Trailer Tire Flies Off at 55mph

Any idea what would make a wheel break all 5 lugnuts and fly off while going down the road?

Pretty scary stuff, especially when it is hauling my baby!

[JimN]

Originally Posted by msubryan

Any idea what would make a wheel break all 5 lugnuts and fly off while going down the road?

Pretty scary stuff, especially when it is hauling my baby!

Yeah- it was torqued on too tightly. How long are the remnants of the studs? Does the break point look like it was corroded?

The lugs had not been torqued in over a year or so. The breakpoint was 3/8" from hub, right in middle of wheel...3/8" from lug nut..(I Found 1)...

[afkvrts]

Ive seen it happen on a fishing boat.

The lugs were rusty and when we hit a bad pot hole in the asphalt at 55 mph - the freaking wheel came off.


Sucked - cause it was a single axle trailer and we were forced to call a tow truck

[ahhudgins]

Originally Posted by afkvrts

Ive seen it happen on a fishing boat.

The lugs were rusty and when we hit a bad pot hole in the asphalt at 55 mph - the freaking wheel came off.


Sucked - cause it was a single axle trailer and we were forced to call a tow truck

Same thing happened to be on a long road trip. I had repacked my bearings on the single axle trailer before we left and I checked the torque on the lug nuts several times during the trip. I hit a massive pot hole about 50 miles from my destination and about 5 minutes later the whole wheel flew across the road right in front of a state trooper (and I was speeding at the time). The trooper found my wheel/tire and didn't write me up, I guess he felt sorry for me. Two of my studs had obvious old rusty cracks in them and the pot hole finished them off. I had an extra spindle and jack with me so I was back on the road in a few minutes with a messed up trailer fender.

[nbkdaw3]

I had this happen but instead of going 55 i was going 70+ shot off like a cannon right through the fiberglass runners and flew in the air straight up I bet 30 feet. Never found tire and just gald no one behind me did not freak out and get hit. How did it happen? A few days before my brakes had been locked up so I took the tire off and got the brakes realesed by removing the calipers. I remembered afterwards I had only tighten the bolts up while the boat was not on the trailer and the tire would spin when i was trying to get them supper tight. In all the other packing I forgot to tighten before we left with the boat on to hold the tire steady. I took off from Fl headed back to NC with the boat and made it about 1 hour north of Orlando before it came off. I suspect one by one the nust got loose and the rim sheared each lug off till it came off. I learned a valuable lesson. I never head very far with my trailer without a full check of of the tires and the lug nuts. I believe your lug nuts were lose and the same thing happened.

[thatsmrmastercraft]

Originally Posted by nbkdaw3

I had this happen but instead of going 55 i was going 70+ shot off like a cannon right through the fiberglass runners and flew in the air straight up I bet 30 feet. Never found tire and just gald no one behind me did not freak out and get hit. How did it happen? A few days before my brakes had been locked up so I took the tire off and got the brakes realesed by removing the calipers. I remembered afterwards I had only tighten the bolts up while the boat was not on the trailer and the tire would spin when i was trying to get them supper tight. In all the other packing I forgot to tighten before we left with the boat on to hold the tire steady. I took off from Fl headed back to NC with the boat and made it about 1 hour north of Orlando before it came off. I suspect one by one the nust got loose and the rim sheared each lug off till it came off. I learned a valuable lesson. I never head very far with my trailer without a full check of of the tires and the lug nuts. I believe your lug nuts were lose and the same thing happened.

Too tight or too loose will have the same effect. The same thing can happen if you don't use a star pattern when initially seating the wheel. If the wheel is not square to the wheel flange, it will soon work itself loose and make an exit. This happened to my F150 when I let my brother put a rear wheel on following a brake job.

[bigmac]

Originally Posted by msubryan

Any idea what would make a wheel break all 5 lugnuts and fly off while going down the road?

Pretty scary stuff, especially when it is hauling my baby!

Lug nuts probably loosened up, sheared a lug followed by the rest.

[Maristar210]

Your lug nuts came loose and the tire left the fasade.......

[woobiedmd]

Roger the loose lugnuts. Last year after replacing a broken leaf spring on a 20+ yo trailer, I had the same thing happen. I had never re-torqued them. All the bolts sheared off and you could see how rusty they were. To add insult to injury, the boat and trailer slid off the side of the flatbed. What a mess and a valuable lesson. Now I have new hubs, rims/tires all around and I always check the torque before going anywhere! If I could figure out how to make my pix smaller, I will post pix of this installment in the "Adventures of Boating" saga.