1) If you loosen lug nuts at the beginning of a car project, you should go ahead and take the wheel off to make it more obvious 2) Regardless of how you handled #1, you should check lug nuts before first drive of the year 3) Even at a very slow speed, losing a wheel feels catastrophic from inside the car 4) A jack and tire iron in the trunk would have been a good idea 5) There are still some good people in the world and a scissor jack from a Grand Cherokee will work in a pinch, but getting it under a lowered car resting on its rear axle can be a real pain. 6) Bloomfield Hills cops are kind of ***hole-ish and do not have an appreciation for a rusty ’49 Cadillac on the side of their road 7) It is impossible to not have “You picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel” play in your head while handling the above 8) Sins of Steel is a pretty bad-*** car show
I take it your wheel fell off? lugs are normally the last thing I check right before pulling out for the first time
Left rear came off (but stuck up under fender) just as I was slowing and moving into a right turn lane. No damage other than the threads on the axle U-bolts. I appreciate exactly how a) lucky and b) stupid I was with how it went down, and I'm currently on the lookout for pay-it-forward opportunities!
Once saw my buddy take off with the crossbar still stuck in the wheel of his o/t dodge dakota. Glad you and the car are ok. I had a wheel come off my old c 10 due to the use of the wrong lugs by the p.o. I can tell you it's not fun at 55 mph I now remove and check everything on all my (new) to me cars
at a restoration shop i used to work at SOMEONE put the lugs on finger tight and then put the hubcaps on. the car was a 57 bird that we did a ground up on. on the test drive i heard the clunking of a lug in the cap and pulled over, popped a cap off with my knife to check. i waved a p***ing car by, who lent me his lug wrench to tighten all four wheels. man was i mad! as far as what i learned this weekend, if you weld the stainless drip tray for your gas grill, clean it off well, or be prepared to be hungry all day because of the smell of barbecue lingering in the air.
8. If your lugs were allegedly tightened by someone else...check'em yourself. "Someone else" will ALWAYS either: A. Leave them finger tight. B. Tighten them to 875 foot pounds with nuclear powered wrench. C. Tighten them while wheel is still dangling on the studs fast enough with the above special wrench that wheel is captured off-center with lugs against rim of wheel hole. D. For Chrysler products only, a special service, mix up the 10 RH and 10 LH nuts at random, apply them at random with the above super wrench, and ruin some of your studs and nuts on each corner. Those nuts that happen onto a correctly threaded stud will be given one of the above treatments.
I did the same thing once. The wheel came off right next to a high school, about 10 mins before the kids got out. Luckily, I live right across the street and was able to get it back on before the snickering would've began.
Years ago first trip in my '48 p/u, about 1000 mi round trip. Fresh build had about 10 miles on it when we headed north on I-5. About 20 miles down the road a vibration started, speed up it went away, slowed down it got worse. Pulled over at the next exit and the left front wheel went..... wonk,wonk, thud. Pulled the hub cap and 4 lugnuts were rolling around, the last was still on the stud. Luckily the threads were OK. I had my jack & lug wrench. Pulled all the caps & everything else was good.
been there before , another story involving a semi and a loose axle stub nut for another day , glad you and your car made it out ok ( sorry about the rhyming ) as for the cops just think of it as there jealous as they had to work instead of play ...
... when someone is giving you directions, make sure they ACTUALLY know what the hell they're talking about.
Wow glad to hear you and the caddy are ok. Same thing happened to me once. I did the brakes on a buddys OT mustang. i was putting the wheels on and he came to help. i had gotten 3 on when he showed up. needless to say he put the last wheel on as i went to clean up a bit. I did not ask if he had torqued the wheels as i ***umed he would. going about 35-40 on a major street (luckily empty at night) the wheel comes right off flying p***ed him. when i asked him if he checked the wheel, he said 'I thought you did?' never trust anyone to do your work. i should've checked, but now, i know to check
Back about 35 years ago we were trailering a 30 Olds down to Hershey.My brother had borrowed a poor example of a trailer from a "friend".Half way down through NY (Bath NY) we lost a wheel on the trailer along the 390.What a shower of sparks!! My brother got it slowed down and pulled over as the wheel bunched way up in the air and came down right in front of a pickup and went about a 1/4 mile down the road.We had sheared off all five of the screw in studs off the Studebaker hub.Why they used that and he borrowed it Ill never know..We spent the night in the truck and luckily the local parts guy directed us to an old timer that had what we needed.Could have been real bad!!!Made it down and sold the car.
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