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All 5 Wheel Studs broke off

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BigHog

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Discussion starter · #1 · (Edited)
Here is the scenario - I couldn't figure out the electrical problem with my 68. I finally decided to have it towed to a shop, to have them look at it. When the tow truck arrived, it wasn't a roll back, it was the old style. He decided to hook up from the rear, since my 68 is pretty low in the front. He then used my seat belt to hold the steering wheel straight. Once all hooked up he left for the shop. I gave him about a five minute head start, then headed down myself.


I arrived at the shop before him, and was talking with the guy about my electrical problem, when we see the two truck pulling in with my car. Just as he pulled in, we heard a loud "BAM!", the drivers front wheel goes flying off the car. All five wheel studs snapped. This of course has me greatly concerned. I need to know if it's faulty work on my part, or something else. The front hubs were brand new and had the longer studs already installed. I installed the longer studs in the rear. The shop fixed the electrical problem and inspected the rest of the studs. They said passenger looks fine and so does the rear. But, they couldn't explain how or why it happened. So any insight would be greatly appreciated.


BH
 
#3 ·
BigHog said:
When the tow truck arrived, it wasn't a roll back, it was the old style. He decided to hook up from the rear, since my 68 is pretty low in the front. He then used my seat belt to hold the steering wheel straight.
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Very common way to tow cars from the rear.......this would not have been an issue.
 
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#6 ·
Depending on the style of lug nuts you had, they have bottomed out on the longer studs, and not have been able to fully tighten to the wheel. That is one good reason to use lug nuts that are open on the outer end.
 
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Discussion starter · #7 ·
dyno jonn said:
Depending on the style of lug nuts you had, they have bottomed out on the longer studs, and not have been able to fully tighten to the wheel. That is one good reason to use lug nuts that are open on the outer end.
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I am already switching to the open end style. I will check it, but believe I am fine there. Thanks!
 
#10 ·
I would be looking real close at what remains of the studs for any insight as to what might have happened.

When the wheel popped off and all 5 studs broke, do you think all 5 snapped off at once or did you possibly snap one here or there after some time and when it got to the shop the last one gave up ?.

Were you able to gather up any of the studs and nuts to where you could look at them closely for any hints ?.

You never know but maybe just those 5 got replaced at one time or were over stretched and just those 5 were junk.

Jim
 
#11 ·
Could you post a photo of the sheared off lug studs and the hub?

It was good the car was being towed......You could have been driving down the road at 60 mph and lost a front wheel.
 
Discussion starter · #12 ·
SOA-Nova said:
I would be looking real close at what remains of the studs for any insight as to what might have happened.

When the wheel popped off and all 5 studs broke, do you think all 5 snapped off at once or did you possibly snap one here or there after some time and when it got to the shop the last one gave up ?.

Were you able to gather up any of the studs and nuts to where you could look at them closely for any hints ?.

You never know but maybe just those 5 got replaced at one time or were over stretched and just those 5 were junk.

Jim
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the shop removed all the studs, so I have no pictures to share. They could have snapped off one by one, and that's how I imagined it happened. I had them fix the electrical problem only. When the towed it back to my house, they use dollies under the front tires. They put two bolts through the hub and rim to hold it on. The only thing I have left from the problem is the old hub and rim holes were wallowed out. At this point, I have removed old hub, bearings, seals, washer, cotter pin, and replaced with all new equipment.
 
Discussion starter · #13 ·
tp_smith said:
Could you post a photo of the sheared off lug studs and the hub?

It was good the car was being towed......You could have been driving down the road at 60 mph and lost a front wheel.
Click to expand...

Sorry no pictures to share, unless you guys want pictures of the wallowed holes on the old rim and hub. As you say, I could have been driving down the road at 60 mph, and this could have happened. This is exactly the reason I am trying to get some insight. I need to know if I need to look at/fix something to make sure it doesn't happen again.


BH
 
#15 ·
Kind of long story but you might glean some insight from it. We were on a 2 night overnight trip with friends. On the way home one friend says over the radio he has to pull over for a flat tire. I was in the perfect spot to turn around so went back to help out and radioed the rest of the group to keep going and have a safe trip! Got back to my buddy to find him scratching his head because he didn't have a flat but one rear wheel was only bolted on with one lug nut! We had no idea how that could have happened but got a socket and breaker bar out with plans to borrow a lug from each of the other wheels so he could get home. OOPS! On closer exam, four of his studs were sheered off completely. Plan "B" I have an auto club card with 200 mile towing! Not a lot to do waiting for the flatbed and as we are talking we notice a lug nut about 100 feet from the back of the car. Yes sir, it's complete with sheered off stud. We looked around some more and found 2 more for a total of 3 of 4 missing studs and lug nuts. Because he felt he had a flat and pulled over we figured some of the lugs had come loose causing the wheel to wiggle on the studs first sheering the one we couldn't find. Then the action of slowing down, changing lanes and finely pulling off the road way snapped the 3 that we found.

Truck comes, he gets towed home and several days later I am looking at the photos I took on the trip and can see in a couple of them at one point he had 5 lug nuts on the wheel. Later, probably our last stop before the long drive home I have a photo and you can see one missing and we think the stud is there. The wheels on his car at the time were the old school lug centric type with barrel lugs and washers that fit into a recess in the wheel. Our best guess is one or more lugs worked loose, maybe tampered with but who knows, mounting these type of wheels leaves a little to be desired... Anyway with one missing the others started loosening as the car was driven. When studs started snapping the wheel got looser and wobbled. As I already said then slowing and pulling over put more stress on things and bing, bing, bing 3 more studs snap!!

If your lugs were loose perhaps the weight of the whole car on the front wheels along with a little steering wobble and a few turns and a bump or two was all that was needed...
 
#18 · (Edited)
I wonder too, did the lug nuts face have the wrong taper on them compared to the taper on the wheel holes. This might have allowed the lug nuts to tighten down but then instead of have a thick mating face or area between the two, now it was a very thin or narrow amount and things either got loose or improperly stressed.

I would think too if you were running the center caps that you linked to in the rims you bought that the caps would have kept the broken or backed off lug nuts contained inside the cap. I'm guessing at the time, the caps were off. I know on my 68 Chevy II Nova with the full hubcaps on it, the center portion is plastic and rattles some and it makes me stop and pop off a hubcap now and then thinking it might be a lug nut or two that has backed off. So far not problems with the lugs but they are original just as the rims are but I have heard about lug nuts having the wrong machined face on them. Something to possibly check on your remaining 15 lugs.


I saw this doing a search to see what angle they could be but also found out about conical and ball style.

Image


Jim
 
Discussion starter · #20 ·
Vega$69 said:
How many mile did you drive since the wheels were last installed?
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Hard to say, Vega$. It could be as many as 40 miles. I remember removing the wheel before leaving my friends house, to remove a bolt that was rubbing the tire on the slightest bump. The quick fix was to remove that bolt for now, and look at a permanent fix later on. I have Hotchkis 3" lowering coils on the front. She is pretty low. It is quite possible I forgot to torque them back down.


BH
 
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BigHog
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