All five lug studs sheared (with pics!!)

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

wow, glad you are alright.

Yeah we made it out ok thankfully! One of the members of the other Jeep club I belong to brought up a good point...

66bronco said:

WWWWOOOOOOWWWW!!!!

that is scary stuff. the only thing i can think of is the stud shoulders were too short. they should press all the way through the hub and rotor. you said you replaced the studs. if they were not seated all the way, they would have drawn out as you drove, loosening the lug nuts. if the shoulders of the studs were below the rotor, they would flex and snap at that point.
glad you guys are ok

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The night before when we replaced the axle/bearing there were only four studs in the bearing and we had to pound a fifth one in. I wish we had marked which one we put in, but I think that could be it. When I took it apart this morning four studs were still in and the different one had fallen out. However, the rest seemed to be seated fine. Could this be the cause?

Sounds to me like loose lug nuts. I had almost the same exact thing happen to me. My passenger side front lug nuts were loose and it was making weird noises so I pulled over. Couldn't find anything. Then started to drive again when the death wobble hit. I barely got it stopped. Got out and looked and the lug nuts were extremely loose. In your case if the wheel was separated from its resting surface it could start loading two to three lugs at a time instead of all five. Just my 2cents.

That could be it. I hit all the lug nuts with the impact wrench because that's what I've always done and no problems. But if a stud weren't seated properly it would just spin and who'd have known the better? Perhaps it's time to start tightening them by hand. Who knows, maybe it was the impact that loosened the stud.

or the fact that w/ am impact you can over torq the studs making them really weak if its over torqed it can ether spin off w/ the impact or w/ very little force snap the studs off

i would have never thought of this myslef but my auto teacher told me about it, we still thought it want possable until a car going we were about to send a car to pick n pull and tested it

we over torqed the studs and taped them w/ a hammer and off they went

over all glad to hear your ok
thats really scary i lost a unit bearing on the freeway at 60mph that was fun......

Mdub said:

Sounds to me like loose lug nuts. I had almost the same exact thing happen to me. My passenger side front lug nuts were loose and it was making weird noises so I pulled over. Couldn't find anything. Then started to drive again when the death wobble hit. I barely got it stopped. Got out and looked and the lug nuts were extremely loose. In your case if the wheel was separated from its resting surface it could start loading two to three lugs at a time instead of all five. Just my 2cents.

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probably right, i dont see how a bad alignment could do that. I was driving a few weeks ago and got a very bad wobble with a bit of noise, stopped and i was able to tighten a few of the lugs by hand they were so loose.

luderitz said:

That could be it. I hit all the lug nuts with the impact wrench because that's what I've always done and no problems. But if a stud weren't seated properly it would just spin and who'd have known the better? Perhaps it's time to start tightening them by hand. Who knows, maybe it was the impact that loosened the stud.

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Thats not quite true, one method to install new studs is to get them started and the use a couple of nuts to pull them all the way thru unless you have a press. As for an air gun on my lugs, not a chance, I keep a large 1/2 torque wrench under the rear seat, thats the only thing that tightens them.
We had a wacko in our neighborhood that got his jollies going around at nite and loosening lugs. He did our jeeps, all three of them, 2 tj's and my xj. My daughter took her brothers TJ to go run for a pizza for lunch one sat while we were working outside at the house, the rear drivers side wheel came off at 40 mph. She got it stopped and no damage to the studs, wheels or brake drum. When we got there with a floor jack we put the wheel back on and robbed one lug from each wheel just to get her 2 mi back to the house. It was then I noticed all the lugs were loose. When we got back home I checked the other jeeps and found ALL the lugs were loose, then we reported it to the state police and filed a report. We found out later that the unknown kid got sent to 'prison boot camp' for 6 months but then got out and we had it happen again only on my daughters TJ, luckily she was only doing 30 or so up a long hill when the front drivers side came off, again only damage was a flat spot on the rotor. When she called me to tell me what happened I checked my lugs on my XJ, SOB was back and they were all loose. Again I reported it to the state police. Only this time I told them if I catch the guy they can follow the coroner becasue I considered it attempted murder of a family member and they can come pick up the body. He's back in the can again for some other stuff he pulled and will be there for a few more years.
I know how scary loosing a wheel can be.

Would it be overkill or cautious to weld the studs in place before putting the nuts on? Bearings can be scrapped for cheap enough.

luderitz said:

Would it be overkill or cautious to weld the studs in place before putting the nuts on? Bearings can be scrapped for cheap enough.

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it would make for one hell of a trail repair

Not if you kept spares!

You're lucky. Similar situation happened to me back in about '85. I was driving my '75 Power Wagon when I got the death wobble. All of a sudden the left front dropped, shot to the left, then dropped again. When I realized what happened, The truck was sitting on it's left front corner in a ditch on the side of the road. (both rear wheels were off the ground) The truck wore 44" Ground Hogs. My dad was following me. He said when the tire shot out of the wheelwell, It went as high as a telephone pole. He remembers saying "Oh god, I hope it doesn't land on us" (he was driving his CJ-2A) The tire hit the ground & bounced as high.
In my case, the spindle sheared. That prompted me to dump the 1/2 ton Dana 44! I wish I had pics

RichP said:

Thats not quite true, one method to install new studs is to get them started and the use a couple of nuts to pull them all the way thru unless you have a press. As for an air gun on my lugs, not a chance, I keep a large 1/2 torque wrench under the rear seat, thats the only thing that tightens them.
We had a wacko in our neighborhood that got his jollies going around at nite and loosening lugs. He did our jeeps, all three of them, 2 tj's and my xj. My daughter took her brothers TJ to go run for a pizza for lunch one sat while we were working outside at the house, the rear drivers side wheel came off at 40 mph. She got it stopped and no damage to the studs, wheels or brake drum. When we got there with a floor jack we put the wheel back on and robbed one lug from each wheel just to get her 2 mi back to the house. It was then I noticed all the lugs were loose. When we got back home I checked the other jeeps and found ALL the lugs were loose, then we reported it to the state police and filed a report. We found out later that the unknown kid got sent to 'prison boot camp' for 6 months but then got out and we had it happen again only on my daughters TJ, luckily she was only doing 30 or so up a long hill when the front drivers side came off, again only damage was a flat spot on the rotor. When she called me to tell me what happened I checked my lugs on my XJ, SOB was back and they were all loose. Again I reported it to the state police. Only this time I told them if I catch the guy they can follow the coroner becasue I considered it attempted murder of a family member and they can come pick up the body. He's back in the can again for some other stuff he pulled and will be there for a few more years.
I know how scary loosing a wheel can be.

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Spooky. I was passed by my rear tire once when I was a teen-ager. Stupic volkswagen studs came loose at 55mph on the freeway.

if u dont have the right shaped lug nuts they will never stay tight. some require an acorn shaped lug. based on the edge of the hole on the rim u can figure out with one u need.

I had a similiar problem with the shank on the stud being too long and the lug nuts tightening down onto the shank instead of seating the wheel properly. Sure is scary loosing a 38 at 40mph

Always torque yer lugs :twak: