>From: "Fred Pixley" <fpixley@kingston.net>
[snip]
>My question is: Is there a correlation between type of wheel and loss of a
>wheel while driving or is the cause careless installation regardless of
>type?
While trailering Emma ('72 MGB) back from California, I lost tread on one
of the tires of my Diesel Pickup in Grand Junction Colorado. Since it was
Sunday, the only place I could find open was Sears. They replaced the
tire promptly, and off I went. I drove over the Vale pass, down the steep
and wet road into Denver, and through. On the freeway on the far side of
Denver I began to hear a "knock knock knock ... " from the truck. I
pulled over, and couldn't see anything wrong. I started to drive forward,
and the right front wheel fell off!!!!
I cannot imagine what would have happened if the right front had come off
at 70 mph, with a 3/4 ton trailer with a MGB riding behind the truck. I
REALLY hate to think what would have happend if it had done so 30 minutes
earlier on the steep 6% grades coming into Denver! Providence was with us
that day!
My truck has Cragen Mag wheels (ask the kid who had the truck before me,
not me!). The Cragen's have offcenter washers that go behind the lug nuts
and into depressions in the wheel. Sears had managed to mess up and
misalign these washers. The right front lug bolts had sheered off, and the
sound I heard was the wiggling of the wheel as it was shearing the
remaining bolt. The left front was starting to work itself loose, too.
Anyway, we got it fixed, and that is a story in and of itself, but another
time. I have subsequently heard that Sears is reknowned for doing stuff
like this. The take home lesson... do not put your life in the hands of
Sears auto mechanics, even if it means waiting until the next day.
---
A .sig is static My life is dynamic. I can't think of a single
quote or witty saying that expresses the mercurial nature of the changes in
my life. The only constants in my life are stress, my loving wife, and
the weekly hairball my cat leaves on the carpet.
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