My Trailer Tire Flew Off at 65 MPH!!

Its always something, right?

Driving to nashville..... The trailer starts to bump a little. i think it might just be the lane we are in, so i get over to the other lane. it stops for a second. then i see smoke on the tire on the driver side on the trailer. So i figure i just blew a tire. I get over on the median and start to slow down. As I am slowing down, along comes my tire......bouncing along in the lane beside me at about 60 mph. so, I am now on 2 tires on the right side, one tire on the left. i am driving along the median slowing down yet also trying to keep up with it. it goes across the median through on coming traffic and finally stops a good ways down on the other side of the hwy. funny but scary. luckily there was only one car close coming the opposite direction but didnt hit it.

All four lug bolts snapped in half. I have no idea how it happened, but the buddy i was with talked to his mechanic and he said the only way that could happen (all 5 break off like that) and the tire be fine is if the lug nuts werent on tight. The tire was still good except for the hub in the middle got messed up. My trailer fender is messed up a bit and all black.

i ended up driving another 15 miles to jackson with 3 tires at a slow pace. i know....redneck. but there was no way i was gonna wait around and get the boat towed since i was on my way to a big tournament and was wanting to have a good time.

So we get to Jackson and go to auto zone and spend the next 2 hours finding parts, using what few tools I have and a curb as a jack trying to fix it. finally get it fixed with some of the most ingenious engineering ever put together and head on to Nashville for a great weekend. Rest of the weekend was awesome!

anyone ever had this happen? ideas on what would have caused this?

Loose lug nuts sounds about right.

If the nuts aren't tight they can loosen up to the point that the wheel will move an 1/8th of an inch or so. It will bang around, slipping once per revolution until either the lug nuts come all the way off or the studs break.

When this happens in a car the noise it makes as the wheel is banging around on the studs will generally make you stop, but on a trailer you probably wouldn't hear it.

Bummer. I hope you checked the othe lug nuts!

Man, that's a bummer!

At least you have a tandem trailer. It would've been much worse with a single axle.

There was a recall on MC trailers in 2000 because the lug nuts would loosen from heating up and cooling down. I don't think it was in the later years, but maybe your rims are '00? Just a thought.

its an '02 trailer, so i am pretty sure they arent '00 rims. i had just had new calipers and rotors put on about 3 weeks ago. thats the last time anyone has dont anything to the tires except for me putting air in them. i did check the other lug nuts and tightened them all. 2 of them were very loose.

I had that happen to me over a year ago. My wife and I were returning from a lousy day in austin where it had started raining when we wanted to boat, and the tire came off. It happened at about 7 PM, and we did not make it home till 2 AM.

The following was a post from thedieselstop.com about cooper tires:

I had two cooper ST 205/75/14 tires on my trailer as well as two titan tires of the same size. Mine also were on labled custom trailer on the sidewall. The tire dealer I got them from is a very reputable shop that my family has been using for over 10 years. The tires are a lot more stout than the titan tires I also have.

Recently I had an incident were a wheel came off my trailer and the fender sat down on the tire and wore a groove into the tire. The tire never started shedding any tread or ever lost pressure. I recently pulled the valve stem to release the pressure prior to disposing of the tire, and this is over three months after the incident, and it was still holding pressure fine.

The only tires I will be buying for my trailer in the future are coopers.

Here are some pics just to show what happened to my wheel and tire.

Hub (Large Photo) http://users2.ev1.net/~ag4ever/trailer/2.jpg

Tire (Large Photo) http://users2.ev1.net/~ag4ever/trailer/4.jpg

Tread (Large Photo) http://users2.ev1.net/~ag4ever/trailer/5.jpg

Wheel Well (Large Photo) http://users2.ev1.net/~ag4ever/trailer/9.jpg

There is no worse feeling than seeing your trailer tire and wheel pass you on the highway at 60 mph in the rain!

Damn! Looks like I'm not the only one having some bad luck lately. At least it turned out OK. Who did the brake job? MBC?

I had a tire come off of my extreme trailer memorial weekend. It only had about 170 miles on the trailer. They said I should of checked the torque on the lug nuts like the manual calls for. I told them I was going to do that at 250 miles like the manual calls for but I didn't make it that far so how can I be held liable. It cost me about $100 bucks to get it fixed when all said and done. They sent me a new rim but REFUSED to pay me any of the money I was out. They just kept saying I should of checked the bolts. Needless to say I will NEVER own another extreme trailer after this one is gone.

SO Matt, after all the turmoil- How was Board Bananza?

What's a good torque for the lugnuts on a 5 hole 14" tire??

