Wheel came off during towing, how did that happen?

[ZeeOSix]

^^^ Mustang engine water flush ... LoL.

 

[The_Jeff]

Your landlord should be happy you're paying rent with all that's going around.

This is only your problem if you let it continue to be a problem. Like I said, go on the offensive. Make him hide from you. Do not pay him anything ever. He'll get butt hurt but will begrudgingly accept that you're still paying to be there-- landlords everywhere are sweating.

Does he have other vacant/ unpaying units? That could be a cause for his stress. Not your problem.

 

[pacem]

He does actually, how did you know. He has and out of state. I think the truck situation is just the latest on top of other things. We are moving out, I am looking for a place really hard.

Does he have other vacant/ unpaying units? That could be a cause for his stress. Not your problem.

 

[willbur]

Consult with Russian/former Eastern Bloc) truck drivers. They seem to have wheels come off all the time. Sometimes complete with axle and brake drum. In my seventy something years of driving, I have never seen a wheel come off of a vehicle under way.

Never? Happened to my father after he had new tires installed at a national chain tire store. Rear wheel came off and rolled through a car dealership front window! Two years ago travelling up I-95 just south of baltimore, I saw a wheel roll across the two lanes of heavy rush hour traffic doing 75+ just in front of me. A miracle a huge accident did not happen. This stuff probably happens a lot more than ppl realize .

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Are those the right wheels for that truck? Those wheels look like 94-01 wheels, on a 02+ truck. I know on the Jeeps, Chrysler started changing the taper of the lugnuts around then. I know a few people who tried to run JK Wrangler (07-18) wheels on a WJ (99-04) grand cherokee and had nothing but problems with the lugnuts randomly coming lose because the taper was wrong.

Bolt pattern should be 5x5.5 between the two trucks, but the taper on the lugnut may be wrong. Or who knows if that wheel was run lose and had the holes chewed up before.

I ran Lincoln towncar wheels on my Jeep Cheorkee for years. Ultimately ended up getting rid of them partially because I was tired of having to check the torque constantly or risk them coming lose. The taper between the Ford wheels and Jeep lugnuts was just too much and they wouldn't stay tight.

 

[Nick1994]

Are those the right wheels for that truck? Those wheels look like 94-01 wheels, on a 02+ truck. I know on the Jeeps, Chrysler started changing the taper of the lugnuts around then. I know a few people who tried to run JK Wrangler (07-18) wheels on a WJ (99-04) grand cherokee and had nothing but problems with the lugnuts randomly coming lose because the taper was wrong.

Bolt pattern should be 5x5.5 between the two trucks, but the taper on the lugnut may be wrong. Or who knows if that wheel was run lose and had the holes chewed up before.

I ran Lincoln towncar wheels on my Jeep Cheorkee for years. Ultimately ended up getting rid of them partially because I was tired of having to check the torque constantly or risk them coming lose. The taper between the Ford wheels and Jeep lugnuts was just too much and they wouldn't stay tight.

Good catch. Here’s the wheels on each truck generation.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Just a crazy guess as to why they would randomly come off, but I think that possibly could be a contributing factor. Also -- had a friend who ran explorer wheels on her Cherokee and she had the same problem I did; lugnuts wouldn't stay tight. The Ford wheels had a ball seat style taper and the jeep wheels were conical style. Or vice versa.

 

[pacem]

Are those the right wheels for that truck? Those wheels look like 94-01 wheels, on a 02+ truck

I have no idea what those wheels are, but the vehicle is a 2003 RAM.

Actually if someone could ID these wheels, would be great, there is a pic posted of other right rear wheel.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

From the one picture posted when it still had the left rear wheel, that's definitely a 94-01 wheel. Not the right wheel that would have come on that truck.

 

[OVERKILL]

Wonder if he put Metric lugs on the Standard studs? that's another issue I've seen (think I had a thread about it?) with the RAM's.

 

[pacem]

From the one picture posted when it still had the left rear wheel, that's definitely a 94-01 wheel. Not the right wheel that would have come on that truck.

That's certainly an interesting development. Do you think it played a role in it?

 

[SwampSurvivor]

There's a very real possibility. Along with what OVERKILL posted.

