Interesting Morning

[TonyP]

There I was cruising up the A1 on the way to work, when I hear a bang...... Hmmm I think to myself, that's not good best I pull over and just take a quick safety check.

Come off the gas doing 70mph, and drift over from the outside lane and stop in the lay-by some 300 yards later.

I step out, and check the drivers front wheel, and all the wheel studs have sheered off, and the 120 is resting on the brake disk on the wheel.... FNARK, how the hell did that happen, and how did I manage to get to the side of the road without the wheel flying off...

Now with Toyota to get fixed, but a lucky morning indeed as it could have been a lot worse...

Only early indication was a slight wobble on the steering wheel like when your wheels aren't balanced.

Does bring me back to a earlier post where I had lose wheel nuts and a suspicion or malice. I will be reviewing my cctv to see if anyone has been messing about...

Pictures for those interested....

 

[Roger]

As you say, that could have been a lot worse, for you, your motor and others!

Pleased you had the best possible outcome for such an event.

I would automatically have suspicion, especially if no recent maintenance has been undertaken - Im sure the police will take it seriously if you do find evidence.

 

[Towpack]

Fist of all, good news that you managed to stop safely.
I'd also have to go with the nuts being loose for whatever reason although I did have 2 shear last year when refitting a front wheel and it turned out that I'd previously been massively over tightening them which obviously resulted in stretch and fatigue. It's only when I decided to use a torque wrench that I realised how easily 7olb/ft can be exceeded.
As for how you managed to keep control and stop from 70mph without the wheel flying off, I think the big man upstairs was on your side!

 

[Shayne]

Very suspect , i'm wondering if you went back up the road would you find all the studs in close proximity with the nuts still on just a few outer threads .

 

[frank rabbets]

If threads are rusty you twist the stud rather than stretch it. It,s difficult to overtighten if you use the supplied wrench.

 

[Beau]

Amazed at how the wheel managed to remain on whilst you pulled over to the side

 

[GeekOKent]

So close to bigger trouble. Glad you dodged a much worse outcome.

 

[lc 120]

A very fortunate outcome Tony, it could have been a lot worse...

 

[clivehorridge]

Go and buy a lotto ticket Tony, immediately.

I have no idea how you escaped from that event without serious consequences

What a relief or shock you must have had when you saw the damage...

I keep saying this, but in the 11 years of ownership of my 80, I've never had a stud fail, and it's either pure luck or down to me greasing them and never using anything other than the short Mr T wheel brace supplied with the truck.

Even though I tighten them by hand with that short brace, I still find I need to undo them with a piece of extension pipe I carry on board. It's as though they self-tighten somehow, with use. So I imagine that if they're over-tightened by a rattle gun at a workshop, the extra self-tightening during use would indeed over-stress the studs to failure point.

I may be completely off-track with this, but there's so many posts announcing studs that have sheared, I've become somewhat paranoid.

It may be that in your case some scrote has had a go at it, good luck with the CCTV investigation, these low-life need locking up.

Anyway, so pleased you're safe.

 

[Crispin]

As Clive said, play the lotto (send me 6 numbers if you don't mind...)

Very lucky indeed.
What's that torn piece of metal? I don't understand how it could depart the way it did.
If someone loosened them then they would not all have sheared?

If they really did fail then did one fail and the rest cascaded? Seems odd?

Any how, decent outcome considering...

To think, the engineers at F1 spent millions designing wheels which would not fly off.

 

[Shayne]

My theory is you got away with it because you were running straight and true with an invisible wheel spacer hence all the studs snapped at once dropping everything tidily on the inner rim .

Sabotage .

 

[Brian S]

Shoot!!! Tony you a one lucky guy, glad it worked out a happy ending

 

[StarCruiser]

Crikey Tony, that's one close call!! Not so sure on the sabotage front TBH but your CCTV should tell. Hope you find nothing for peace of mind's sake.

 

[TonyP]

So having had some time to think about today's events, I think the reason I managed to come to a safe stop is that when the studs sheared I was travelling in a straight line on cruise control. This mean that as the brake disk dropped onto the inside of the rim and the fact that it probably took me 5-10 seconds to compute what had happened, the disk had time to created some groves, which then kept the wheel in place.

The maneuver to the lay-by was very gentle, I only slightly moved the steering wheel so no sharp turn, so this probably was not enough to bump the disk out of the groves. I also only gently applied the brakes, which did result in knocking and grinding noises, which made me even more cautious.

Reflecting on why, and reading some of the thoughts from you guys, I can't see why this is sabotage, but rather poor practice from myself. For the last few years I have used a beaker bar to loosen and tighten the wheel-nuts, and did in the past us a rattler gun a few times to tighten the nuts up, so I think that the studs have over time become fatigued, and today was the day for them to go pop. This I think is reinforced by the fact that a few months ago I found the nuts on both wheels to be loose.

So, I now think that from a safety perspective I need to change all the wheel-nuts as surely the others will be in a similar state. I just cannot take a chance that this could happen again.

As far as luck is concerned, I would rather think it was skilled driving

Oh, and CCTV is useless as it only retains the last weeks worth of recording, and I know the wobble was present over the bank holiday weekend.

 

[StarCruiser]

As you say, sounds like fatigue caused by overtightening Tony. I think you can sleep soundly knowing there's not somebody undoing your wheel nuts.

 

[AndyCook]

Youch- very scary. Glad you got over to the layby ok

We had two studs shear off on our Subaru passing Trondheim in Norway once.
StoppI d and the other 3 where loose...
With a bang, about 150km earlier I have heard a strange noise braking when driving down into one of the fjords. I mistakenly was something to do with the roofbox.....

 

[Shayne]

I've never really thought about it before now believing a wheel spanner is that length because that's all the leverage you need to make it tight enough .

I use one of these and now i have thought about it i recall tightening a couple of wheels myself just giving the tyre shop guy a hand when i had new rubber fitted , when he checked he asked if i had stood on the spanner so i guess they must have been tighter than his typical torque setting

 

[chadr]

Wow, that was a lucky escape Tony!

Changing all the wheel studs will be a PITA for sure but (much) better to be safe than sorry in this case.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Very skillful driving Loose nuts fatigues the studs so definitely change any others that you've found loose in the past. Have had that problem myself but caught it at the wobble stage when there were still a few studs left.

 

[Josh Tagg]

Always use a torque wrench, work with plenty of people that dont and for the sake of a couple of minutes it's evidently worth it.