Lost wheel

[Pahaska]

Just recerved an email from the unit President that our unit Treasurer lost a wheel from his nearly-new 31' Limited near Tyler, Texas. It apparently did appreciable damage to the side of the trailer. No one was hurt.

No news yet of exactly what the failure was; it could have been a broken wheek, a broken spindle or a bearing failure for all I know. The trailer, while new this spring, has quite a few miles on it including trips from Texas to New Mexico, Region 9 rally, the Airstream factory, and a caravan across the Michigan UP.

I'll post more details as available.

[59toaster]

Shame to hear this but here is a peice of advice for anytbody that reads this.

Aluminum wheels should ALWAYS be checked in the first 100 miles if removed for any reason. If the lugs turn at 100 mile check then check them again after another 100 miles.

New rims sometimes seat to the hub. If putting new rims on anything that had a different rim on it the mating surface should be sanded to remove any rust to make sure the seats flat or you risk loss of wheel.

[WayWard Wind]

Yipes!! A scary thing to happen. Glad to hear there were no injuries. Just a thought---was there grease in the wheel bearings?--- Just a thought.
Best,

[Tarheel]

When replacing wheels torque your lug nuts to the value given for your rig. Most run around 80-90 ft/lbs. Re-torque after 50-100 miles of driving. Over torqueing is just as bad as under torque as it can damage and cause catostophic failure in alloy wheels.

[RivetED]

Originally Posted by Tarheel

When replacing wheels torque your lug nuts to the value given for your rig. Most run around 80-90 ft/lbs. Re-torque after 50-100 miles of driving. Over torqueing is just as bad as under torque as it can damage and cause catostophic failure in alloy wheels.

I know of 3 people in our unit, including myself, that carry a torque wrench for just that reason.