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I lost an axle nut on the way home today, Carnage ensued...

 
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iggy



Joined: 09 Jul 2010
Posts: 12


1972 Volkswagen Beetle

PostPosted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 10:14 pm    Post subject: I lost an axle nut on the way home today, Carnage ensued... Reply with quote

OK here is what happened...

I was on my way home today and was driving on the bridge over Evans Mill Road, I suddenly heard the engine rev and I lost power. I then hears metal scraping the road and I knew I better get the car off the road. ... At this time I had no idea what had happened. Then as I pull over to the right shoulder I noticed, out of the corner of my eye something black going over the center wall of I-20. after I got stopped the horrible realization set in that my wheel had gone into oncoming traffic!! I got a horrible sick feeling in my stomach and started looking around for my wheel and looking at the traffic on the other side of I-20. I noticed 1 person in the left emergency lane of the westbound side of I-20 and a plume of steam, but traffic seemed to still be moving OK. I called 911 and a tow truck and waited. I was able to yell to the guy that got hit and using hand signals I got his phone # I called him and asked if everyone was OK and to assess the damage. He told me that he was the only victim and that he was OK but my wheel was embedded in the grill of him BMW (a rather nice one I later discovered). It turns out that it was not a problem with the lug nuts as you might expect, I lost my axle nut so the wheel was actually still attached to the brake drum! When this happened I was initially angry thinking that my mechanic had dropped the ball and forgot to put the cotter pin in but what I found was that the head of the pin had been smashed and pulled through the hole in the axle! Here are some pics...

This is the wheel

here you can see that the wheel is still attached to the brake drum and the axle nut .

and here you can see the cotter pin that caused this mess.

So the moral of the story is go check your pins and make sure that this does not happen to anyone else!
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Clyde



Joined: 03 Jun 2006
Posts: 855
Location: Athens


PostPosted: Sat Oct 09, 2010 8:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Glad you're OK! I bet the nut was loose for a week or two, slowly working looser. Are the splines in the drum still full thickness?

I watched the rear torsion, transmission and wheels seperate from a dune buggy on a tow dolly on 441S last weekend. The dude was doing like 70, buggy bouncing violently. Torsion rolled for like 100 feet all by itself, sparks flying.... then parked politely on the right side of the road. Scary stuff. A shiny new tow bar isn't very useful with a car with no rear wheels Rolling Eyes
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iggy



Joined: 09 Jul 2010
Posts: 12


1972 Volkswagen Beetle

PostPosted: Sat Oct 09, 2010 10:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

the splines actually look OK.
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Clyde



Joined: 03 Jun 2006
Posts: 855
Location: Athens


PostPosted: Sat Oct 09, 2010 3:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The axle is heat treated and will almost never show wear. I was thinking more of the soft cast iron splines in the drum.
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Johnny



Joined: 20 Dec 2006
Posts: 93
Location: Hephzibah,Ga.


PostPosted: Sat Oct 09, 2010 5:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Geeeez....Of all the cars traveling on I-20 it had to find a beemer....
Glad to hear no one was hurt....
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iggy



Joined: 09 Jul 2010
Posts: 12


1972 Volkswagen Beetle

PostPosted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 8:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

the splines in the drum look good also. It looks like the pin came out and and the rotation of the wheel caused the nut to come off.
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Mountain Power House



Joined: 26 Jul 2006
Posts: 879
Location: Aircooled Heaven USA


PostPosted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 8:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The new anodized axle nuts are partially to blame. i use 40+ year old units and torque them to 600 ft/lbs... Then use a real cotter pin, generally soured from Aircraft Spruce for Helicopter flight controls as they are made of the toughest material on the planet.

You can't get these axle nuts tight enough.
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Jake Raby
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73 Superbeetle (Suby Power!)
76 Porsche 912E (X3!)
79 VW Iltis 4X4
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