Yesterday, pulling my 5th wheel just after the bay bridge in San Francisco my right rear wheel fell off of the truck. It sheared all of the lug studs off and the rear of the truck fell to the concrete with the weight of the trailer on it too. I was able to get it to a Ford dealer in the city but I'll be honest with you that I dont have a lot of confidence in their abilities because of course they dont deal in the larger trucks.

Couple urgent questions:
1. Of course all studs need to be replaced. They are going to try to do it by removing the parking brake and seeing if they will fit in without pulling the axle. Is this possible?
2. The rotor was destroyed but they also want to replace the other rear rotor so they are the same size (original has been turned before). Are they just jacking me around for more $$ ?
3. They are also replacing the studs on the other side since they looked questionable. I'm fine with this.
4. Could the impact have caused other internal axle rear diff damage they havent seen yet?

Any other thoughts and ideas you have are more than welcome. They said the estimate looked like about $1600 for parts and labor (2 new rotors, brakes, studs pressed in, new lug nuts etc. Thanks and any immediate replies would be GREATLY appreciated. This is on a '99 F250 HD 7.3L diesel

 

That seems ridiculously high. There isn't any technical reason that I know of that the rotors would need to be exactly the same. Any competent auto shop or shop that does brakes should be able to do that work. I don't think the impact would damage the diff.

 

My question would be why did it shear? Are those stock rims?

 

The axle comes out with a few bolts. That is the easiest thing to remove. The hub will also have to be removed, but that is also simple. This is a full floater rear axle so the hub will come off to replace the rotor, so the lugs can then be very easily replaced. This would have to be done if they were replacing the rotor anyway. Chances are the bearings survived the impact.
As far as the price, well you are away from home, and field repairs are always terrible. That tow could not have been cheap. Don't know what to tell you there. I see complete rear axles (visteon/sterling) 10.5" units at the salvage yards for less than $1600.00, but that isnot going to help you way up in the Bay area.
Might have to bits the bullet here. What other options do you really have?

 

Well, be thankful it wasn't ON the Bay Bridge.

I would be very concerned about the studs sheared off. You need to find a cause before you go much further.

Do you have stock tires and wheels? (Incorrect wheels or lug nuts could have caused this)

How heavy is your 5th wheel? (Doubtful it was overloaded, but see the statement about incorrect wheels or lug nuts. Adding the 5th wheel may have put you over the line)

Were the studs stock? (Short studs may have caused this)

Everything the dealer is doing seems prudent, including the price. The only thing you may do different is to have them get a complete differential (brake to brake) out of a wrecking yard, but I doubt that would reduce costs much and would probably delay your trip at least another day.

 

As for causes, I can't say what AVI's was of course, but waaaaaay back in '84, I sheared off all 6 lugs from my Chevy Blazer. I had just come down out of the Black Hills of South Dakota...a little scary thinking back on that! Anyway, I had the brakes redone and new shocks put on at Midas just before I left for this trip. The right rear (passengers side) wheel sheared the lugs. After I got them fixed by the great guy at the local parts house and got to my destination (Fairchild AFB in Spokane), I took it right to Midas. They said the most likely cause was due to the lugnuts being tightened too much. They said if they were too loose, there would have been evidence of the movement of the wheel against the old lugs, so their conclusion was they were too tight and stressed the lugs. This was verified when they checked all the other lugs and found most of them too tight. They did end up reimbursing me for the emergency repair on I-90 outside of Helena Montana.

 

I think that the price is crazy high!!! All you aer having done is a rear brake job!! Yeah they have to press the studs in but still it seems high to me. I have not looked at my rear brakes yet so i'm not sure how the full floater setup is with rear disc's. Good luck keep us updated.

 

Gotta agree with yamaguy... $1600 for a rear brake job is just ridiculous.

DO replace both rotors. If you have one thinner than the other, the thin one will heat up quicker, and possibly pull.

$1600 replacing the spindle, with the brake job, maybe.

Doing the studs on that should be a piece of cake.

