Well I just installed 315/75/R16 Goodyear MTR's on Eagle alloy 143's on Friday. I went offroading on Saturday after riding for about 3 hours on the highway at about 75 MPH. I never retorqued the lug nuts. During the offroading, i didn't hit anything that extreme or that hard with my front end (that I can think of). I then drove for another hour and a half through country roads. Still no problems and actually a pretty good ride, besides the howl of course. I went to leave my girlfriends house for my six hour drive back to school and about fifteen minutes into the trip i felt as though my front left wheel became unbalanced. I pulled off the highway onto an offramp because I wanted to check it out. While coming to a stop, I felt a large clunk, thought my tire exploded and then felt the whole front end of my truck fall to the ground. I then watched my large about of rubber roll up the street and through an intersection (where fortunately no one hit it). I grinded to a halt on the side of the road after the ball joint on the lower control put a two hundred foot gash in the black top. After calling 911 and telling them my wheel fell off, i got out to inspect the damage. Three out of five lugs were snapped and the other two were bent. A very nice gentleman saw my tire roll through the intersection and went and got my tire for me (thank heavens because those things weigh a ton).
Now, here's the question. Am I at fault for not retorqueing the lug nuts or what. The tow truck driver seemed to think they were never torqued down enough in the first place. My next thought is, are the actual lugs too short to hold that much weight on the wheels. I know a lot of you out there run some big tires but I have never heard of this happening in my life here at online. Also, did you know that AAA does not cover towing if you have aftermarket tires on there? Thought that was interesting. I called the place that installed everything but they are not open until tuesday. I may have to wait that long for the ford dealership to look at it. In total, I need new lugs, a new lower control arm (i think it was bent) and some peace of mind.
I feel like my new puppy was just run over like ten times. This sucks. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Eric

 

Man that sucks. I'm always kinda worried that if I ever do stuff like that to my truck something like that will happen. Luckily lack of money is kind of an insurance problem against that I used to work as a tow truck driver and we were AAA and did ALOT of work for them and I never once heard of any BS policy about offroad tires. I would call one of thier reps, not that cheesy *** number on the card they tell you to call when you get in trouble. Everyone I've ever talked to there either to get help or while I was working were flat out idiots. Heck I think I got stupider by talking to them....wait is stupider a word? DOH!!!!!

BTW sounds like a sweet set up. Got any pics of your truck now that it has the lift and tires on it?

 

Man, I am just about to go get my tires put on, I probaly would have forgotten to retorque the nuts.

When you talk to the shop don't say anything about forgetting to retorque. If they think it was your fault in any way you're SOL

 

What a Bummer!

Did you actually put the tires on and choose the lug nuts, or did a shop put all of it on for you? If a shop put them on, I believe they are fully responsible for all damages of any wheel coming off. They were negligent in not torquing them enough to keep them on. (The shop that fixed my friend's flat tire was responsible when the wheel later came off on the freeway).
As far as retorquing, did the shop instruct you to do that at so many miles or ? When I took my new Screw to have different wheels/tires put on (and have been offroading ever since) I was never given any instructions except to have the tires rotated. They put 2" long lugs on it with 80 lbs. of torque, I believe.

 

Well, I guess I am the odd man out here so far and I am happy about it. The place where I got my tires said (and showed me on the paperwork) to bring it back and we will retorque the lugs at 50 and 150 miles. I told the service guy that I live 50 miles away so unless he wants to come home with me that I could do it. Everytime I take a wheel off I ( like your supposed too) retorque to (90-110 ft lbs) after 50 miles and try to at 150. I have personally never had that problem but in my 20 years of life I can remember about 3-4 people that it has happened to. Some where not right after getting wheels or tires the lug either just broke or the lug nuts work there way off.

 

There is a reason I don't use Goodyear anymore. They didn't torque down the lugs on my stangs rear. I didn't figure out what was wrong until I looked out the window and saw my lugs flying off the wheel one at a time. Lucky for me it was in a parking lot right in front of my development. Bas@$%* claimed they never took the tire off. I was young and foolish then, but at least I never shopped there again. Now I'd lodge both feet where the sun doesn't shine and break em off deep!

 

Goodyear has nothing to do with this situation. The only thing goodyear here is the tires. I had everything installed at a 4x4 shop in columbus ohio. I have to stick up for the Goodyear name...considering I'm dating the president's daughter