A funny thing happened....

[Dr Crankenstein]

OK, I lied. It's not funny.

I experienced a scary failure this afternoon while making an errand run in my son's daily driver. I didn't get far before I heard a whack (similar to the sound of a stone hitting the windshield) immediately followed by steering shake. I pulled over and inspected the front end. I found 3 wheel lugs MISSING on the passenger's side front wheel, the studs sheared off. I checked and tightened the two remaining nuts, slowwwly limped it back home and replaced all five studs.

I'm completely stunned by this failure. All four wheels were properly installed and torqued. The only wild card in this game are the hubs I replaced about 18 months ago. Is this another story about crappy offshore parts? I don't know, but I'm replacing the studs in the other hub before it leaves the shop!

 

[Tripper]

Wow... that's scary! Had a wheel come off once right after I picked it up after some work at the dealership! I was being followed by a huge dump truck & it stopped just inches from me & I had my Daughter who was about 5 or 6 at the time in the car with me. She still brings that up occasionally!

BoB

 

[Gastrick]

Pretty scary stuff. Without knowing anything else about it, my guess on the culprit would be chinese mystery metal. Some of the replacement parts I've looked at lately are of such poor quality I won't use them. Even "brand name" stuff has mostly all turned to junk.

 

[Snake Farm]

Scary stuff when you think of what 'could have happened' Very well could be the 'off shore' thing you mentioned. I think we are seeing more and more of it all the time.
My daughter and her husband have been traveling with his job for four years now and this 35' fifth wheeler is their home....

.....they bought it new when they embarked on this adventure and a couple years ago as they were traveling from one project to another the left rear studs sheared as they were traveling down the main drag of a small town and the tire/wheel crossed the left lane, traveled down the sidewalk and crashed through the front of an auto parts store They were only going about 20 MPH and didn't feel it or see it........the person behind them got them stopped about three blocks down the street
My son in-law, a mechanical engineer and nit picky maintenance type always checks and torques all the lugs before they move and had even stopped and rechecked them about 35 miles back! There was only one stud left and one bolt hole damaged......seven of the studs sheared off clean without damaging the wheel! Thirty two ARP studs and two years later, no more problems. The funny thing was (if there was a funny thing) that a guy behind the counter at the parts store saw the wheel come off, watched it cross the left lane, come down the sidewalk, crash through the front of the store, bounce up and hit the ceiling and land in the lug wrench/lug nut display [cl Amazing no one was hurt.

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

Hmmm. That trailer wheel story sounds a lot like mine. The wheel was unmarked. Perfect condition. Three studs just decided to leave the party unannounced. [S

"Chinese mystery metal". That is the only reasonable conclusion I can draw from this. I wish I could remember who supplied these "parts", because the Irish in me wants to feed the remains to somebody.

Unfortunately, you don't know what you're getting in a box anymore. What the world needs now, is Tommy Callahan...

Ted Nelson, Customer: "But why do they put a guarantee on the box?"

Tommy: "Because they know all they sold ya was a guaranteed piece of sh**. That's all it is, isn't it? Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time. But for now, for your customer's sake, for your daughter's sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality product from me."

Rants and emotions aside, I'm very happy it happened to me and not my kids at highway speed. Nobody was hurt and that's what matters most.

 

[gassersgarage]

Back in the '70's, my Father-N-Law had a '69 Ford F100 work truck. He came home and discovered that all the lug nuts on the front right wheel had backed off. The wheel had destroyed the threads on the hub from being loose.

 

[bob w]

This isn't a big deal compared to the other reports in this thread. But, I found the event pretty unsettling.

I was snugging a new tractor supply store grade 5 1/4" nut and bolt with a 1/4" drive ratchet and the head popped off the bolt. That was with hardly any torque applied. Makes me worry that a critical bolt might do that as I'm driving down the road.

I use lots of grade 8 bolts but who knows, maybe their quality is just as bad.

 

[sgtpontiac]

There is no guarantee that any product won't fail...

If I buy bolts from the local Farm and Fleet store I only get Grade 8....but it still doesn't guarantee they are actually grade 8....nice goldish color....grade 5 nice greenish color...difference in price per pound...35 cents....I but the 8's..as for other replacement parts....who know where they come from...I've seen Made in USA on a box an in small print it says "Assembled in Mexico".. you just can never be sure...even napa sells overseas stuff...it's a crap shoot every time.....

 

[Sniper]

Your right there Sarge, A few years back there was an influx of bogus aircraft bolts and hardware that made it into the system, raised all kinds of havoc in the industry from military to homebuilts. The common hardware sold anywhere can be crap and no one knows until it's to late.

 

[440shorty]

Bad Metal

Lessons from the transmission world:

GM's first transverse 4-speed overdrive automatic transaxle debuted in 1983, and was made available first in heavy luxury cars behind the most powerful (at the time) V6 and V8 FWD models. From then until mid-1994 or so, the cars grew heavier and the engines more powerful, but the stamped steel drive shell was never a wear item. "Suddenly" the same part began failing in 1995 model vehicles with low milage, in large numbers. The failure rate was great enough that the replacement part began to be manufactured from a hardened steel, then by 1997 the part itself and the planet carrier it mated to was completely redesigned to mitigate failure.

Why after 11 years or so did the part begin to fail? The metal that the failed parts were made from seemed somehow different from that of the previous years. Chinese metal? Or maybe recycled metal? Bad metal nonetheless.

At least we the independent shops made some money from the bad parts.

440shorty

 

[jmlcolorado]

I had a similar thing happen to me in my 98 dodge dully (long bed, extra cab)
That truck was heavy and I caught it just in time! I noticed a pop then a vibration as well. I got pulled over to find 7 lugs sheared off and only 1 remaining.
I ended up pulling the rotor and reinstalling new studs in the parking lot before driving it home.
I'm VERY careful what I buy that is criticle now. As careful as I can be at least.