Day before yesterday around 5:30 pm I was travelling down busy state hwy 20 in my '92 f350 dually 7.3 4x4. Divided highway with grass median. Rush hour, but everyone doing about in 50 both directions. I had some of roughsawn lumber on board with four 2" nylon click straps securing it, maybe about 2000 lbs. It was dark out, no precipitation. I was in the left lane and all was well with the world. Suddenly without any warning at all my left rear dropped to the pavement and my rearview mirror was orange with the spark show. I was able to control it surprisingly well, braking and pulling past the fog line into the grass alongside the median. Both Wheels were gone and the hub had dug part way into the ground. I immediately called 911 and waited about 1/2 hour for state patrol. The officer went through all the usual stuff, all my stuff was current, no alcohol etc. No citation given. One of the missing wheels crossed the median and grazed a car driven by an 18 year old girl on her way to meet her mom for dinner. She was unharmed but one front fender against wheel and headlight out. We were both towed. It was an amazingly good ending to what could easily have been worse. I live on an island and had been heading home from a trip to the mainland for the wood. Needless to say I missed my ferry. Strangely the wheel studs looked almost perfect, but next morning I never found the wheels and tires in knee height grass and can only assume someone picked them up. OK, I have been wondering how this happened. Good tires and brakes, 120,000 miles on rig well maintained by a ford truck nut (me). This is what I have found from this afternoon's research. It would seem I should have felt some wobble or vibration prior to accident as how do 8 studs come off leaving good threads after 80 mile run up the interstate at 60? I read a thread about another f350 with exact same storyand his wheels looked like new when he found them. Every incident I came across it was the drivers side rear. Maybe it's the hub piloted wheels get so stuck on the hub that as the nuts back off and unwind with the left side's rotation the wheels stay locked to that tight fitting hub until the right bump or maybe the right (wrong) combination sends them flying off. I only put about 3000 miles a year on this truck so I can't put my finger on who last tightened the wheels. There is a youtube video called 'removing the dual wheels from an f350' that shows a guy pulling on his rears with a chain to a farmall tractor jerking with all he has to no avail. Anyways just putting this out there to check your lugnuts. I check my trucks equipment often, but this thing just came out of the blue. I will need to buy a new hub and new bearings, all brakes, drum etc. Sorry for the long post. I'm still quite worked up. GB

 

Holy ****! Scary just reading it. Glad you and the girl are ok. Drink a beer and relax. **** happens. Appreciate the tale as a goof precaution to the rest of us.

 

Wow! Glad all are okay. Don't need to state how bad that could have been for you or the girl.

I completely understand being worked up. That'll do it.

 

Glad to hear no one got hurt. I gotta F800. I keep a 3/4" drive torque wrench in the tool box and check them regularly. Helps me drive with confidence.

http://www.drivetrainindustries.com/webb.pdf

Be safe.

 

Here's that video since you like farmalls.

 

that woke ya right up i bet.good to hear everyone is ok.

 

Holy crap, Gary, you had a guardian angel riding along that night. As did the girl...and the other drivers behind you that saw it happen in their headlights and across the median that dodged the runaway wheels. I've been behind an 18 wheeler and have seen it happen. Seems the whole industry has moved to hub piloted over the past decades. I'll be checking mine too. Glad you're both alright, and that the truck wasn't otherwise hurt. Stu

 

Scarry, indeed. Thanks for the reminder to check mine. I have index marks on all my lug nuts and glance at them every walk around. I guess there are no rust marks radiating out from hub centered wheels when they're loose.

 

Glad you are okay. Great safety reminder for everyone!

 

Can a Dually lose an axle shaft just like a SW axle? that's what might have happened. I've seen it a couple of times. The other possibility is the whole axle falling out, which I've also seen. What is left of that rear axle? did you just lose the wheel-tire?. Someone might have been trying to steal your tire and didn't finish the job in time but left the lugnuts loose.

I once lost a tire too, in my case it was a front-left and it also hit the incoming traffic, mine jumped the separator and flew right to the left corner of an old taxi (70's clunker, was in so bad shape that when he emergency-braked I saw parts actually falling off before my tire impacted it), quite an spectacle!.

P.S.: Good thing nothing worse happened!, losing a rear tire is quite dangerous.

 

I am sorry about the break down on the highway. It is great that nobody was hurt! Where is your truck now?

 

Dually or SRW has nothing to do with whether a wheel can fall off. Here we are talking about full floating axles where the hub inner and outer bearings are supporting the DRW assembly. In this configuration, the axle is just floating inside the hub and transmitting power from the differential to the hub. A SRW would be no different. I've heard of the hub bearing failing, locking up and the adjustment and jam nuts grinding their way off the axle tube, resultant in a lost wheel assembly.
GB's problem was lug failure where the lug nuts came loose and wheels came off but the hub stayed in place.

 

Hub stayed in place, but it has a flat spot on it. You can see where it was spinning (at great rpms I'm sure) until I hit the brakes. Then the pavement ground it down with one stud ground flat about half way through it. In other words a section of that stud would resemble the letter 'D'. We found the drum the next morning. I've learned that Les Schwabb tires no longer stock this particular 255 85 16 and there are no more in their system. I found two of the correct wheels in my tire collection. I do have 4 exact same tires on my suburban so I think I will pirate them and put a set of 235s on the burb. With the logistics of the truck being at a repair shop on the mainland and me being busy with work, it makes sense for me to just turn the repairs over to them. Good time for a complete rear brake job. The holidays are never a good time to have to cough up another 2 grand, but when other outcomes are considered, I'm getting off very, very easy! Thanks for the good words all.

 

Couldn't you just take a wheel and a few lugnuts so you could get it on the trailer and bring it home? $2000 would buy lots of parts!! That's how much I paid for my 2000 PS 6 speed dually.

 

Glad to hear you are OK. If it was me I would throw a wheel and tire on it and trailer it home. You would have your rough cut lumber too. Reminds me when I drove over the road and lost my spare off the trailer. Stupid thing passed me on the shoulder.