wheel falls off :/

Me and my wife are in our beater 73 Super (not the good 73 that isn't
completed yet) just got on the highway after filling up the tank. Not
even a half mile up the road the steering fall starts to shake, then got
worse quickly. Instinct says let off on the gas and pull over. Right
then the drivers side front drops six inches to the ground and our tire
passes us. No problem with control, I steered off the highway into the
shoulder. I probably scraped 100 feet. The tire kept going about
another 1000 feet across the highway and rested in the left shoulder.

So I get out and see, yup, no wheel. How the hell did that happen? Over
the road I did find the four lug nuts. Lower control arm and the bottom
of the spindle are worn flat. Repairable..

My wife was freaked out and I was just laughing at the whole thing.

I was the last to take the wheel off when I was working on the front
brakes, but I know I torqued the lugs down... I don't know why this
happened.
--
David Gravereaux >
[species: human; planet: earth,milkyway(western spiral arm),alpha sector]

"David Gravereaux" > wrote in message
...
> I was the last to take the wheel off when I was working on the front
> brakes, but I know I torqued the lugs down... I don't know why this
> happened.

Man, I hate to say this, but it looks like sabotage. I mean, you would
_know_ if you tightened the nuts. Seems real unlikely that all four would
spin off in such synchronicity.

>From: David Gravereaux

>, but I know I torqued the lugs down..

famous quote....just like "i *know* the firing order is correct", or "no that's
not the problem" etc...
-------------------
Chris Perdue
"I'm ever so thankful for the Internet; it has allowed me to keep a finger in
the pie and to make some small contribution to those younger who will carry the
air-cooled legend forward"
Jim Mais
Feb. 2004

David Gravereaux > wrote in message >. ..
> Me and my wife are in our beater 73 Super (not the good 73 that isn't
> completed yet) just got on the highway after filling up the tank. Not
> even a half mile up the road the steering fall starts to shake, then got
> worse quickly. Instinct says let off on the gas and pull over. Right
> then the drivers side front drops six inches to the ground and our tire
> passes us. No problem with control, I steered off the highway into the
> shoulder. I probably scraped 100 feet. The tire kept going about
> another 1000 feet across the highway and rested in the left shoulder.
>
> So I get out and see, yup, no wheel. How the hell did that happen? Over
> the road I did find the four lug nuts. Lower control arm and the bottom
> of the spindle are worn flat. Repairable..
>
> My wife was freaked out and I was just laughing at the whole thing.
>
> I was the last to take the wheel off when I was working on the front
> brakes, but I know I torqued the lugs down... I don't know why this
> happened.


Geez! I'm glad you and your wife are ok. If you are going to
quadruple check ANYTHING, check your lugnuts. I almost forgot to
tighten mine once.....thank goodness I remembered.



Yes. I'm *sure* you tightened them too.

haha....If you really did tighten them, SOMEBODY loosened them. There
are no other explanations. What happened to the whole brake assembly?
Are you sure the wheel didn't pull off with the drum, IE the spindle
nut was loose? How did you stop if the whole brake assembly was gone?
If this happened, you would have lost brake pressure. Maybe I'm not
understanding what came off, exactly.

Anyway, again, glad you're ok, and glad the damamge is fixable.

~Anthony

did that one time also. put the nifty 8 spoke mags on my junker bug "just to
see how neat they will look on my next bug ".
well....... forgot to tighten the lug nuts after lowering the jack and
later watched one front wheel fly across the road into oncoming traffic
seemingly dodging every car to land beside a fir tree.

so that is something i double check everytime, now.

--
bob
http://photos.yahoo.com/ysail1

EMOVE (Chris Perdue) wrote:

>>From: David Gravereaux
>
>>, but I know I torqued the lugs down..
>
>famous quote....just like "i *know* the firing order is correct", or "no that's
>not the problem" etc...

For real, was tight. 2 months ago after the brake job.
--
David Gravereaux >
[species: human; planet: earth,milkyway(western spiral arm),alpha sector]

Michael Cecil > wrote:

>On Sat, 13 Nov 2004 13:48:16 -0600, "jjs" > wrote:
>
>>"David Gravereaux" > wrote in message
. ..
>>> I was the last to take the wheel off when I was working on the front
>>> brakes, but I know I torqued the lugs down... I don't know why this
>>> happened.
>>
>>Man, I hate to say this, but it looks like sabotage. I mean, you would
>>_know_ if you tightened the nuts. Seems real unlikely that all four would
>>spin off in such synchronicity.
>
>Hubcap fingerprints?

No hubcaps were on the fronts.. was lazy.. This makes the most sense..
had to have been sabotage. From the looks of the 4 lug nuts I found on
the road, the beginnings of the threads took all the chew damage when the
wheel started shaking. So they must have been turned out by someone.
And I do park this car on the street.
--
David Gravereaux >
[species: human; planet: earth,milkyway(western spiral arm),alpha sector]

(Anthony) wrote:

>What happened to the whole brake assembly?

No damage.. The drum didn't touch the ground. Under the strut is where
the spindle attaches and under that is where the lower control arm bolts
to. All the damage was to the lower control arm and its pivot.

I'll take a pic of it today.
--
David Gravereaux >
[species: human; planet: earth,milkyway(western spiral arm),alpha sector]

"David Gravereaux" > wrote in message
...
> No hubcaps were on the fronts.. was lazy.. This makes the most sense..
> had to have been sabotage. From the looks of the 4 lug nuts I found on
> the road, the beginnings of the threads took all the chew damage when the
> wheel started shaking. So they must have been turned out by someone.
> And I do park this car on the street.

Kids probably ****ed-off because they couldn't steal your hubcaps. Glad you
are okay.

David Gravereaux > wrote in message >. ..
> (Anthony) wrote:
>
> >What happened to the whole brake assembly?
>
> No damage.. The drum didn't touch the ground. Under the strut is where
> the spindle attaches and under that is where the lower control arm bolts
> to. All the damage was to the lower control arm and its pivot.
>
> I'll take a pic of it today.


D'OH! Spaced that it was a Super Beetle. I was thinking standard
Beetle suspension compenents. Makes more sense now.

~Anthony