Yesterday I was on my way to a job. Driving on a narrow twisty 2 lane. Over the stereo I could hear a steady clunking noise, and felt a vibration.<p>Thinking to myself damn a damn front u-joint was about to fly apart I pulled over. Got out and started looking everything over, both joints on the front shaft were fine. Next checked the joints on the outer axle stubs, those were fine too.<p>Got back in drove about 20 feet at 5 mph with stereo off. Could really hear the clunk clunk. Now I'm getting peeved, thinking a front hub? Then it hit me. Lugnuts!!<p>Sure enough all eight lugs were loose on front driver side wheel. A couple of months ago I put some aftermarket aluminum wheels on my truck. After the first 100 miles I retorqued the lugnuts and than promptly forgot about them.<p>While stopped I checked all lug nuts on all 4 wheels, and there were others beside the driver's front that were loose.<p>Could have been expensive if I lost a wheel not to mention dangerous as all hell.<p>Just thought I'd share my experience. A little preventive maintenance goes a long way . Even if it's something as simple as checking your lugnuts.
Just wanted to add something to my post. I have lost a front wheel before. Not on the street, but on a dirt track. I used to run a 1971 Torino with a 460 in enduro races. For those who don't know what an enduro is, it's run on a 3/8 to 1/2 mile oval dirt track. Cars are supposed to be stock(everybody cheats though). Number of cars range from 60 to 120 per race. The length of the race if 2 hours or 200 laps whichever comes first. Dead cars are left on track as obstacles. They turn you around in middle of race and make you run the other way(to make sure no suspension mods have been done). It's like a demo derby at high speed. Total blast.<p>How I lost my wheel: I was accelerating down the back stretch doing around 50-60 mph when all of a sudden the front driver side dropped and the car wouldn't respond to steering input. There was a dead nova directly in front of me, nothing I could do except pile drive the car at 50. Hit so hard that it tore the roof, buckled the floor upwards, pushed the engine back, broke the fan and water pump off in the radiator. Lot's and lot;s of other damage. Took a front end loader 20 minutes to seperate the two cars. Thank god I had a five point racing harness on, I'm sure it saved my life.<p>What happened: After 100 or so laps of hard cornerning all the weight of that big block over the front put an awful lot of stress on the little 14" steel wheels. The lug holes on the wheel actually elongated and the wheel came off the car. All the lugnuts were still on the hub. <p>I apologize for the long post and it is kind of off topic, but when you lose a wheel it is a scary experience.
