Lost a Wheel

Four wheel driving. Vehicle modifications. Off road driving and recovery techniques. Towing and miscellaneous vehicle topics.

Lost a Wheel

Post by Strangedog » 25 Jul 2020, 2:57 pm

Recently while on route to a western Qld hunting property I lost my right rear wheel on my 2012 Hilux. We were fully loaded with gear and towing a bogie axle trailer loaded with two quads and gear. At about 110km/hr, for a couple of seconds it was pretty hairy and when we finally came to a stop I was thankful we were all in one piece. :shock: When we got out to examine what had happened we noticed 150m or so back that there a grass fire on the side of the road, the backing plate of my brakes had dragged along the road and ground away creating molten metal which then ignited the grass. Thankfully we got that out after some tense moments. On examination, all my wheel studs were snapped. After some bush mechanics we got rolling again and limped into the next town and got repairs the next morning. The mechanic told me that he sees snapped wheel studs a quite bit with alloy rims and weight. :unknown: Obviously I'm wanting to find the reason this happened so I have asked around a bit since and get mostly scratching of heads.

I rotated my tyres before I left, the same way I have done countless times in the past. After the first 500km I checked them all for finger tightness and they passed that check.(maybe I should of used a spanner) We made it to the first property only to be rained out and then have to move on to the another one. I would of travelled near 2500km when it happened. As I said all studs were snapped. On the wheel only a couple of holes had a little flogging out but it was on the inside and looked like studs that had snapped earlier had caused it. Just before it happened we had done 70km of dirt with a fair few cattle grids but it was by no means really rough dirt roads. I'm guessing my wheel nuts came loose but I'm far from convinced, especially being the right side and travelling that far. After the incident I obviously checked the tightness of all the other wheel nuts. On maybe 3 of the 18 I might of got 1/4 of a turn if I was lucky, not what you would call indicative of loose nuts.

Anyway I am interested if anyone has had similar experiences or may have an opinion on the matter.
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Re: Lost a Wheel

Post by AZZA'S HJ47 » 25 Jul 2020, 3:04 pm

Tension wrench is your friend. Too tight and you will damage the studs and experience what you have described too loose and you loose a wheel. Tension wrench will make sure that the wheels a secure and you wont have a problem in the future.
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Re: Lost a Wheel

Post by Blr243 » 25 Jul 2020, 4:42 pm

On a hunt I lost a wheel on a cruiser on a dirt road , but it was my fault On another hunt I had a draw bar fail on a trailer carrying my quad and it was my fault. And while riding my quad I lost a tire and the resulting chaos pushed me up against a fence so hard I could not get my leg out unless I first removed my boot. Again it was my fault .... I score 10/10 for honesty and 0/10 for safety. Does anyone want to come for a hunt?
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Re: Lost a Wheel

Post by Blr243 » 25 Jul 2020, 4:43 pm

Strange dog Did you get any pigs, goats, foxes and cats ?
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Re: Lost a Wheel

Post by GQshayne » 25 Jul 2020, 7:50 pm

I wonder if your wheels are centred on your hubs properly. It is the hub, not the studs, that should be taking the weight. This is the kind of thing that can happen when wheels that have the same stud pattern but not centre bore are swapped between vehicles. Something to have a look at anyway, as a suggestion.
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Re: Lost a Wheel

Post by kneelo » 26 Jul 2020, 8:33 am

Tapered face wheel nuts or the straight factory toyota alloy rim style?

Would be keen to see photos of the rim and broken studs.

Ive only ever had issues when i have left them loose.
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Re: Lost a Wheel

Post by Strangedog » 26 Jul 2020, 10:56 am

GQshayne wrote:I wonder if your wheels are centred on your hubs properly. It is the hub, not the studs, that should be taking the weight. This is the kind of thing that can happen when wheels that have the same stud pattern but not centre bore are swapped between vehicles. Something to have a look at anyway, as a suggestion.

Had these wheels on since new, so wouldn't have thought that to be a problem.
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Re: Lost a Wheel

Post by Strangedog » 26 Jul 2020, 10:58 am

kneelo wrote:Tapered face wheel nuts or the straight factory toyota alloy rim style?

Would be keen to see photos of the rim and broken studs.

Ive only ever had issues when i have left them loose.


I think they are tapered but not sure, they came with the ROH rims. Studs were discarded, but probably should have kept them for interest. Wasn't really thinking about that at the time.
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Re: Lost a Wheel

Post by Strangedog » 26 Jul 2020, 11:01 am

Blr243 wrote:Strange dog Did you get any pigs, goats, foxes and cats ?

We got about 50 or so pigs, couple of nice ones amongst em. Only saw one fox. I got to shoot a few out of a chopper which was awesome fun. So overall still a great trip. Out west of Winton.
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Re: Lost a Wheel

Post by GQshayne » 26 Jul 2020, 7:51 pm

Strangedog wrote:
GQshayne wrote:I wonder if your wheels are centred on your hubs properly. It is the hub, not the studs, that should be taking the weight. This is the kind of thing that can happen when wheels that have the same stud pattern but not centre bore are swapped between vehicles. Something to have a look at anyway, as a suggestion.

Had these wheels on since new, so wouldn't have thought that to be a problem.


I agree, but then again I'll bet you never had a wheel fall off before either. Be worth a look at fitment I think. Something wasn't right, and it would be good to identify it.
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