Till the wheels fall off… literally

[Badunit]

I would rule out foul play. No thief loosen five lug nuts individually and then repeat the process to remove the lug nuts. . They remove the lug nuts individually like the rest of us. They don’t loosen one not and not remove it then move to the next one.

I'm not a thief so I can't speak for what they might do but I break the torque on all 5 while it is on the ground then I lift it and take them off the rest of the way. Unless I have an impact wrench, of course.

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[flightace47]

Glad everyone’s ok and your Jeep came out with minimal damage.

May not be what happened, but I’ve made the mistake of failing to torque lug nuts fully before. The person I let drive it complained about a lot of noise when they got back, but still did their whole errand despite that. Since then I’ve always taken vehicles for a short run around the block myself before calling my efforts “done”.

Another possibility is the nuts were torqued on but the wheel was not aligned square on the hub at the time. This would eventually loosen up, especially with some hard knocks from off-roading. You would get some vibration in the steering if this happened on your DF wheel. I had this once in the last few years and caught it by road feel and a torque check. I’ve since gone back to following my dad’s old advice of always shaking/lifting/beating on the tire to keep it seated as you do that first pass of hand tightening the lug nuts.

 

[flick2614]

very first thing I thought. seems like it would have been shaking for a few seconds anyway...

I’ve always assumed if a wheel is close to falling off a vehicle there would be a lot of vibration as well. 2 minutes after getting on the highway I noticed a little oddness, wouldn’t even call it vibration. But I was on a section of highway getting repaved so I chalked it up to that. Other than that no warning to speak of.

 

[The Last Cowboy]

I'm not a thief so I can't speak for what they might do but I break the torque on all 5 while it is on the ground then I lift it and take them off the rest of the way. Unless I have an impact wrench, of course.

I’ve investigated countless wheel thefts. In nearly every case, someone removes all the lugs ahead of time, and throws them on the ground nearby. Then they comes back later with a jack and take all of the wheels in about 45 seconds. Almost always the lug nuts are left behind.

No one would ever just loosen them slightly and leave. The OPs lug nuts held on until he was at highway speed. And, as someone stated above, it’s hard to believe that there wasn’t vibration or noise that was alarming before it came off. Especially being a front wheel.

 

[rk911]

Very glad the OP and family are OK. I wasn't going anywhere near 70 when the right rear wheel and tire decided to go it's own way.

 

[Terrymo]

I felt a vibration in the passenger rear wheel when this happened. I had just driven off road for 6 hours, and then down a winding canyon road with a several hundred foot drop off into a white water river. Luckily nothing happened beyond this which I discovered going 25mph 2 miles from our house. I checked, double checked and triple checked the lug nuts with a torque wrench before this offroad trip.

 

[mwilk012]

I felt a vibration in the passenger rear wheel when this happened. I had just driven off road for 6 hours, and then down a winding canyon road with a several hundred foot drop off into a white water river. Luckily nothing happened beyond this which I discovered going 25mph 2 miles from our house. I checked, double checked and triple checked the lug nuts with a torque wrench before this offroad trip.

Wheel spacers are the devil

 

[Terrymo]

Wheel spacers are the devil

Agreed

 

[rdfact]

I’m glad your family is ok. At freeway speed that could have ended badly.
I’ve had a wheel come off once, all my fault:
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...hile-working-on-your-jeep.133946/post-2795434

 

[21JLURDG]

On a few episodes of Motortrend's "Dirt Every Day," Fred Williams has mentioned a few times him and others losing wheels due to lug nut or wheel stud failure. If this can happen to semi-professional mechanics like him, it can happen to me. I doubt you did anything wrong, but maybe you can take additional future precautions.

Besides the standard precautions, make sure the lug nuts are the correct type for the wheel.
Also, I compare my quality (i.e. GearWrench, Tekton, Icon) torque wrenches to each other and treat them as if they are made from crystal glass. All because I want them to be accurate and I'm too cheap to periodically have them calibrated.
I always re-torque them after my first drive and again 100 miles later.

 

[Vinman]

It needs to be absolute standard practice to re-torque lug nuts after 50miles....literally

especially aluminum rims

While I always retorque wheels 50-60 miles after they’ve been installed I don’t think I have ever had a single wheel nut turn tighter when doing so over the 45 years I’ve been driving.

 

[Gregj]

In the OP’s pic there are zero broken studs, all appear to be bent. Someone took the lug nuts off. I don’t know how that Jeep got to the freeway before the wheel fell off.
.
Gregj

 

[The Last Cowboy]

In the OP’s pic there are zero broken studs, all appear to be bent. Someone took the lug nuts off. I don’t know how that Jeep got to the freeway before the wheel fell off.
.
Gregj

On the first turn the wheel would have come off with no lug nuts. No way he made it to the highway with none.

One mistake some DIYers make is to just get the lugs started, then drop the vehicle off the jack to tighten the lug nuts. This is a set up for failure, especially on lug centric wheels, as the wheel isn’t fully seated against the hub. Even a torque wrench will fool you, and click, when the weight is on the wheel/tire, as the weight of the vehicle wont allow the wheel to be pulled tight against the hub.

 

[watchluvr4ever1116]

Glad you and your family are okay.

 

[flick2614]

On the first turn the wheel would have come off with no lug nuts. No way he made it to the highway with none.

One mistake some DIYers make is to just get the lugs started, then drop the vehicle off the jack to tighten the lug nuts. This is a set up for failure, especially on lug centric wheels, as the wheel isn’t fully seated against the hub. Even a torque wrench will fool you, and click, when the weight is on the wheel/tire, as the weight of the vehicle wont allow the wheel to be pulled tight against the hub.

Admitted DIYer but no, I torque my nuts with the wheel in the air still to get it seated properly. Do the whole X pattern and all.

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