My 37" Tire Flew off while driving - Jeep JKU 2015

This is why I always re-torque after a few miles. Glad it was at low speed and everyone's ok. I nearly lost a front a few months back. I was lucky and noticed the change in the ways the tire sounded on the pavement. Mine to had the aluminum deposits on the spacer bolt threads from the tire wallowing around.


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First off I glad everyone was ok.
Guys this is not the first time this has happened. Proper torque, proper install and proper due dilegents of retorque can help prevent this. People run spacers everyday successfully and also people have this happen to them without spacers.
There was a guy just the other day on the way to the trail that he sheared 3 out of his 5 studs off and was not running spacers. And he just aired down not 1 miles back. Also Adam (overlanderjk) in the pic was not running spacers (IIRC) and his did it too.
Don't go cheap or slack on proper maintenance on things like retorque and you can help prevent this.
BTW I run spacers up front and you can bet I'll be double checking mine now!

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I always go and recheck them after a hundred miles or so, or if I drive out to work on dirt access. Good to know the factory torque specs are 95. I have been doing 110 as well.


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Guys that are now looking at spacers with a jaundiced view need to realize how many people safely run these with zero issues. There is nothing wrong with running spacers and they will not make your fucking wheels fall off! Improperly tightening your lugs WILL allow your wheels to POSSIBLY fall off! Not dogging the OP at all - I've done the same thing -thankfully never lost a wheel - but properly installed wheels and spacers are perfectly safe. :yup:
 
Glad you made it safely to the side of the road H20JNKY. All I can say is maintenance, maintenance, maintenance..... it might be possible that your rear rotor was not fully seated, even after torquing down the wheel. Or that there was some crud stuck to the back of the wheel flange. Who knows..... I wouldn't blame the spacer though. They are safe if you get non-foreign made ones. I always inspect brakes and scrape both the inside wheel surface, and rotor surface with a scraper anytime I remove a wheel. Any sort of dirt or rust chunks or corrosion will take up space, which will not allow the wheel to be properly tightened to the axle. Check your wheel torque often guys!!


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Did you re torque them? I always have to torque and then retorque about 50-100 miles later, I normally get about 1/4 turn on one or two lugs. I also do 110ish- 120 ft/lbs. I started doing this after I had the same thing happen and was amazed at how often they loosened after the first torque.


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I bet you forgot to torque them. Happened to us with a boat trailer when I was a kid. My father did all the wheel bearings and brakes on his sister's boat trailer that morning. We're on our way to the ramp and a tire goes flying/bouncing past us. Hmmm, that's weird. Then Bam! The other wheel flew off and we're dragging hubs down the road. We only had one spare and the tire that got away bounced into the woods so far, it was never found. I still give my dad crap about that 30 years later. I always go back over all the lugs on each wheel with the torque wrench just to be sure.
 
When I work on tires/wheels on the Jeep, I actually leave my torque wrench on my driver's seat or on the stairs going up to the door of the house. Just as one more reminder to make sure that step was done.
 
zimm said:
I bet you forgot to torque them. Happened to us with a boat trailer when I was a kid. My father did all the wheel bearings and brakes on his sister's boat trailer that morning. We're on our way to the ramp and a tire goes flying/bouncing past us. Hmmm, that's weird. Then Bam! The other wheel flew off and we're dragging hubs down the road. We only had one spare and the tire that got away bounced into the woods so far, it was never found. I still give my dad crap about that 30 years later. I always go back over all the lugs on each wheel with the torque wrench just to be sure.
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I either over torqued or they were loose! I have a theory. What if you remove your tires and lugs several times, each time over torquing them to 110 ft lbs when re-mounting. I would think there is a large possibility of weakening the bolt to the point of failure?! Not saying this is the case, but maybe? I probably forgot to torque but I'm just wondering.


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Ok, here are a couple of pictures of the holes on the rim. The last picture, the tire is on my tire carrier.

So is this rim dead, good for a spare or it's okay to use? Thanks for the help!


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Bolt will snap from overtorque. Even if threads were damaged from overtorque, the chances of all 5 nuts backing off from that damaged location and then falling off would be near impossible. The ovaled hole indicates they were loose with studs rubbing into lug bores. I would replace the rim to be safe.
 
WJCO said:
Bolt will snap from overtorque. Even if threads were damaged from overtorque, the chances of all 5 nuts backing off from that damaged location and then falling off would be near impossible. The ovaled hole indicates they were loose with studs rubbing into lug bores. I would replace the rim to be safe.
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I'm with WJCO, replace the rim and additionally replace the unit bearing and lug nuts.


'07 JKUR
 
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