What a ride!

[Brett]

I've Seen A similar thing happen on a flat bed dually. It had a 500 gal pressure washing rig mounted on it. all 8 lugs let go on the right rear at 85 mph on the interstate. Everyone was ok the driver was pretty shaken, and his ride was no where near as exciting as yours. he did plow a nice furrow in the asphalt though. The reason I bring this up is at the time the consensus seemed to be that the cause was improper torque on the lug nuts due to a mismatch of materials of the rims( aluminum on outside with a steel rim on the inside). I had a couple people tell me that you have to retorque them regularly when you run that type setup because the two different metals expand and contract differently and tend to losen themselves. Once the torque on the wheel studs is lost, it just gets worse, and once there is any movement at all the studs will pop. Anyway, my suspicion is that with steel wheels and aluminum spacers you may have run into the same situation. By the way that dually hadn't had the wheels off in about 20k miles, and the other side took almost a full turn to tighten up on every lug nut.

Brett

[cuz]

It's that fancy high dollar goodie in the pumpkin that locks up and applies tons of torque to both axles.

[Master Yota]

"Spools?" "Spacers?" What are these parts? I can understand spacers if you want to make your track a little wider, but what is a spool and what is it used for? (Obviously, these are not stock parts, or I would have encountered them.)

The spacers do exactly as you think, they widen the track width by 1.5 inches on either side of the axle.

A spool is inside the differential. It is a solid peice of steel that replaces the ring gear carrier and spider gear assembly (a mini spool only replaces the spider gear assy). The spool effectively locks both axle shafts and the ring gear together so that they turn together at the same speed 100% of the time. It eliminates the differential action of the spider gears. Most locking diffs do the same thing (detroit locker, lockright, ARB; being just a few of the manufacturers). Spools are usually found in the race car scene, and are the end-all for adding traction. As it has no moving parts, the spool is the ultimate in simplicity and strength. It does have some drawbacks though for street driving, but nothing that can't be gotten used to. As the spool dosen't allow for wheel speed differentiation when cornering (the outside tire must travel a further distance) it usually drags or chirps the rear tire when turning. This chatter is probably what did the studs in over time.

Hope this helps....

[Lifer]

Dang! I learned something new again. Thanks, Yota!

[DJ]

Checking for rust stains at the wheels at the lug nuts is something every good trucker looks for on a pre trip inspection. It means the lugs are loose. Same thing applies to any wheel. There is enough looseness to allow water between the wheel and nuts, and cause rust.

[HingsingM37]

Wow, that could have ended up alot worse. I am glad you and your passenger escaped injury

[Master Yota]

Checking for rust stains at the wheels at the lug nuts is something every good trucker looks for on a pre trip inspection. It means the lugs are loose. Same thing applies to any wheel. There is enough looseness to allow water between the wheel and nuts, and cause rust.

Absolutely good advice. In this case however, its difficult to the see the nuts on the wheel spacer, as I'd need to remove the tire and rim to get at them. Plus the rim covers the holes in the spacer effectively sealing out any water, and aluminum dosen't rust. Needless to say, the ultimate culprit is my own apathy towards checking them more often.

Its a harsh lesson, but one taken heart...

[DJ]

Checking for rust stains at the wheels at the lug nuts is something every good trucker looks for on a pre trip inspection. It means the lugs are loose. Same thing applies to any wheel. There is enough looseness to allow water between the wheel and nuts, and cause rust.

Absolutely good advice. In this case however, its difficult to the see the nuts on the wheel spacer, as I'd need to remove the tire and rim to get at them. Plus the rim covers the holes in the spacer effectively sealing out any water, and aluminum dosen't rust. Needless to say, the ultimate culprit is my own apathy towards checking them more often.

Its a harsh lesson, but one taken heart...

I wasn't directing this at you just a general observationthat anyone can make ,especially,on any vehicle with Budd wheels.

Not neccesarily M37 specific

[Master Yota]

No harm, no foul there DJ, its a great tip thats an easy way to determine in they may be an issue at hand.