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  1. #1
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    Lugs on steel wheels randomly coming loose 3 months later?

    So we almost lost a right front wheel on a work truck friday. Actually sheared off 3 studs. Coming down the fucking canyon.

    Truck is an f350. 8 bolt steel wheels. New tires put on in Aug or Sept. Truck is driven 5 days a week every week. Truck is driven in super cold temps all the time. I know alloy wheels have the temp problem, but these are heavy duty steel wheels. No issues and then bam, all the studs where loose.

    My boss thinks foul play. Pretty crazy.

  2. #2
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    Sep 2001
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    Coulda been someone trying to steel the wheel who got interrupted, check the other wheels, they'd break all the lugs loose while they were on on the ground before they dropped it on blocks to take them.

    Or, the shop just never tightened them down all the way when they changed the tires. Unlikely they just came loose.

  3. #3
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    I drove an F350 with an 8 yard dump bed for 5 years and that never happened. Someone had to do it.
    A few people feel the rain. Most people just get wet.

  4. #4
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    Highly doubt it was theft, but possible. Safe area. Parked nightly at a warehouse with visible cameras. We drove 30ish miles up the canyon with no issues at all. Parked all day at a somewhat busy jobsite. At least 10 different contracting outfits there. I'm new to the company, but im learning we supposedly have some enemies.

  5. #5
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    well that's pretty hard-core competition, if you wrecked and died it would be murder, let's hope it's not that.

  6. #6
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    This is from the 2009 F350 owners manual.

    150-165 Lb-ft is the correct rating.

    On all two-piece flat wheel nuts,
    apply one drop of motor oil between
    the flat washer and the nut. Do not
    apply motor oil to the wheel nut
    threads or the wheel stud threads.

    On vehicles equipped with dual rear wheels, retighten the wheel lug
    nuts to the specified torque at 160 km (100 miles), and again at
    800 km (500 miles) of new vehicle operation and after any wheel
    disturbance (tire rotation, changing a flat tire, wheel removal, etc.).

    They did it wrong with the oil last time and you never retorqued them. Just guessing.

    You may also want to check your wheels. The lug holes may have become oblong, which can also loosen your lug nuts.
    A few people feel the rain. Most people just get wet.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
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    I have a hard time believing someone did this out of spite, but there's many other reasons I won't work in the dump. Glad y'all made it ok. Canyon is fucking dangerous enough already. You working for OSM by chance?

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
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    Quote Originally Posted by Whiteroom_Guardian View Post
    So we almost lost a right front wheel on a work truck friday. Actually sheared off 3 studs. Coming down the fucking canyon.

    Truck is an f350. 8 bolt steel wheels. New tires put on in Aug or Sept. Truck is driven 5 days a week every week. Truck is driven in super cold temps all the time. I know alloy wheels have the temp problem, but these are heavy duty steel wheels. No issues and then bam, all the studs where loose.

    My boss thinks foul play. Pretty crazy.
    All the studs or all the nuts?

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
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    15
    Not gonna say who I work for but it's not OSM.


    All nuts were loose and 3 entire studs sheared off.

    I'm leaning towards them just not being torqued correctly. I really have a hard time thinking anyone would attempt to kill random employees of a rival company.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dr. Phil View Post
    Not gonna say who I work for but it's not OSM.


    All nuts were loose and 3 entire studs sheared off.

    I'm leaning towards them just not being torqued correctly. I really have a hard time thinking anyone would attempt to kill random employees of a rival company.
    This is me. Tapatalk randomly logs me in as Dr Phil.

    Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

  11. #11
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    Sep 2006
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    8,246
    Maybe over torqued the nuts, and stretched the studs. It happens all the time on commercial trucks. Some numb nutz mechanic takes an impact wrench and goes all NASCAR with 400 ft/lbs and you have yourself a wheel off situation. Or they went the other way and didn't torque them to spec on the low side, and they worked themselves loose.
    "We don't beat the reaper by living longer, we beat the reaper by living well and living fully." - Randy Pausch

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dr. Phil View Post
    Not gonna say who I work for but it's not OSM.


    All nuts were loose and 3 entire studs sheared off.

