Well... for starters, thanks a bunch Andy.
I went and picked up my Jeep today from Billy's house, and dropped Andy's Jeep off. We grubbed and kicked it for a bit, when I started wondering if I could fit my 33's on the rear right now, with the 3". Well, it was a no go. While putting Andy's spare on though, we noticed the lugs were a little short. For some reason we chalked it up to maybe they shortened them on the later years.
So I throw my wheel back on, torque down the lugs, and take off. While on the freeway Andy sent me a text telling me I forgot something in the Jeep. I got off at the next exit and headed back to his pad. I got on a side street and hit about 50 mph when I felt the jeep wobble, then clunk. To my dismay I see my wheel passing me quite quickly, then BAM, the drivers side rear slams on the ground, throwing sparks everywhere. The Jeep started to get squirrely which is fun with no sway bars, but I was able to get her slowed down and to the side of the road. All the while watching my wheel bounce down the road, over, and over, and over. Narrowly missing cars, walls, curbs, trees, and people.
At this point I was pretty much just sitting there stopped, watching my wheel bounce, in shock. A passer by stopped and snagged the wheel for me, but I wasn't sure if he was going to steal it or what, since it was afterall santa ana. But, he rolled it back to me, and I started the 1/4 mile walk back to my Jeep. I laid the wheel down, and called Andy.
He showed up in just a few minutes, with his neighbor, who surprisingly was able to find all 5 lug nuts that fell off in the road. Which was amazing, with the traffic zipping by and pitch black streets. We got the Jeep up in the air and assessed the damage quickly, not much from what I can tell... Got the wheel back on and drove back to Andy's.
What we think happened is that in the process of pulling the wheel and putting it back on, the drum worked off it's seat, and didn't allow for a whole lot of lug to be exposed. When I torqued them down they felt fine, nice and tight, but as I drove off, the drum worked back to where it should be, and the lugs worked off. Oh well... lesson learned.
Ironically, the entire time this was happening, the only thing running through my mind was my wheel getting clobbered... I was worried it was gonna get damaged. But alas, it's fine. I'm fine, and so far the Jeep is fine. We'll see in the next few days.
Thanks again Andy for driving out so quick to snatch me up. I owe ya!