[shannonlujan]

Here lately I was doin some work on the car. Its got dreadfully bad driveshafts. They make the car vibrate on the highway. Ordered some for the weekend to fix em, along with those pesky ball joints AGAIN. When I was done I non-typically tightened (atleast I think I did) the lugs by socket. (I usually use air)

Cruisin home after work, around 3:00 AM, steering wheel shaking as normal, goin around 60 mph for fear of breaking a joint. All the sudden I hear a bang and I nearly lose the car, I gently steer to the shoulder.

All my lug nuts on my driver side front are gone, the wheel is wedged between the strut perch and the rotor.

Apparently, while I was slowing down on the highway trying to control the vehicle, the rotor had cut itself a little groove in the alloy wheel, which then allowed me to safely "steer" both wheels so I could pull over without Jettisoning a wheel down the freeway.

I think from now on I'll be doing a quick check more frequently and definitley be using air tools for lugs. If any of you guys have vibrating problems I suggest you fix them cause if something else starts shakin real bad (as in my case) you won't know it till your wheels pass you :E

Oh, the only damage done was a nasty scar in one of my GT wheels and some bent wheel studs.

A little irony: When I logged on to post this I had a PM, someone asking to buy my GT wheels lol.

 

[linoleum]

Whew! Disaster avoided!

Now I'm checking my lug nuts before driving home from work.

Rich.

 

[mx6GT91]

Ive always had a fear of my wheels falling off on the highway. Thats why i mostly take my car some where when its tire related. If i do something small i usually go to my grandfathers to torque the wheels down or take it somewhere.

also, whats the sign of a faulty ball joint. I see lots of threads about them and replacment. Ive never even looked at mine (im sure i have)

Good thing your ok, that could have ended in death
The thing that would have scared me the most is that it was dark. When things go wrong at night it makes me panic about 50% more I like to see whats goin on when stuff is wrong

 

[shannonlujan]

also, whats the sign of a faulty ball joint. I see lots of threads about them and replacment. Ive never even looked at mine (im sure i have)

Well, if its a stock BJ think may just feel very sloppy. If its falling out then there wil def. be a lot of noise and mega slopiness. My BRAND NEW ONES fell out so I'm getting Moogs with C Clips. I just posted on this the other day check it out.

 

[magik8]

I would not recommend using an air ratchet to torque lugnuts. Some of those are very powerful and can warp brake rotors instantly if the lugs are too tight. (Mazda actually release a Technical Service Bulletin on this...)

The factory spec is 65-87 ft-lbs. Use a torque wrench.

Shannon, if your steering wheel is shaking that bad, I might suspect unbalanced rims/tires.

 

[Guest]

I would not recommend using an air ratchet to torque lugnuts. Some of those are very powerful and can warp brake rotors instantly if the lugs are too tight. (Mazda actually release a Technical Service Bulletin on this...)

The factory spec is 65-87 ft-lbs. Use a torque wrench.

Shannon, if your steering wheel is shaking that bad, I might suspect unbalanced rims/tires.

:tup: We only use torque wrench's at my shop for this very reasion. I've seen idiots torque down head bolts with air guns, its very disturbing.

 

[ZFreakMX6]

I was just about to say that..... 2 words... Torque Wrench... it's the best $70 you'll ever spend... (or $20 for the "el-piece-o-crap" model... err.. I mean. "is it there yet?...yeah! model.."..

 

[drsjr1980]

That almost happened to me with my very first car. 4 lug- I heard a rattling noise on the way home from school one day. wtf, checked it out 3 lugs gone, the other one half way off. I went out and bought a $20 torque wrench and ever since, everytime I remove a tire from any vehicle it gets 80lbs. of torquewhen put back on. No excuses. Better safe than sorry.

 

[brucerap]

Also a good idea to re-check the lugs after driving a few miles after torqueing them on. Sometimes the wheel isn't seated exactly flush.

 

[Illswyn]

I've only once had a problem with a lug nut coming off. The '84 Cavalier wagon has a broken stud. The nut next to it came off. I think I didn't check the nuts after buying the car, so it probably wasn't on tight to begin with. I just took one off the other wheel and evened them out. Now I have 4 on the rear, and 5 in the front. I figure it's better to have 4 on both rear, than 5 on the left rear, and 3 on the right rear.

I did buy a replacement stud, but I'm still trying to figure out if/how to go about replacing it. I need 2 cars on the road, and right now, it's one of them.

 

[STS2.2]

You should be able to just hammer the broken stud out, then put the new one in and use the lug nut to pull it in to seat it by tightening the lug nut against the hub until the stud is fully seated. You may have to remove the brake drum to do this if you have drum brakes.

 

[Illswyn]

Yeah, that's what I figured, and they do have drum brakes. I've never messed with brakes before ):

 

[EviL_SmUrF]

my car always shakes a little around 60-70, and shakes when braking. i think my brakes are going bad (im gonna be checking them monday)

 

[johniebgoode]

loose nuts

Tightening lug nuts should be done in a sequential pattern by hand while the body is supported. This will ensure proper seating of the rim. I have good luck using a 4-way manual lug wrench to evenly torque the nuts. You never want to supertorque the first nut !
EviL_SmUrF : good chance that your disc rotors are warped.

 

[shannonlujan]

Alright got everything fixed today. What a pain.

I was able to hammer out the bent lugs. They popped right out. Putting them, well, I gave a poor lil vice hell so I had to take em to a machine shop with a press. Also pulled thos sh*tty ball joints too, will return them to autozone ONE WAY OR THE OTHER. Dropped off the Moog BJ's.

When I picked em up one of them was actually spinning inside the control arm, not good. I ended up just taking a pin punch and putting a few dimples, worked for the weekend until I tack weld em. My CA Bj holes are pretty much devirginized.

Also threw in a Constant Velocity (I love saying that) Joint on the driver side and monday I'm putting decent tires on the front. If this thing vibrates at all any after monday it'll just need an alignment more than likely.

I also decided to put my trashed wheel back on, I think it'll be safe until monday, its mostly cosmetic damage and I feel safer on that than a convenience spare.

If Autozone takes those suicide joints back I think I will have only spent around:

$60 CV
$4 Lug studs
$16 Labor
$14 BJ
$40 Tires

More of a PITA than anything.