Wheel sheared off studs

[jkuhn1113]

Wheel sheared right off of the Jeep’s studs while on a road trip to Florida from Missouri for vacation. What a great start to the week of vacation. Going about 75 miles per hour 45 min from our Airbnb. Cause of malfunction service advisor believes likely loose lug nuts, over torqued, or wrong lug nuts used. still waiting to hear back from them on what all the damages are besides the studs and destroyed wheel. Advised from my insurance to get a hold of the tire shop that installed them and unfortunately they are denying liability since nothing has happened since the install on May 4th. I’ve searched far an wide on here and haven’t been able to find a similar incident. The other rear passenger side is missing a lug nut too.

What a huge damper on the trip my wife and two friends were excited to have a Jeep in Florida and now we have to figure out a way back home and dealing with rental cars. Enterprise won’t let us drive their vehicles back to Missouri because of July 4th week. And then figuring out how to get the Jeep home. We count ourselves lucky that no one was injured with the wheel coming off. Luckily the wheel and tire stayed in the fender so we were safe.

My mistake for trusting a reputable tire shop in my town. Lawyers may have to be involved now. All sorts of should’ve done this or that now. Lesson learned.

UPDATE: Service has verified that the tire shop installed the wrong lug nuts. Too short. Hopefully tire shop will do the right thing. Damage to the rotor and axle shaft as well. Other rear wheel that lost a lug nut also damaged and cannot be put back on the road.

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[gsbrockman]

Having worked at a retail tire store in sales, I have had some experiences with loose wheels.

IMO...if they were the last ones to touch it May 4th, two months later for the tire to come loose is a stretch.

I‘m curious if there was vandalism involved while at your BnB.

What City and state are you broken down? Do you have a spare?

 

[thecritter]

It's actually a pretty easy fix if no other damage done. Big hammer and a punch to knock out the broken lugs/bolt/stud. Then with new stud put some grease on the splines insert stud into now empty hole stack a few washers (thicker than splines) on the threaded side of stud and tighten up lugnut to pull lug/bolt/stud all the way into roter then remove washers. Will probably have to remove the Brake Caliper to insert new stud in roter. Install wheel and good to go. I would retorque after driving a few miles to make sure everything is mated up.

 

[jkuhn1113]

Having worked at a retail tire store in sales, I have had some experiences with loose wheels.

IMO...if they were the last ones to touch it May 4th, two months later for the tire to come loose is a stretch. We are in Tampa

I‘m curious if there was vandalism involved while at your BnB.

What City and state are you broken down? Do you have a spare?

Yeah there is a spare. We never made it to the airbnb so vandalism would be out of the question and the lug nuts needed a special tool to turn

 

[jaymz]

Factory wheels?

 

[Tool Guy]

I had a similar experience not too long ago, fortunately I found the loose lugs before loosing the wheel. All work was done by me including checking torque after 100 miles. I had put over 4000 miles on the wheels before having one set of lugs loosen. Vehicle was always within my control, no vandalism occurred. They can loosen, generally a good idea to check torque before long trips.

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...-your-lugs-on-your-aftermarket-wheels.111949/

 

[Tool Guy]

It's actually a pretty easy fix if no other damage done. Big hammer and a punch to knock out the broken lugs/bolt/stud. Then with new stud put some grease on the splines insert stud into now empty hole stack a few washers (thicker than splines) on the threaded side of stud and tighten up lugnut to pull lug/bolt/stud all the way into roter then remove washers. Will probably have to remove the Brake Caliper to insert new stud in roter. Install wheel and good to go. I would retorque after driving a few miles to make sure everything is mated up.

This is true, trick is finding the studs. It seems like most dealers don't stock parts anymore. Any good full service shop could fix this for you in a couple of hours tops. I suspect you are going to need a new wheel to replace that one, spare for now is a good plan. Point is if you can find the studs, you can still enjoy your vacation. Get a rental car to use while your Jeep is being fixed, drive it back to MO once it's repaired.

EDIT: There are different part numbers front and rear, so be sure to ask specifically for the rear studs. You will want Mopar 68398367AA (Qty 5)

 

[acheron800]

Happened to me once, got it on gopro.

We didn't torque the lugs. All sheared. Fun times.

 

[NWJeepr]

A lot of receipts/invoices from tire shops usually have a line at the bottom advising to check and re-torque wheels after so many miles following install. They really do mean it!

That sucks...hopefully you get it all sorted out.

 

[lashlee]

Oh shit!!

 

[mwilk012]

Aftermarket wheels?

 

[lowmpg]

Having worked at a retail tire store in sales, I have had some experiences with loose wheels.

IMO...if they were the last ones to touch it May 4th, two months later for the tire to come loose is a stretch.

I‘m curious if there was vandalism involved while at your BnB.

What City and state are you broken down? Do you have a spare?

Agreed, two months later they are no longer liable. Something else occurred. Check the torque on the other wheels, willing to bet they are all matched up. Horrible accident, wonder if the wheel wasn't seated correctly on the hub.

 

[GtX]

You should be able to fix this in the driveway relatively easily.

 

[64Chevy]

I tech'd a lot of cars at track day events over the years. Since I had a split-beam torque wrench that I enjoyed using I often ended up torquing dozens of cars a day. The number of lugs that were clearly undertorqued was remarkable (at least to me). I probably should do it on a schedule (and I don't) but I do randomly go around and torque my ride's wheels. And I occasionally get one that is a little under-spec.

To the OP, sorry this happened.

 

[Oncorhynchus]

Scary situation.

It may have ruined your vacation but at least it didn’t result in anyone getting injured.

Missing lug nut on the other wheel is a red flag.

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