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wheel nuts coming loose

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2005 7:04 pm
by Steve_GQ
i noticed a wierd feeling in the steering this arv on the highway. when i pulled over the passenger front wheel was down to 3 nuts which were almost gone as well. I'm running 35s on 15x10 inch sunraisers, but last year the rears came loose and i lost a 33 at 110 with a trailer on the back. both time the nuts have been tightened with a torque wrench to 140 nm. I thinkn of using locktight justto be safe cause it isn't much fun on 3 wheels. Has anyone else had any similar problems :?:

nuts

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2005 7:12 pm
by china
both of my fronts came loose once ? i think its just a maintanance thing with big wheels...mabe

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2005 7:23 pm
by AndrewPatrol
I've heard of / experienced this, although with alloys, so now when i put my wheels on I do them up and then travel 10 or 20k's then redo them. Its surprising.

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2005 7:26 pm
by AndrewPatrol
I've heard of / experienced this, although with alloys, so now when i put my wheels on I do them up and then travel 10 or 20k's then redo them. Its surprising.

Re: wheel nuts coming loose

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2005 7:31 pm
by adam.s
Steve_GQ wrote:i noticed a wierd feeling in the steering this arv on the highway. when i pulled over the passenger front wheel was down to 3 nuts which were almost gone as well. I'm running 35s on 15x10 inch sunraisers, but last year the rears came loose and i lost a 33 at 110 with a trailer on the back. both time the nuts have been tightened with a torque wrench to 140 nm. I thinkn of using locktight justto be safe cause it isn't much fun on 3 wheels. Has anyone else had any similar problems :?:


a) nuts are on backwards

b) someone tried to steal your wheels and got disrupted

really is uncommon!

don't use locktight, it is just a pain in the ass to remove then later.

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2005 8:38 pm
by big red
some rims are not "coined" [ie: the mounting surface is flat ] and will come loose on the left hand side.
those rims with a curved mounting surface act like a spring washer and are less likely to come loose.

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 6:15 am
by Area54
Make sure the taper of your nuts matches PERFECTLY with the taper of the rim mounting holes, and don't put any kind of lubricant on this taper, only on the thread. Are all the mounting surfaces clean?

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 10:05 am
by MKPatrolGuy
A mate had a wheel come off his Mav twice in 2 weeks. Turned out there was a problem with the rims (not sure what) he replaced all the rims and hasn't had a problem since.

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 12:01 pm
by Trumby
Unfortunately this problem is not uncommon, especially with the older and cheaper steel rims on the market, e.g. Sunraysia's. Also, its not uncommon to find that while a few of your wheel nuts have fallen off, the others have over tightened themselves, leading to broken studs when trying to remove them You'll find that the better manufactured rims (i.e. alloy's) rarely encounter this problem. Try to get rims manufactured for your vehicle (i.e. don't use cruiser rims on a patrol if you can help it) Using a torque wrench is a very good idea; however, using Loctite can also lead to broken studs. Re-tensioning wheel nuts after 50-150Km is also very important, as well as ensuring clean mounting surfaces on both stub and wheel.

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 1:23 pm
by adam.s
The only reason alloys would "stick" more then sunraysias is because they have more surface area for the nut to stick onto.

Have owned several vehicles with sunraysias and never once had a wheel come off in at least 10 years.

How do you do the nuts up when you put a wheel back on:

- do them up finger tight,
- lower jack
- do them up tight + 1/8th turn

That's how I've always done it, and never once had a problem !

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 4:16 pm
by bru21
you need to retighten as the power coat is thick and beds in. 140 sounds too tight to me but check the gregory's manual. i have never used a torque wrench, just a firmish pull on a short breaker bar. doing nuts up too tight can cause the bolts to yeild and hence loosen.

cheers bru

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 4:18 pm
by mickyd555
ive always been told to tighten wheel nuts up till they make a "snap" noise.......is this too tight? ive never had one come off either

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 4:20 pm
by ozy1
you will find the MQ manual i have states wheel nuts should be 118-147nm

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 6:07 pm
by Josh_GQ
had a similar problem but that was because of alloy wheel spacers, yah it's not fun losing a wheel at 70 kph , they can come loose really quick too, i had checked the nuts twice in a couple of days and were fine both times it was only about 30 min after checking them that it fell off

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 6:20 pm
by legsx1
I have had the front left come off twice and the rear left come off once, when driving on my road tyres on Nissan alloy rims.

Once when the left rear came off I was going around a sweeping bend at about 70 kph. The rear dropped to the ground making a hell of a noise, it spun me into the armco barrier and I kept on spinning with a Subaru Legacy coming towards me. The poor chap didnt know which way to go, Iwas out of control, he missed, I hit the armco barrier on the other side of the road spinning me again another 180 deg.

Horrible feeling, being like a top. We found the wheel which had rolled off down the road into bush and 3 wheel nuts. Popped the wheel back on and drove off, carefully

Now I check them all the time, nearly every day !! :D

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 6:59 pm
by grazza
How many people have left their computer to go and check their wheel nuts? If my car was here I certainly would...

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 7:00 pm
by ozy1
grazza wrote:How many people have left their computer to go and check their wheel nuts? If my car was here I certainly would...


i wouldnt..................................well, i only just tourqed them up last night

Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 8:13 am
by V8Patrol
I'd be replacing the rims ASAP !......

I'd also be replacing the wheel studs and nuts just to be on the safe side.



As said above its a poorly designed rim centre thats causing the drama, its now been excentuated bu excessive torque being applied to the wheel nuts/studs therefore stretching the studs and or damaging the thread.

It amazes me the number of ppl that use a "rattlegun" or wheel brace and then NOT check the tension after they do up the wheel nuts .... they then expect little effect or drama from it down the track !

There IS A TENSION setting for wheels ......USE IT ! ....if your a non beliver then watch the car preperation that goes on to a V8SUPERCAR....ALL WHEELNUT TENSIONS ARE DONE WITH A TENSION WRENCH !, even the race rattlegun is set to a tension limit for pitstops..... the same system is done in NASCAR, WRC, and most other forms of motor racing.
Over tightened wheel nuts under race conditions can cost a team up to 10secs, we've all seen that wheelman trying to loosen an overtight wheel while the field races by .

Kingy

Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 10:40 am
by Steve_GQ
The rims are brand new and so were the nuts. I ve decided on using threadlocker after i ve replaced the studs and nuts. Its easy enough to get off again, and it should keep them from vibrating loose.

Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 7:38 pm
by bazzle
DONT USE THREADLOCK.

New rims and nuts ALWAYS come loose. The paint melts and moves under the taper.
Just retighten with a proper wheel brace (4 way) after 1st hour and then next morning when cold.

Bazzle