great week end but not so great return trip home.

[rinandstumpy]

Had a great week end away with the family up on the river at snakes camp ground between woods point and kevington, weather was great and kids had a ball
But on the way home we sheared off the wheel studs on the camper and we lost a wheel coming in to Mansfield.
No damage to any people or any cars, thank goodness,
 and after a roadside repair with our spare hub and spare wheel we were on our way, now to repair the damage to the camper trailer.
 1 wheel scrapped, centre damaged and mounting bolt holes elongated,
1 electric brake assembly destroyed and drum/hub destroyed.
So now we are on the hunt for some spares and a new wheel. Not sure what happened to cause it but we checked wheel nuts for security before we left home and again when we left camping ground, they may have vibrated loose on the road on the way back, no indication that it was loose until it went bang and went past me at about 80kmh,was being followed by the wife in second car and she did not notice anything before it happened.
Just a little bit dissapointed with the attitude of people who spped past 2 cars parked on side of the road with hazzard lights on while trying to fix the wheel on the road side, we lost the drivers side trailer wheel, people just speed past and even overtake each other when they can clearly see you with your hazzards on. thanks to those who slowed down as they went past, luckily we managed to repair the damage and we got home safe and sound, just some added costs to our little weekend away.
I guess i just wanted to remind people to be careful and recheck your trailer before you head home, we did but things still seem to happen we were just lucky we had some tools and a spare hub. take care out there people.

[Foo]

Bugger! You say that you checked them twice, that would say to me that maybe the wheel was not sitting on the hub properly. 

Foo

[Nay-DMAX]

Lucky all were safe and yes some people have no care for cars with hazards on usually if you are on the side of the road with hazards it is for a reason not just cause you feel like it.  We had a guy stop in here Sunday night on his way home from camping flat tyre on his trailer (normal trailer camping gear loaded in swags etc) asked if he could leave the trailer at ours over night he came back the next day with a neighbours spare that they had to make fit but would get him home. Had a slab of beer in the ute to give the other half but he said nah you keep it glad everyone was ok.  Goes to show it can just happen and a lot of people don't carry a trailer spare more so everyday trailers.  When we got our camper we got the same rim size and stud pattern as our tow vehicle.  Good luck with your repairs

[Black Diamond]

Geez mate thats rotten luck. Might be worth checking your wheel nuts to see if they are the right taper aswell. Good to hear you got home safe though 

[Buster3931]

I found one hub a bit warm on our ct after getting to camp last week. Checked it a couple of times on way home and all seemed good. I'm planning to check both and sort out spares in the process.

Buster

[Bobsan]

Check the remaining wheel nuts on the camper,   some on my camper had the taper turned on a different centre to the thread which stresses the stud with side pressure to a point they will eventually give way. Offset taper wheel nuts feel spongy when tightening.   

[D4D]

That's no good about your wheel parting ways, just as well you had a spare hub, most people wouldn't.

Good to keep a couple of these in the car for these situations
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/EFLARE-NEW-EF350-COMPACT-VERSION-L-E-D-E-FLARE-AMBER-/261296328692

[CBRK]

Good to keep a couple of these in the car for these situations
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/EFLARE-NEW-EF350-COMPACT-VERSION-L-E-D-E-FLARE-AMBER-/261296328692

The eflares are great, I highly recommend them, ive used them a number of times. Very easy to deploy, we've got red and blue ones but im sure the amber ones are just as bright.  Remember to get the rubber bases for them. They are great for warning drivers, they actually see them, even in daylight and when put away dont take up much room.

Chris

Sent from my GT-P5210 using Tapatalk

[Phil69]

You may have an issue with your wheel nuts pulling through the tapered hole in your rim and actually tightening up on the face of the hub, leaving the rim slightly loose on the studs/nuts. This movement will eventually shear the studs off. It is a problem more common with boat trailers when the rims get a little rusty around the holes. Check the mounting face on the back of your rim and if this is the case you should have very little paint/powder coating left from where it has rubbed off on the hub face whilst being able to move around.
As for getting drivers to slow down, I'm a volunteer with SES and when we parkup and have our red & blue beacons on many drivers fail to slow down until they are almost involved with the original incident so hazard lights won't do much even though you would think it would get them thinking something might be going on up the road a bit and slowing down might be a good idea.

[rinandstumpy]

Thanks for the tips guys i will work through them all, cheers

[Mallory Black]

Hi, not sure what your outfit is but here is a list of things that will make wheel studs break..

1. wheel nuts have been overtightened. will cause the stud to elongate and thereby weaken them. (this is most common so for safety's sake remove the studs on the wheel that is still good and check them out).
2. substandard quality of the parts
3. parts are too light for the weight being carried
4. warped hub
3. incorrect match between the wheel and the hub, eg: if the spacing of the studs on the hub is metric and the spacing of the holes in the wheel is in imperial measurements, while it might fit the pressure will slightly distort the studs, weaken them and they will break. eg fitting HQ wheels on a Commodore stud pattern. Poor manufacturing tolerances by trailer part makers can also cause the same problem. Set the hub flat on the ground and then put the whell over it, everything should be centred perfectly, like I mean perfect.

normally, a factory fit of a wheel to a car has the load being taken by the close fit between the wheel centre and the corresponding shoulder on the hub, the studs don't need to deal with shearing forces just pulling forces.
Trailer hubs rarely have that close fit at the wheel centre is so all the shearing and pulling forces is taken by just the studs so they have to be much bigger than what the car has to cope with the same loads.

[dazzler]

What were the tyres like. An out of round tyre can jiggle loose given enough time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jaysea]

Yep - I've experienced the same thing (http://www.myswag.org/index.php?topic=31079.msg487007#msg487007).  But i didnt have a spare hub so thank goodness for NRMA.  Not a very pleasant experience.  Glad it turned out OK. 

[rinandstumpy]

well not sure if it is related but i have noticed that all the load of the camper is taken on the wheel studs and nuts as the front face of the drum/hub is flat, where as most cars/4wd the wheel locates on the hub and the hub takes the load the wheel nuts/studs only stop the wheel from coming off, the new drum hub assemblies are the same so not sure if that is the problem or not but it would seem that the design of trailer hubs differs from that of cars/4wds.

[Jaysea]

I had the same thought so ended up purchasing some spaces so that the trailer is now hub-centric rather than lug-centric.  I worked out that many aftermarket wheels for cars have different centre bore sizes so they provide these spacers.  I feel more comfortable now that the weight is shared on the hub as well as studs.

[rinandstumpy]

thats what i was thinking i will have to look in to it asap

[D4D]

I had the same thought so ended up purchasing some spaces so that the trailer is now hub-centric rather than lug-centric.  I worked out that many aftermarket wheels for cars have different centre bore sizes so they provide these spacers.  I feel more comfortable now that the weight is shared on the hub as well as studs.

Pics?

[dlncooke]

That's no good about your wheel parting ways, just as well you had a spare hub, most people wouldn't.

Good to keep a couple of these in the car for these situations
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/EFLARE-NEW-EF350-COMPACT-VERSION-L-E-D-E-FLARE-AMBER-/261296328692

This is a great idea. I'll be getting one.

Cheers
Dave

[Jaysea]

Pics?

no problem

When i get a chance i will take some pics and post.