we were traveling in route from Reno to Palm Springs at the end of last week for our winter season and coming down 395. The right rear wheel flew off of the rig and bounced across the highway. Fortunately did not hit or hurt anyone. All eight lugs were sheared off. although I do not have TPMS, I do have pressure, sensitive valve stem caps, and they were all good. The tire is still fine but the end set inside the wheel are mostly ruined and the tire shop says the wheel needs to be replaced.
My rig is a 23 ambition triple axle. Although I had not personally checked the lug nuts for torque, I had the suspension upgraded at Quartzsite in January to the roadmaster slipper spring system. When they did the install, I was very clear with them about being careful with my lugs and the torque.Fortunately, I was able to recover the wheel, and the tire is still in good shape. We were 50 miles north of Bishop and the only TOW company that could handle an ambition with a low Boy quoted me $2600 and we’re not an approve. Fortunately, I was able to recover the wheel, and the tire is still in good shape. We were 50 miles north of Bishop and the only TOW company that could handle an ambition with a low Boy quoted me $2600 and we’re not AAA approved. As it was mid afternoon on a Friday I opted to risk it and drove the rig on five tires at 20 miles an hour for the last 50 miles and managed to get to a tire shop in Bishop. They were very helpful and let me overnight in their parking lot And then first thing the next morning the owner of the shop went to Napa and fortunately they had a new studs and he had matching lug nuts at the shop. They had me back on the road by 10:30 in the morning. We were on good road, doing our typical 58 mile an hour cruise control drive down the freeway when this occurred. It did chew up my center cap in addition to the lug nuts and studs. The only other damage was the tire shop said he felt as if there was a little bit of play in the disc brake and that I should have all six wheels gone through now that this has happened to make sure there isn’t fatigue or stress on the other wheels.
Has anyone else had an experience like this or can offer advice? Does anyone know where I can get a replacement center cap?
One cause of this is improper torque. With loose lug nuts the wheel studs will break. Excessive torque would cause stud fatigue and subsequent failure. It is for these reasons I verify torque prior to long trips and periodically throughout the year.
I feel your pain. We had a wheel bearing failure on our Ambition this past August in upstate NY. Hub, wheel and tire all separated on a narrow 2-lane on a rainy day. Cotter pin was sheared off in the spindle and the nut and bearings were still in the hub when I found it.
It destroyed the spindle, hub and caliper. Took about 2 weeks for Lippert to build us a replacement. We never considered a tow though. Wouldn’t help with the issue anyways. I had just installed all new tires on the RV and the 2 were still within their load range on average, and we ended up driving another 70 miles or so between 2 campgrounds and the shop before it was replaced.
We never knew it came off. I only knew we lost trailer brakes and it took another 5 miles to find a place to pull off. It ended up that it had happened about 12 miles back. The caliper actually ripped off the hub and held the brake pads in place for a while before falling out and the caliper piston popped out and we lost brakes.
I only found the wheel because our re-view camera on the RV has a loop recording. It just caught it crossing over behind the RV and into the ditch and I was able to figure where it happened from that. It was a good 40 - 50 feet off the road in some reeds. Speed was about 50.
Wow Dan that is an impressive trail to the tire. Had to watch that several times. Curious if Lippert assisted with the parts and shipping? Also curious what you are using for rear camera - I am guessing Halo View?
I am a firm believer in having a camera that records - I have solved a lot of puzzles going back on video. We were able to see where our truck spare fell off and have some relief we didnt hurt somebody thanks to a rear camera.
Hey Ryan, yes, it is a HaloView BT7. It’s the one that incorporates the cameras & TPMS into the same display unit.
As for Lippert, they did nothing for us. It’s a longer story I’ll regale you with sometime, but dealing with them was nothing but frustration & I’ll leave it at that. On the up side, we did have over a week planned for the general area so it’s not like we didn’t have anything to do. We just couldn’t make the campground we had originally booked and our time there ended up being much, much, much, much (did I say '“much”?) more expensive than originally planned.
