Check your lug nuts!

[RoyBell]

While traveling for the holidays I seen the wheel come flying off a fiver right in front of me! It went bouncing off the road and down an off ramp!

I got up next to the guy and started flagging him down to pull over. He eventually noticed me and immediately pulled over. It tore the side of him camper up pretty good, so not sure what happened. Just glad I saw it and was able to get his attention. The couple semis right next to me just sped up and kept on their way and didn't bother telling the fella. I have tire pressure sensors for this very reason. He had no idea he had lost a wheel until I flagged him down. I am not sure how long it could had gone on a single tire with the weight of a larger camper like that before it eventually blew the remaining tire.

Let this be a lesson to always check your lug nuts. I had my bearings packed over winter by my storage place. I will def. double check tightness when I pick it up now!

[westend]

Grit dog wrote:
^ you mean ft-lbs.

Of course I do, thanks for the correction. I edited my post. Jeebus, getting into the senior years is a calamity, lol. Better than the alternative, I guess.

[TenOC]

DutchmenSport wrote:
I check mine periodically, they are always so tight already, when I put a T wrench on them, I can't budge anything. So I know they are good. Maybe if I were 30 years younger I could budge them, but no longer. So, that's tight enough for me!

I had all 5 lug studs fail and lost a wheel a number of years ago. I think the problem was that I did the final torque (after inspecting the breaks) with the wheel on the ground to keep it from spinning. I think that it were not centered on the hub correct and while the nuts were torqued the wheel was not tight.

[RoyBell]

PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:
I had a blowout/ wheel failure that threw the TPMS sensors off the wheel. The system alerted on a “lost signal”. Since that had happened many times before we didn’t see it as an urgent alarm. The manual doesn’t view lost signal as an urgent alarm. It can occur from interference from other devices on that frequency band.

My truck alerted me that I had lost the trailer brakes connection. That got me slowed down and off the road at a safe spot. One wheel had run about 2,000 ft on the rim by the gouged roadway asphalt. The other wheel was broken and no longer in contact with the road.

I consider a TPMS essential, but not fool proof.

Definitely not fool proof, but any aid is just that. An aid to help.

Do you have a signal booster? If not, you may want to look into one. I put one right off my battery case with a toggle switch. It's mid way between the trailer tires and the reader in my truck. The only time mine loses signal is when the battery is dead on the sensor.

[bucky]

I've never seen wheel studs with built in valve stems.

[Grit_dog]

^ you mean ft-lbs.

[westend]

Gulfcoast wrote:
What is the correct torque for lug nuts?

For aluminum rims, I'd suggest 90 foot lbs. I tighten the lugs on my steel rims with a long handled ratchet and a cheater pipe. They end up to be around 130 foot lbs. My BMW two piece aluminum rims are torqued to 94 foot lbs.

[DrewE]

Gulfcoast wrote:
What is the correct torque for lug nuts?

It depends on your vehicle or trailer and what wheels it's equipped with and that sort of thing.

My car is either 80 lb-ft or 90 lb-ft; I don't remember which offhand, and don't feel like going out to look it up. My class C is 140 lb-ft. Large wheels on heavier duty vehicles often go a lot higher, such as something like 800 lb-ft for many 22.5" wheels.

[SDcampowneroper]

Aluminum wheels on steel hubs have different expansion rates at temperature. When you have Al rims, it is always critical that torque is checked after a recommended 50 miles, again at 200.
Been there.

Torque depends on stud size, for 12 mm ( 1/2" ) likely 100' lbs, for 14 mm 130' lbs.
Over tightening as too often happens in tire shops with air wrenches is all too common. Check your torque yourself, do not let the kid with an air wrench over do it.

Whenever you change or repair a tire that is on a dissimmeral metal rim than the hub, torque must be reastablished . Trucking, towing, Rving 101
TPIS monitors are not going to show you a loose wheel.

Come on Think about it! There is A sticker above each wheel to check you torque!

[Gulfcoast]

What is the correct torque for lug nuts?

[RCMAN46]

PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:
I had a blowout/ wheel failure that threw the TPMS sensors off the wheel. The system alerted on a “lost signal”. Since that had happened many times before we didn’t see it as an urgent alarm. The manual doesn’t view lost signal as an urgent alarm. It can occur from interference from other devices on that frequency.

I consider a TPMS essential, but not fool proof.

You most likely have a couple sensors that are marginal on signal strength.

It takes the TST system a continuos loss of signal for about one hour before the loss of signal alerts.

[RCMAN46]

12th Man Fan wrote:
My TST sensors will not tell me if a tire comes off, just if it looses pressure.

The tire coming off will not trigger an alarm at least not right away.

You are correct. In fact it may take up to one hour before the TST will alert you with a loss of signal.

[dave17352]

My thinking is its important re torque after 50 or 100 miles after that I don't mess with it. All though the importance of re torquing after changing a tire is can't be over stated. JMHO

[Veebyes]

Yep, carry a torque wrench. Check every spring before first trip. Part of the potty break routine is to eyeball & give each tire & wheel a little feel for excessive heat.

[1320Fastback]

Checking mine are on the check list at the beginning of any travel morning. I keep a 1/2 torque wrench with a 6" extension and a socket for the trailer and one for the truck in the front storage. Takes less than 5 min to check all 52.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

I had a blowout/ wheel failure that threw the TPMS sensors off the wheel. The system alerted on a “lost signal”. Since that had happened many times before we didn’t see it as an urgent alarm. The manual doesn’t view lost signal as an urgent alarm. It can occur from interference from other devices on that frequency band.

My truck alerted me that I had lost the trailer brakes connection. That got me slowed down and off the road at a safe spot. One wheel had run about 2,000 ft on the rim by the gouged roadway asphalt. The other wheel was broken and no longer in contact with the road.

I consider a TPMS essential, but not fool proof.