Just because the bolt pattern is the same, doesn't mean they are going to work exactly the same

 

[Nick1994]

The truck those wheels would have come off used a 1/2”-20 thread on the lug nuts. This truck uses 9/16”-18 thread. So definitely different lug nuts.

 

[OVERKILL]

The truck those wheels would have come off used a 1/2”-20 thread on the lug nuts. This truck uses 9/16”-18 thread. So definitely different lug nuts.

Not naming names, but we had the issue on one of our work trucks where the guy wrenching on it (not the dealer) ordered the wrong lug nuts for it and spun them on with the impact and they were all cross-threaded and hardly holding the wheel on, I could very easily see that turning into what the OP experienced.

 

[Brybo86]

bump for an update from @pacem

 

[cronk]

My take is this had nothing to do with the loading of the truck. That load the OP describes would not be overweight for a 1/2 ton truck.

My suspicion would be the aluminum wheel had some corrosion on the mounting face, which allowed the lug nuts to work loose over time.
I have worked on cars for years and had it happen to me after I worked on a friends Chevy Blazer, he drove it a couple weeks before the lugs worked loose and he had a bad thump noise and vibration, and I found the lug nut loose, even after I had torqued them properly with a torque wrench.

I learned a lesson from that, any time I have an aluminum wheel off, I make sure the mounting surface is clean and if it has any of the cheese looking aluminum corrosion, I clean it up with a scotch brite disc on my angle grinder.

 

[Gene K]

While it's uploading to imgur:

I left DC area going south about 10PM on Saturday, loaded, the bed was full and the trailer was about 1/4 full, all seasoned firewood, I was cognizant about overloading. So didn't pack the entire 6x12', I wish I had taken a pic of exactly how much I had in there. The firewood was dry.
The thoght did cross my mind but then I thought, oh why would I ever need that documented. Plus it was 11PM when I got done loading.

Made to it to central VA about 3AM, yeah it was late but on the upside the roads were empty 95 including.

Spent the night there, departed about noon after unloading both Uhaul and the truck. So running empty, made it all the way to Richmond and then about an hour north of Richmond kind of Stafford area off I-95, I-95 north, between exit 140 and 143. Combined I would say that at least 100 miles, maybe more that I cruised fine without issues until this. I rented the Uhaul in DC area and that's where I had to return it, it was a round-trip thing, not a one way. And that is where I first noticed it was fishtailing a bit, I dismissed it to wind, or such. I haven't towed in years. It should have been a clue something is up. Fishtailing only occurred at speeds around 70, I slowed down to 60 and it went away. I drove like that for what seems like 20 minutes and then it went bang and stuff, I pulled over immediately and saw the wheel was completely gone, I was in total shock and disbelief. It was probably within several hundred feet but who the h3ll knows. I am not mechanically inclined to say the least. I mean I can change the oil filter or spark plugs as the extent of my mechanical abilities but as far as diagnosing something, that's above me.

The owner of the vehicle says I overloaded it and broke the axle. This is a 1500 RAM, 2003, with over 200K on it.
and while I am not financially liable, I think the root of the problem it's poorly maintained through and through, example - exhaust has a hole in it, very loud, AC doesn't work, the battery self-discharges. He buys junk vehicles at auto auctions, fixes them and resells them, this looks like a $200 special right there. That's just what I know is broken on it, I presented my lug nuts theory to him, he said he tightened them 400 miles ago. So that doesn't get any traction. I mean I've never seen lug nuts just loosen by themselves but then I don't know.

I need to understand what happens when an axle breaks due to overload, can this be something like this?
I don't know if 1500 RAM is a semifloater, I had a 2500HD Ford and that was a fully floating axle capable of towing very heavy trailers of Fifths, and this one, I can't believe a 1500 RAM would snap because of essentially 2-2.5 beds of firewood. (One full bed in the truck and the equivalent of another bed or 1.5 beds in the trailer). If you could see inside the trailer it was mostly empty.

I didn't read this whole missive it if you break a C-Clip Axle (Like a half ton) the axle is only retained at the differential end so what's left slides out complete with the wheel, tire and brake assembly.