Depends upon the size of the studs. Here is a chart:

Hardware
Size Torque in
Ft/Lbs

10MM 45-55
12MM 70-80
14MM 85-90
7/16" 70-80
1/2" 75-85
9/16" 135-145

I would guess most 14" wheels (tandem) are 7/16 studs while most 15" (single axle) are 1/2 studs. Measure to be certain. Overtightening is just as bad as loose so do not crank them down use a torque wrench.

Thanks Chris, looks like I should go about 78 to be right in the neighborhood either way.

Add that to my preweekend check the trailer routine.

Tire Pressure
Hub Grease
Lug nut torque

I'm all about getting there, especially with 100 miles each way minimum.

Every shop I've talked to says 90lbs

What about if you have aluminum rims??

78 or 90 would be too much!!

Not 100% sure on this one but since my rims are aluminum,the service department told me 40.Personally I never tightened them down and I got approx. 20,000+ miles on mine.Needless to say....no problems.

well, then i probably have mine too tight right now because i cranked all of mine down on the trip this past weekend. i am taking it up to the shop tomorrow to have them check it out. by the way, i have marathon radials.

russell - yea, i heard about your bad luck. that sucks. the answer to your question is yes.

keith - board bonanza was awesome. never been but will continue to go from now on!

and by the way, i used the sidewalk as a jack becuase my yukon jack wouldnt fit under the trailer. go figure. the sidewalk was actually a lot easier anyway

It does not matter what type of wheels you have. The size of the stud determines the torque. For our use 80ftlbs is a safe bet for all configurations. Ed I would personally tighten up a bit......... 40 is not very tight. I have 1/2 studs on my single axle with AL wheels and I torque to 80. I check after the first 100 miles if a wheel has been off and then once or twice a season. Usually once you get them torqued properly a couple of times they will not back off until the wheel has been removed again and then you start the tightening process over again.

I guess I have to get a torque wrench,but like I said no problems and I just trailered my boat 330 miles with over 2000lbs of weight b\c of my move.

It's been said above but DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN... I've seen guys put 4 foot pipes on the end of a lug wrench to "get more torque". The problem is the lugs are only rated for so much torque before they fail and the lugs will actually crack. Combine that with the wonderfully smooth (note the sarcasm) roads we all drive on and the bouncing trail ends up cracking the lugs the rest of the way. TO TIGHT is as bad as NOT TIGHT ENOUGH

Maybe because you were just driving 10 mph over the legal speed limit! :-)

D - maybe i was driving the speed limit. speed limit around here is 65 or 70 depending on where you are. thanks for the suggestion though.

are you saying you have never gone 65 with a trailer before?

I've done close to 100mph with mine,90mph on a consistant basis and 80mph is normal.

The overtightening will stretch the studs/lugs and they will loose their ability to hold the wheel on. As the wheel heats up the already stretched studs/lugs expand further which will either sheer the stud, crack the lug, or they will simply back off. Over-tightening will cause the lugs to back off much quicker than under tightened lugs. It is a vicious cycle, overtighten the lugs, 100 miles down the road the lugs are loose again...........so let's tighten them up even tighter....... and the process repeats itself.

It is possible to stretch the threads of the stud/lugs so bad that you cannot keep a wheel on regardless of torque. In this case both the lugs and studs should be replaced. If you are having a problem keeping your wheels tight this could be the problem.

BTW I tow at 80-85 fairly regularly with no problems. But I am also anal about my tires, lugs, bearings, etc........

Matt, of course I would never drive over the posted limit with a trailer! Lugs were most likely a little loose and loosened more. Then the studs shear off. Good reminder for everyone to check their lugs occasionally.

Wow. I was just about to post a new topic on this because the same thing happened to me 2 days ago.

Had just picked up the boat during my lunch hour from the service shop. I drove it about 20 miles back to work doing about 70mph, no problems. When I go to leave work, I drive about 100 yards and hear a clunk when I stop at the light. As I am making a left onto the freeway, I see in my mirror that the rear left tire is wobbling. I slow down and get all the way to the right on the frontage road. Pull into a turn lane for a hotel. At this point, I can see lugs bolts popping off in my mirror. Just as I turn into the parking lot, wheel comes off and continues down the frontage road, cars stopping while the tire dances all over roadway. My fender was way tweeked when it crashed down onto the tire, and all 5 bolts were snapped off. Was able to limp to a friends house (tandem axle). Never had an issue with loose nuts (trailer is a 1998). I suspect my problem was over-tightening, since I know I didn't use a torque wrench (now I do) last time I had the wheel off. Spent about $150 for repairs, not including the fender. Check your nuts!

deltadave - not sure if you are serioius or jus kidding, but what is the top speed you would go? because like i said, the speed limit is 70 around here, not 55