Update: Lug nuts falling off - for those who remember me.
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Update: Lug nuts falling off - for those who remember me.
Back in November several of you offered advice and assistance on the problem I was having with my truck - where the lug nuts kept falling off my front right tire. Well, I think the problem has finally been resolved so I thought I would share with you what was happening.
After spending another entire day at the Ford dealer, I was told (as always) that there was nothing wrong with my truck. (He said the problem was the lug nuts were the wrong size.) So I went back to Discount Tire where I originally purchased the tires and rims. Long story short, some high school kid removes the tire and says, "This is the problem right here. The end cap doesn't fit properly". The end caps were the wrong ones for the rims I had! Forgive me for my lack of technical knowledge, but from what I understand the tire/rims were not seated flatly against the hub. The inside edge of the end cap is what was resting against the hub - so there was this tiny little flexible space in between my rims and the hub. Over time, with the wheel not seated properly the lug nuts eventually loosened and started falling off.
Now why only the front right tire and not the others? No one could answer that. My guess is that those lug nuts just loosened faster then the rest of them so when I would take in the truck to have those lug nuts tightened/replaced, they would go around and tighten all the lug nuts which prevented the rest from eventually falling off.
The good news is I drove my truck home today (with no end caps as they are on order) and it was the very first time I have ever driven this truck where it did not shake at 45-50 mph. The steering felt tight, the truck didn't feel all wobbly like it always does.
God bless this kid for being so smart and possibly preventing a major accident in the future. How is it possible that after at least 10 trips to Ford and Discount Tire in the past 2 years no one ever noticed this problem??? That absolutely boggles my mind. No one could answer that question. Anyway I wanted to let all of you know what the problem was (hopefully) and thank you again for your assistance.
After spending another entire day at the Ford dealer, I was told (as always) that there was nothing wrong with my truck. (He said the problem was the lug nuts were the wrong size.) So I went back to Discount Tire where I originally purchased the tires and rims. Long story short, some high school kid removes the tire and says, "This is the problem right here. The end cap doesn't fit properly". The end caps were the wrong ones for the rims I had! Forgive me for my lack of technical knowledge, but from what I understand the tire/rims were not seated flatly against the hub. The inside edge of the end cap is what was resting against the hub - so there was this tiny little flexible space in between my rims and the hub. Over time, with the wheel not seated properly the lug nuts eventually loosened and started falling off.
Now why only the front right tire and not the others? No one could answer that. My guess is that those lug nuts just loosened faster then the rest of them so when I would take in the truck to have those lug nuts tightened/replaced, they would go around and tighten all the lug nuts which prevented the rest from eventually falling off.
The good news is I drove my truck home today (with no end caps as they are on order) and it was the very first time I have ever driven this truck where it did not shake at 45-50 mph. The steering felt tight, the truck didn't feel all wobbly like it always does.
God bless this kid for being so smart and possibly preventing a major accident in the future. How is it possible that after at least 10 trips to Ford and Discount Tire in the past 2 years no one ever noticed this problem??? That absolutely boggles my mind. No one could answer that question. Anyway I wanted to let all of you know what the problem was (hopefully) and thank you again for your assistance.
