Diesel Doug said:
I just lost a wheel this past weekend.? The lug bolts were sheared off.? Any suggestions as to what may have caused this?? Is it safe to tow my 31 ft sunnybrook fifer with only 3 wheels about 50 miles to the nearest rv dealer?
Like the rest of the folks here say, it is likely that the lug nuts were loose, ie under-torque.? ?The wheels on a trailer take a lot of lateral stressing in a turn -- just watch them in a rear view mirror in a slow turn.? ?The cure is to routinely check the nuts with a torque wrench.? ?I have a 'snapper' wrench in my trailer devoted to that task.? ? ?Just set the wrench to your trailer mfr's wheel nut torque spec. and go around the wheels with it.
Overtorquing could be a problem too.? I insist with both my tow vehicle and my trailer during a tire change, the wheels be
hand torqued.? ?Some dealers will give you a song and dance that the air wrench can torque just as well, but I have checked my dealer's efforts at air torquing and found his mech torqued my lug nuts to over
300 lb-ft on a wheel that the correct spec was 95 lb-ft.? The floor boss got to loosen and? retorque every one of the 4 wheels times 5 lug nuts by hand himself.? ?Not a happy floor boss.
BTW I use a 1/2" drive snapper wrench just because it is a lot easier to use on wheel lugs.? ?A needle wrench practically has to be used in a prone position.? ? The cheaper models of snapper wrenches are not so accurate or durable but, imho, they are are good enough for the limited use I give them.
If you suspect overtorquing, loosen all nuts on a wheel and retorque them using the trailer mfr's star pattern of tightening.