Help prevent wheel-off accidents

[bigyellowpete]

Help prevent wheel-off accidents: Fleet Equipment

The Tire Industry Association (TIA) reminds commercial vehicle operators that improper installation procedures can lead to tragic wheel-off accidents. Every commercial vehicle operator should keep in mind:

• Proper torque is not a guarantee that the wheel is secure on the hub or drum––the key is clamping force. Even with the correct torque, foreign material on the mating surfaces and worn threads will still cause a wheel to become loose. Tire technicians must be trained to ensure that the wheel and hub are properly cleaned and that the wheel and fasteners are inspected before installation.

• Use the proper wheel fastener lubricants (30-weight oil on the stud and flange nut for hub-piloted wheels and dry for stud-piloted).

• Do not use anti-seize compounds on stud-piloted wheels. This use has never been approved by wheel, hub or fastener manufacturers.

• Wheel fastener torque should be checked after the first 50 to 100 miles.

 

[bigyellowpete]

Trucker charged in Toronto wheel-off incident
01/07/2008

TORONTO -- A Quebec truck driver has been charged by Ontario Provincial Police after a wheel from his transport trailer rolled across eight lanes of Hwy. 401 just north of Toronto and hit two minivans.

No one was reported to be seriously hurt, although there was extensive damage to both minivans, according to the Toronto Star.

Kalsana Bakhsish Singh, 42, of Lasalle, Que. was charged with a front wheel hub detaching from a commercial motor vehicle and operating an unsafe commercial motor vehicle.

The truck was taken to a nearby Ministry of Transportation yard, where it was found to have several mechanical defects, including brakes out-of-adjustment, the Star reported. It was placed out-of-service.

In 2006, a 41-year-old Oakville woman was killed after her car was hit by a truck tire on the Queen Elizabeth Way near Oakville.

Originally enacted in response to several highly publicized wheel-offs in the mid-1990s, Ontario has an absolute liability provision in the Highway Traffic Act that automatically affixes guilt and denies truck owners a defence of due diligence in the event of a wheel separation from a commercial vehicle.

The provision, which carries a penalty of up to $50,000, has survived several court challenges by trucking companies over the years.


Trucker charged in Toronto wheel-off incident - Today's Trucking, the truck news site.

 

[Racer X 69]

The lug nut info is great to have BYP, but many wheel-off accidents are the result of bearing failure resulting from a leaking hub seal.

A thorough pre trip inspection should prevent these type of accidents from occurring. A driver needs to actually get down and look under the truck and trailer, at the back side of every wheel-end, and look for signs of a leak. If one is noted, it should be addressed immediately. When a hub bearing starts to leak, it doesn't take very long for the lube to run out, and the bearing to get dry, then heat up and seize, causing the hub, brake drum, and tire/wheel assembly to come off.

And we all know what can happen when a separation happens.

 

[snowflake]

well there goes that "side mirror" pre-trip ......kidding just kidding

 

[Rigjockey]

thank you for bringing up this Important issue.I have seen many Innocent motorists injured or killed due to an oversight by "professional drivers".

 

[Sinister]

Good to know about the anti-seize also.

I'll have to pass that along to the "experts" at the shop. I always kinda thought it might be a goofy idea...

 

[2xR]

Back in the days of inner & outer Budd wheel studs the tire guys slopped the anti-sieze all over everything because, let's face it, the threads would sieze making the studs and nuts nearly imposible to break loose if you didn't.

Good post Pete...

 

[BUDEZE]

Wheel off incidents are rarely reported unless a near miss or fatality is involved.
Fleet maintenance programs directed towards "wheel retention" is key to monitor overheating of wheel hubs but the majority of wheel off incidents occur from improperly maintained wheel fasteners. There have been loads of research done on the subject of debris found between the mating surfaces of wheel nut flange and wheel. Proper torque does not guarantee correct clamp load. Many climates that have amounts of salt in the atmosphere such as coastal provinces and states are found to have the highest rates of wheel off incidents.

For more information on the research, we have compiled it with a click of a button. Check out the web site budeze.com where you can view statistics from all over the world on the subject. My dad invented a product that prevents corrosion on wheel fasteners back in 1986 when inner outer nuts were common place. He was a heavy duty mechanic who worked hard to develop a product that would help remediate wheel off incidents.

Safe driving guys!