    I'm leaning towards them just not being torqued correctly. I really have a hard time thinking anyone would attempt to kill random employees of a rival company.
    Wasn't expecting you to mention who it was. Even with all the stupid shit that happens up there I had a hard time believing someone was holding a grudge that would lead to that. I'll seen/been involved with situations where 3 of 5 studs sheared clean off and, like was mentioned, the holes on the rim were oblong from the shaking of rim before wheel studs sheared. I always went with the over or under torqued theory. Sometimes ice buildup can also throw off alignment and speed the process. Be safe driving the canyon (like usual the people are usually worse than the conditions)

  13. #13
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    Apr 2002
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    It's possible whoever put the lugs on over-torqued them. I'm pretty sure that's what happened to me the time I almost had a wheel come off my car on the LIE (well, don't know how close the wheel was to actually coming off, but it was loose and the car was starting to shake around a lot). I think when the studs shear off it is often due to that. Guys with impact wrenches who just turn the hell out of the lugs. Oops, just saw Toadman beat me to it...
    [quote][//quote]

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Toadman View Post
    Maybe over torqued the nuts, and stretched the studs. It happens all the time on commercial trucks. Some numb nutz mechanic takes an impact wrench and goes all NASCAR with 400 ft/lbs and you have yourself a wheel off situation. Or they went the other way and didn't torque them to spec on the low side, and they worked themselves loose.
    Had this exact scenario on the rear dual wheels of a F550. Overtorqued and sheared off the lugs.

  15. #15
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    Jul 2005
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    Creepy story.

    I am guessing the mechanics are out rechecking lug nuts on all the trucks as I type this.

    You did not say what you were hauling but I am guessing losing a wheel would a suck allot.
    Own your fail. ~Jer~

  16. #16
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    northern BC
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    Did ya put them on semi tight with a air wrench, use a torque wrench to get it exact and then retorque 100 miles later?

    That's what my tire store does and they hang a sign on the rear view telling you to come in for the tetoque
    Last edited by XXX-er; 12-24-2017 at 10:55 PM.
    Lee Lau - xxx-er is the laziest Asian canuck I know

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Whiteroom_Guardian View Post
    This is me. Tapatalk randomly logs me in as Dr Phil.

    Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
    That is hilarious you should use the alias more

  18. #18
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  19. #19
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    Correct lug nuts for those wheels? (acorn vs flat washer type vs who knows what else)
    Quote Originally Posted by powder11 View Post
    if you have to resort to taking advice from the nitwits on this forum, then you're doomed.

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by XXX-er View Post
    Did ya put them on semi tight with a air wrench, use a torque wrench to get it exact and then retorque 100 miles later?
    This.

  21. #21
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    Them wheel s was probably sabotaged by the same folks that took down the WT center back in 9-11

    I like to use anti sieze compound on wheel nuts
    Lee Lau - xxx-er is the laziest Asian canuck I know

  22. #22
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    May 2016
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    Had a wheel come off late one night on a lonely country highway on the Wyoming/Colorado border near the end of a ~1000 mile trip and less than 10 miles from my intended destination, my Grandmothers ranch. It was quite the experience, with rooster tails of sparks lighting up the night. I blamed it on improper installation, but can’t remember if it was me or some shop screwed up. Suspect it was me.

    This was also the trip where I ended up working as essentially slave labor as a child for my relatives all summer in exchange for room and board, although my parents looked on it as “summer vacation”.

  23. #23
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    Nov 2004
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    The mechanics where I work (fleet of about 25 rigs) just tighten the shit out of lug nuts, there's never any retorquing and there's no torque wrench. If they ever shear a stud, they replace it. I know about the lack of torque wrench because I've watched them work. I know about the lack of retorquing because some of these rigs go out in the morning before mechanics are around and come in late after they're gone, and they do that for months without any attention from mechanics.

    We have these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loose_wheel_nut_indicator
    ....which is a nice peace of mind kinda thing. We used to have a shop foreman who would place an arrow as if it were loose and see if drivers caught it. Not to brag, but apparently I was the only one who ever caught one of these tests. Not encouraging.

    I join the chorus of us who have had a loose wheel out on the road. It was my own bad work....and even worse, I spent a long time trying to diagnose the noise it was making and had all these other theories about u-joints and stuck hubs in the frontend. That kind of thing will humble a guy. i.e. that moment where you're forced to think "oh, it was my own shitty work".

    Anyway, get some arrows if you're feeling nervous. It's worth the anti-anxiety effect.

  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by XXX-er View Post
    Did ya put them on semi tight with a air wrench, use a torque wrench to get it exact and then retorque 100 miles later?

    That's what my tire store does and they hang a sign on the rear view telling you to come in for the tetoque
    X3

  25. #25
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    Oct 2003
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    Van City and Whistler
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    Once had a tire fully come off on a busy street on my truck. Truck started shaking. I slowed down within 5 seconds of shaking. A couple seconds later make the decision to pull off. Immediately at that moment front axle drops to the ground, skid to a stop, and the tire goes bouncing down the street. Careens into a parked car and continues to bounce down the hill and slightly turns into oncoming traffic and goes out of view down a steeper hill. Major oh shit moment.

    Run down the street. Tire had somehow missed all cars and some pedestrians let me know it went off the road and slammed into a light pole which made it land on its side and skid to a stop off the road in a school yard.

    A little insurance claim from a dent in the parked car and some front end work for the truck. Very lucky all things considered. Not pleasant. Truck was driven the day before no issues. Happened within 5 minutes of leaving my house in the morning. Who knows what happened.

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