Let us know how it works out for you!

 

The Price is very high. But it is probably what a dealer would charge. You can fix it your self in the parking lot with basic hand tools for probably less than 100 bucks. The rotors do not need to be the same size. The lugs can be simply hammered out and pulled in with a lug nut. and as long as the brake pads didn't get torn up they don't need to be replaced.

I had to do this on the side of the highway on a C6500 car carrier with two vans loaded on it. Not a lot of fun but not bad.

If they broke and the rim is not torn up they were overtightened. If they were to loose the nuts would have fallen of and the rim will be all chewed up from getting beatup on the studs.

 

I think the lug nuts are supposed to be at 60 or 80 ft-lbs of torque... it says on the actual lug nut... and you don't want to overtighten, thats for sure....

Joey

 

I'm confused. Why would you have to pull the axle to replace the rotor? This should be a full floating axle, the rotor should slide over it. I would seriously question what they are going to do.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. They are not stock wheels but are not new either. The only thing I can think of is that I rotated the tires about a month ago and may have over tightened them but I've been doing tire rotations all my life and I've never had this happen before. By the way, this was just after the bay bridge before it goes to 101 and there wasnt an emergency lane. I was doing about 40mph at the time and thank God I was able to keep the truck and trailer under control and get to the right lane. Im sure it was a terrible backup but without an emergency lane it was the best I could do.

It sounds like they are definitely taking it to me but I'm stuck between a rock and a hard spot. They are also replacing the inner plate? along with the parking brake on that side as well which is helping add to the costs. They sound like they are a completely incompetent dealer especially with full size trucks because they are in the middle of San Fran and just about all of their repair jobs look like fleet vehicles such as cabs and police cruisers....people just do not drive full size trucks in the middle of town.

Im completely furious and frustrated. They thought they had the right studs to complete the work today and it ended up that they had the incorrect studs and cannot find any of the correct studs in the city. They are airing them in which puts us out another day! This all happened on Wednesday evening and now it wont be done (hopefully) until Saturday? Outrageous! I can guarantee that where Im from it could have been done in one day.

Meanwhile, my 5th wheel sits in the street in front of the dealer because there isnt enough room in their lot. This is in an industrial section of town which isnt the best of neighborhoods and they told us not to sleep in the trailer for our own safety. We are in a hotel room about 1/2 hour outside of town and I pray every morning I wake up that they trailer is still there and in good condition.

Lets just hope they can get it done tomorrow and I can be on my way to the ocean with my family to continue on with our vacation.

Thanks for your help so far and I'll be sure to check the lug nuts daily for the next couple weeks to make sure they dont loosen up while the studs seat.

 

Don't leave the dealer's parking lot without testing the parking brake and the regular brakes. Over and over.

I feel for you, and hope you get the wonderful outcome you deserve - at this point, you definitely deserve it.

The parking brake and backing plate, adds to the cost - didn't figure that into it... You would certainly have taken out the backing plate too, and, probably, the parking brake.

Good luck - and let us know how it goes

 

Update:

We're home with a lighter wallet as a result from this ordeal but we are safe and ended up having a good vacation after all. Sure the vacation had to have some slight changes to it by having to rent a car for 3 days and a hotel room but it sure was nice cruising the San Fran steets in a small rented car instead of an F250

We never could find a real solution to the studs shearing off. I-80 west of Sacramento is VERY, VERY rough and I think the studs may have already been weakened by me not using a torque wrench when I rotate my tires. I always just crank them down and I could have stressed them by doing that. Combine weak studs with harsh bumps and that is about the only reason I can think of the studs shearing off. The lug nuts didnt fall off as there wasnt any evidence of movement on the stud holes in the wheel.

 

I have to disagree here. The hub does not need to be removed to replace the rotor. It slides right off. However, the hub can be difficult especially because of the seal design. I rarely can get them off without destroying the seal. It is a submerged design and gets stuck the the hub and the spindle and rips apart when you remove the hub.