like blowing out a front tire (11.00-20, over 44") on a freshly graded in a loaded 3 ton grain truck.

If i were you i and i had to do something i would keep the iroks for the trail rig sell the hawgs and get a 35" tire, sell the big springs, get some 4" springs (and all the nesecary mods to go with it), and then you would have a good tow rig that isn't to high but you can still use it as a daily driver, then you can make the trail rig as big as you want, and you shouldn't end up sinking a whole lot of money into it.

Curious, how old was that rim??

 

Glad it turned out O.K. You were very lucky. Unless you damaged it before and it just let loose later. The First thing I would be doing is calling Weld. Tell them what happened and ask them what they are going to do about it. There is no reason why a rim like that should split on the freeway under normal driving conditions. Get all over them if they don't make it right. That means new rim and tire as well as repairs. The last thingh you should have to worry about is forged alumium rims with a rating of 3200lbs. It's not like they were cheap foregn knock offs.
BTW Don't sell it Just take it back to near stock and use all the good parts for your trail rig. You will never get what you put into it. It would be like throwing money away.

 

I didn't realize that was your daily driver. That is way too much truck for every day use.

 

Randy,
I called Weld yesterday and there's nothing that they'll do. The wheels were bought used and over 365 days ago (by original owner). Besides, they told me that since I had 49" tires on the wheels that they were definitely not covered. The warranty only covers to 44" tires.

Preliminary checks on the tire show no structural damage....but I've got to inspect it closely today in the sunlight.

As far as using the parts on my trail rig.....
The 3" wide springs won't fit in the rear hangers of the 73 because the hangers are only 2.5" wide.
I wanted to go completely custom 4-link on the rig anyways so that I could have a one-of-a-kind truck.


I'm not sure what I'm going to do or when I'm going to do it, but I don't have the facilities to do much of the work just yet......I think that I'll have to do the majority of the work with the rotors and drums sitting on 2x4's .

Cody

 

ya know...losing my front bearings on my truck a couple weeks ago is what made me decide i needed a new daily driver. i was gunna put it back to stock, but i got rid of all the stock stuff too....

 

I'd just put 6" suspension on 35's or 33's. that would be good for daily driving, and might be able to tow with a drop down hitch, im not sure.

nice gallery by the way, I think your tires alone are almost taller then your freinds 94 s-10 Blazer!

 

Thanks for the kind words on the gallery....
Yeah, the tires are huge, but kinda stupid for highway use. That's what happens when I use my EGO as an excuse to do something. I'm 5'5" tall and have "small man syndrome" like you wouldn't believe.

Thankfully, the guy that sold me the tires is interested in buying them back (minus one wheel) and my 44's. I may have him interested in my leaf springs, too, but I have to talk to him later this evening.

I just look at the situation this way:
It could have been worse. I could've killed someone with this monstrosity or severely damaged myself. Instead, I killed a wheel and a brake line. I could have already put 5.13 gears in it and Kodiak steps. Thanks, 95 for taking the gears off of my hands. I think 5.13s would've been a wee bit low for highway driving on 33's.

I've given myself 2 weeks to decide what to do with the truck. I can't get a new brake line until then and the truck sits in the yard looking stupid. I guess if I do decide to keep it the way it is, I need to buy another truck. If I lower it, I will never get the attention I did before (big EGO to feed), and if I keep it the way it is and sell it on eBay, I know I'll see it gracing a magazine page or internet gallery under someone else's name saying that they built it.

I hate choices.

Cody