Someone had a bad day...

BIGWOODY

BIGWOODY

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Location
Thomasville
I couldn't snap the pic with my phone before the light changed, but someone in a white lifted ZJ lost the right rear wheel in the middle of high point rd. this morning. I was hating it for you buddy, that sux. You may want to pick up a torque wrench for those lugs. Puma/Elliott....I think it was you...
 
No exploitation meant, I was going to stop and offer tools being that my shop is less than a mile from there, but it looked like the popos had it under control.
 
yea its cool, I got it towed back to richards (sharksanddanger) and we pulled the shafts and locker and other things to basically rebuild the rear end. The only damage is the backing plate to the rotor but its still frustrating that the wheel spacer let go on me.
 
You're damn lucky it didn't happen on the interstate...

Could ya not just unbolt the spacer and put your tire back on?
 
When was the last time you checked the torque on the lug nuts? Loose nuts will shear the studs off.
 
They were checked when changed my rotors out, probably 3 or 4 months ago. They are eibach spacers, I emailed them and they apparently do not warranty any of their products if they have been used in "extreme" situations. They have a couple tellico trips on them and probably 6 Uwharrie trips.
 
Doh. Didn't realize that was you with the "bad locker" too.... I guess you found the source of that noise, eh?
 
I had a set of marlin spacers on my old rear axle. I would torque them down when installing them, then after a couple days pull the tires off to re-torque them. Never had a problem out of them and they were 3" spacers.
 
Elliott said:
They were checked when changed my rotors out, probably 3 or 4 months ago.
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Did you go back and re-torque after a few days?

Reason I say this, on all the vehicles I've had with aluminum wheels (spacers are Alum right? same concept) I always re-torqued after a few days. I did this religiously after a truck I was passenger in with aluminum wheels lost it's left rear on I-40 in greensboro back in college. We slammed down then noticed the wheel crossing the median and nailing a cab in the grill going west-bound :(

Turns out he didn't snug down the lugs after he rotated his tires
 
That really sucks dude. Im glad I could help you out today with the locker removal. The locker looked good as well. Try running some lucas oil stabilizer in the diff along with regular gear oil. That helped quiet down my front lockrite in my old axle as well as kept everything lubed. C-clips suck especially with a lockrite. The nuts didnt look like they came loose... I looked at the spacer and there didnt apprear to be any holes wallowed out or marks from where the spacer was moving around on the axle shaft. Hope you didnt jinx my spacers and axle :flipoff2:

AARON
 
Pinkston said:
I had a set of marlin spacers on my old rear axle. I would torque them down when installing them, then after a couple days pull the tires off to re-torque them. Never had a problem out of them and they were 3" spacers.
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Exactly. As it was explained to me.. torque 'em good. go out and wheel the piss out of it. re-torque the heck out of 'em, and you'll never have a problem. Has the same Aluminum spacers on the cruiser for 2-3 years now, never had a single lug need to be tightened at all.
 
This same thing happened to me three different times and torqued, retorqued, and checked them every oil change. Just sheared the studs right off of the toyota front axle. All this happened with only road driving. The spacers were purchased from all pro off road everytime and they were 3 inch spacers. I will never ever run spacers or alumium wheels again!
 
toyota231 said:
This same thing happened to me three different times and torqued, retorqued, and checked them every oil change. Just sheared the studs right off of the toyota front axle. All this happened with only road driving. The spacers were purchased from all pro off road everytime and they were 3 inch spacers. I will never ever run spacers or alumium wheels again!
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the thing is these are 1.25" spacers. Shouldn't technically put too much strain on those studs.
 
231 - not sure why that would have happened, but I would guess that you were running std. backspaced wheels with large offroad tires.. which means effectively, you had less than 1" of backspacing (normal Toy wheel is 3.75" BS), putting nearly all the vehicle's weight on the studs in a way they didn't like.

Porsche uses similar bolt-on style spacers on the 911 series, and has been for many years. BUT, wheel width and offset are different to better center the wheel over the bearings.

I betcha the lack of effective offset was the main factor in you shearing those studs.
 
Rich said:
You're damn lucky it didn't happen on the interstate...
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been there done that, i lost my right front 37 on my old 4 runner at 70mph on I85. i had tourqued mine 1 week after i put them on. i thought that would solve the problem. but i figure with 2"bs and an 1.75 spacer it was bound to happen. i later lulled both fronts and locktighted everything, including the spacer to the wheel mount surface. did have any probs after that. i prob would never run spacers again now.
 
I'm starting to see a trend... anyone else? (has nothing to do with the people)
 
I know these pics suck but the lower portion of the studs on the wheel spacer are completley threadless. Apparently the noise from the locker was from the rear tire angling in and out because these spacers were not really bolted to ANYTHING. Never buy wheel spacers!

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Elliott said:
Never buy wheel spacers!
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not sure I'd buy that argument...

cause for every story like this, I can give you a dozen people that have run for years with no problems...30K miles, 50K miles, 90K miles...33" tires, 35" tires, 37" tires...

Greg
 
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