 

[Rigjockey]

As for those little green plastic arrows that go under the lug nut's, They don't do a lot prevent wheel separation,It just shows 1 nut has come loose

 

[bigyellowpete]

Racer is absolutely correct about wheel seal/searing failure being another major reason for wheel-off incidents. It is just good policy to check at the start and finish of every driving shift at minimum. It only takes a couple seconds, and we know you are right there checking brake adjustments and visually checking the thickness of your brake liners anyway.

Re-torquing lug nuts should be done with a torque wrench, not just hammering them on with an air gun as well. There is no way anyone operating a gun can tell with any accuracy how much torque they have applied, and too much can cause as much damage as too little in the end. I usually get the torque checked within 100 miles of a wheel change, and then again between 500-1000 miles. Most of the better tire shops in the US are now using torque wrenches, including most Bosselmans, TA, Petro and Loves service centers, so it isn't as hard as it used to be to find a shop to check it. In most cases, the torque check is free when it is performed by the same chain of service center as well, so money should not be an issue. Really, the couple dollars it costs should never be an issue considering the costs of not doing so.

 

[Racer X 69]

We're going to have to start charging for all this advice and technical info.

A case of beer would do nicely. Especially the Eastern or Canadian brews. They usually have a bit more kick!

 

[patriciajnsn]

Only time I ever heard of this actually happening is when knucklehead mentioned it on his 20.But it makes me stop and think to make sure those lug nuts are good and tight and no oil leaking.

 

[bigyellowpete]

I actually saw a set of duals come off a westbound truck as he was approaching the tool booths near the PA line on the NY Thruway earlier this year. They missed an NYSP DOT trooper by about 10 feet while he was sitting there watching the booth on the EB side looking for his next victim. I bet the truck driver had a really bad day after that.

 

[Racer X 69]

Only time I ever heard of this actually happening is when knucklehead mentioned it on his 20.But it makes me stop and think to make sure those lug nuts are good and tight and no oil leaking.

Since I started driving over the road I have seen quite a few Patty, probably about 30 or so. I even witnessed one actually happening on I-40 near Amarillo last year. A steer wheel and tire assembly came off of a Westbound rig, crossed the center divider clipped the side of an Eastbound truck and bounced up into the left front corner of the trailer. It would have gone further, but when it hit the trailer it actually penetrated the trailer enough that it stuck in the trailer shell.

Scary stuff to see as it happens.

 

[snowflake]

and even if you do not actually witness it happen it it not a unheard of to see duals missing......not so much as in days gone by though

 

[patriciajnsn]

WOW REALLY?????????????????/Now that is scarey.Just imagine going down a mountain and something lke that happens.Great thread bigyellowpete

Since I started driving over the road I have seen quite a few Patty, probably about 30 or so. I even witnessed one actually happening on I-40 near Amarillo last year. A steer wheel and tire assembly came off of a Westbound rig, crossed the center divider clipped the side of an Eastbound truck and bounced up into the left front corner of the trailer. It would have gone further, but when it hit the trailer it actually penetrated the trailer enough that it stuck in the trailer shell.

Scary stuff to see as it happens.

 

[Rigjockey]

I seen a set come off almost in front of the east bound putnam scales.So the mto didn't have far to travel to do the investigation.

 

[boone315]

Timely thread since something similar just happened to me. But it was not as much equipment failure as it was the mechanics, and mine to, I should have stopped somewhere to inspect it but I had driven straight through. Another lesson learned.
I have a neighbor down the road who was out mowing his lawn when a wheel from a SGT trailer came off, went behind him, across his lawn, hit his mini-van jumped up onto his roof and buried itself in a shed behind his house. The truck apparently never noticed because it did not stop.

 

[bigyellowpete]

I seen a set come off almost in front of the east bound putnam scales.So the mto didn't have far to travel to do the investigation.

I saw a guy this afternoon at around the 86 yard stick on the 402 near London, ON with one trailer wheel off, and a black and white behind him probably writing the biggest ticket of his week.

 

[Racer X 69]

WOW REALLY?????????????????/Now that is scarey.

Really. Scared me shitless.

The truck apparently never noticed because it did not stop.

One thing I have observed is that many of the "newer" truck drivers are clueless about their responsibilities. They drive big trucks like an old lady would drive a Ford Fairmont. They seldom, if ever do a pre or post trip inspection, and most likely would not know how.

All graduates of the CDL mills I suspect.