luderitz
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Bolton Vermont
All I can say is that I woke up this morning with a new found appreciation for alignments. Last night I suspected that something might happen, but never in a thousand years would I have guessed that fate.
Last night we were at my buddy Brian's place replacing the ball joints on the drivers side since that is all that was needed to pass inspection. While trying to remove the nuckle I noticed that the tie rod end wasn't comming out under its own will. So like any novice mechanic I hit it with a hammer to get it out, bad idea. In doing so I stripped the threads which meant that we had to replace that when reassembling everything. So I screwed the "new" end in until it looked good and proceded to finish assembling the rest of the mess.
We finally wrapped everything up and were on the road right around midnight. On the way I heard what sounded like the driver's side tire scraping against something when making right turns. Pulled over and... nothing. The front tires were warmer than the rear so I figured it was just a minor alignment thing. Meanwhile my fiance is trying to get some sleep in the cab and is eager to get back. So's not to delay our getting home I figured it would make the rest of the 30 mile drive alright without having to do an alignment there. A few miles up the road it felt like we ran over a small pothole followed by what I thought was the sound of a flat tire. We pulled over and once again... nothing. Front tires are still warmer than the rear, but no sign of rubbing or anything unusual.
So far the Jeep seems to be making it alright until another knock and some wobbling. I should have pulled over then, but the previous night I had a little bit of wobbling and everything seemed fine. Besides, we were only a quarter mile from our home. All of a sudden the minor wobbling becomes the famous death wobble. I can't remember if I tried to slow down before the wheel came off or not... the details of those moments are kinda fuzzy. We were doing about 40 when the wheel came off and I did the best I could to stop it and rototill the side of the road.
Thankfully we were so close to home so after waking up the neighborhood we walked back and called a flatbed to come bail us out.
This morning I went out and recovered the tire from the woods and assessed the damage. The rim got warped around one of the holes but hopeuflly that can be hammered out.
The amazing part is that all five lug studs were sheared
Im not sure what exactly caused all 5 studs to give like that. Monday night we replaced that bearing and axle with a fully assembled spare that Brian had (incl. the studs). That was the first night I started to get a bit of a shake. At least now I know where to start looking. Another thing is that the ball joints in my tie-rod ends are fairly loose which doesn't help with the wobble/alignment. Needless to say I won't be driving the Jeep any distance until I have a pretty good idea what's up. If anyone has any ideas as to what forces caused the studs to shear I'd greatly appreciate it! If you don't then I hope you were at least entertained for a few minutes!
Matt
Last night we were at my buddy Brian's place replacing the ball joints on the drivers side since that is all that was needed to pass inspection. While trying to remove the nuckle I noticed that the tie rod end wasn't comming out under its own will. So like any novice mechanic I hit it with a hammer to get it out, bad idea. In doing so I stripped the threads which meant that we had to replace that when reassembling everything. So I screwed the "new" end in until it looked good and proceded to finish assembling the rest of the mess.
We finally wrapped everything up and were on the road right around midnight. On the way I heard what sounded like the driver's side tire scraping against something when making right turns. Pulled over and... nothing. The front tires were warmer than the rear so I figured it was just a minor alignment thing. Meanwhile my fiance is trying to get some sleep in the cab and is eager to get back. So's not to delay our getting home I figured it would make the rest of the 30 mile drive alright without having to do an alignment there. A few miles up the road it felt like we ran over a small pothole followed by what I thought was the sound of a flat tire. We pulled over and once again... nothing. Front tires are still warmer than the rear, but no sign of rubbing or anything unusual.
So far the Jeep seems to be making it alright until another knock and some wobbling. I should have pulled over then, but the previous night I had a little bit of wobbling and everything seemed fine. Besides, we were only a quarter mile from our home. All of a sudden the minor wobbling becomes the famous death wobble. I can't remember if I tried to slow down before the wheel came off or not... the details of those moments are kinda fuzzy. We were doing about 40 when the wheel came off and I did the best I could to stop it and rototill the side of the road.
Thankfully we were so close to home so after waking up the neighborhood we walked back and called a flatbed to come bail us out.
This morning I went out and recovered the tire from the woods and assessed the damage. The rim got warped around one of the holes but hopeuflly that can be hammered out.
The amazing part is that all five lug studs were sheared
Im not sure what exactly caused all 5 studs to give like that. Monday night we replaced that bearing and axle with a fully assembled spare that Brian had (incl. the studs). That was the first night I started to get a bit of a shake. At least now I know where to start looking. Another thing is that the ball joints in my tie-rod ends are fairly loose which doesn't help with the wobble/alignment. Needless to say I won't be driving the Jeep any distance until I have a pretty good idea what's up. If anyone has any ideas as to what forces caused the studs to shear I'd greatly appreciate it! If you don't then I hope you were at least entertained for a few minutes!
Matt