Back from Minnesota - our trailer limped to the RV dealer (Ballantyne RV) in Victor, NY on 3 tires. We lost a wheel on the fifth wheel on the NYS Thruway. Did not feel a thing when it came off the RV. I happened to look back at the RV when a car passed us looking "distressed" as it got in front of me - the one that I think had a close call. I saw allot of smoke coming from the rear axle on the RV. I thought I had a blow out and was surprised when I saw that the wheel was missing. Some NYS Thruway reps found the wheel about 1 mile from where we stopped on the thruway. We were thankful that the wheel did not strike another vehicle. It did start a small grass fire though. We got some great help from trooper Shawn and Benson's Service.We were fortunate that the problem happened 90 miles from home and only 7 miles from a RV dealer. Looks like minimal damage to the side of the RV. Did rip away the cable support (cables are intact).Will have to replace the rear axle and will have the front axle/bearings/brakes inspected.Word of caution - Good Sam Road Service(GSRS) sent out a wrecker that was not licensed for RV repairs on the thruway (I-90). A state trooper helped me call a wrecker that was authorized to work on RVs on the NYS thruway. GSRS cost us an extra 3 hours on the thruway waiting for a wrecker. So - always ask if the wrecker service is licensed to provide service on a thruway (toll road)Moderator edit to re-size pictures to forum recommended limit of 640px maximum width.

That happened to us in Utah. We had the bearing replaced (after a hot bearing) and the tire store that did it left a small retaining plate off when they worked on it. It looks like a washer. That caused the wheel to come off 1500 miles later. I just happened to look in the mirror and saw the wheel rolling into some trees alongside the highway. Never would have figured it out except the machine shop machinist noticed it was missing when I had the bearing pressed in there.

When was the last time you had the bearings checked/serviced?

The outer wheel bearing appears to still be on the spindle minus the bearing nut????

You should replace that "solo" tire, may be damaged.

We Cant Wait wrote:The outer wheel bearing appears to still be on the spindle minus the bearing nut????That would have to be the inner not the outer . .I would expect that the seal is still there also , just on the other side of that bearing.

Lost a wheel | Good Sam Community

ford-willy
Explorer
Sep 16, 2016
When towing any of my trailers I always have a breaker bar with short extension and socket sitting on my rear (crew cab) floor to periodically check the lug nuts. Especially after a tire or wheel has been changed you need to re-tighten/test them every 100 miles or so for about 3 tests. Its a must on a trailer.---- If you had been checking frequently as I suggested you may have noticed the trouble brewing before it became a total failure.
Slownsy
Explorer
Sep 16, 2016
The lug nuts did not fall of it was a bearing that collapsed.
Frank.
ford-willy
Explorer
Sep 16, 2016
Slownsy wrote:
The lug nuts did not fall of it was a bearing that collapsed.
Frank.

Right. My point was just that after "work" that had removed the wheel, we should always re-tighten the lug nuts for the first couple hundred miles at least on that wheel. If that had been done "maybe" the bearing problem would have been noticed before the catastrophic failure. Just IMHO.
rhagfo
Explorer III
Sep 16, 2016
Yea, that outer bearing looks like it pretty much fell apart.
minnow
Explorer
Sep 16, 2016
Like others have posted, I would replace that rear tire also. When the front tire came off the entire weight of the rig on that side was supported by that single tire. It is probably internally damaged.
It's odd that I've never seen tires come off a traveling vehicle before this past year. However twice now within the past few months I've seen that and that's a real scary sight ! If one of those free wheeling tire/rim combos struck another vehicle, there for sure would be tremendous damage/injury to whatever was in its path.
wvcampers
Explorer
Sep 17, 2016
I had the same thing happen about 2 years ago. The outer wheel bearing failed. It had been serviced about 12 months prior. I replaced the axel and all of the tires. The tires were Michelin Ribs that were 6 years old, so it was time anyway. The bearings that come on the axels are made in China. I was able to get replacements made in the USA by Timken.
d-mac1
Explorer
Sep 17, 2016
I'm wondering if the outer bearing was't worn when it was repacked, and then it got worse and disintegrated. I wonder how long it had been on the trailer?

Was it perhaps a day with a decent side wind? Or in the 6k miles since repack, was there any big side wind days? Its the rear wheel, so it would get more sideways pressure than the front one....at least a little more.

I'd double check all my bearings.

Forum Discussion

Lost a wheel

About Fifth Wheel Group

Related Content

Lost keys

Lost Title

12 Dudes got lost?

Lost my travel companion

Lost the Truck Camper...