Scary lesson to learn

[iwannadie]

I bought a used jeep cherokee last week and gave it a good once over before driving. I didnt see anything wrong with it before I bought it or during the once over so thought it was cool to drive.

I had to make a sudden sharp turn, after that turn the front end was making a thumping sound and vibrating. I was in a panic thinking oh great I bought a piece of junk and it needs some major work done already!!

I start reading up on 'thumping sounds' on a jeep forum. Get all kinds of info and its all leading me towards U joint gone bad or something worse. I decide to go crawl around the jeep and see if anything is out of the ordinary.

Then Im looking at the wheels, lug nuts? I go find the correct torque spec for the lugs and get my torque wrench all ready. I put the socket on and the lug just spins freely, it wasnt even hand tight. The previous owner said he had just taken it to have tires put on a few days before(showed me receipt). I never thought to check the lugs were on tight enough!! None of the front lugs were close to being hand tight even.

Both front tires could have just rolled off. So lesson learned 'check lugs on a car you buy'. The back were fine but I retorqued every lug just to be sure lol.

 

[thechori]

oh, wow. thank god they didn't come off, i'd look into a lawsuit against that place that put the wheels on

 

[zachm611]

this happend to my uncle on his truck after he got new rims, turns out the shop forgot to tighten the lug nuts on the rear pass side and the tire flew off on the highway. the shop was nice though and repaired everything that got damaged

 

[iwannadie]

oh, wow. thank god they didn't come off, i'd look into a lawsuit against that place that put the wheels on

Its kinda hard to blame the shop though. I mean really the shop can say the previous owner made the mistake. Im not sure if I go to the shop with the receipts not even in my name what they would do for me. If they offer a discount theres no way id even use it, why get more poor service from them.

If it was in fact the previous owner he can just blame the shop.

Im just lucky the wheels stayed on and I caught it fast enough. I feel stupid for not checking the lugs but man everything on the jeep was in perfect shape. Checking the lugs before driving it just didnt even occure to me.

 

[suprahooked]

I bought a used jeep cherokee last week and gave it a good once over before driving. I didnt see anything wrong with it before I bought it or during the once over so thought it was cool to drive.

I had to make a sudden sharp turn, after that turn the front end was making a thumping sound and vibrating. I was in a panic thinking oh great I bought a piece of junk and it needs some major work done already!!

I start reading up on 'thumping sounds' on a jeep forum. Get all kinds of info and its all leading me towards U joint gone bad or something worse. I decide to go crawl around the jeep and see if anything is out of the ordinary.

Then Im looking at the wheels, lug nuts? I go find the correct torque spec for the lugs and get my torque wrench all ready. I put the socket on and the lug just spins freely, it wasnt even hand tight. The previous owner said he had just taken it to have tires put on a few days before(showed me receipt). I never thought to check the lugs were on tight enough!! None of the front lugs were close to being hand tight even.

Both front tires could have just rolled off. So lesson learned 'check lugs on a car you buy'. The back were fine but I retorqued every lug just to be sure lol.

First i would consider changing your name.
I just got my truck fixed after a guy bought a mini van at a auction and he drove it a mile and lost a rear tire, The tire crossed a 4 line highway and slamed in to my truck cab ,bed,rear tire and bent my axle $3800 in damage.

 

[iwannadie]

First i would consider changing your name.
I just got my truck fixed after a guy bought a mini van at a auction and he drove it a mile and lost a rear tire, The tire crossed a 4 line highway and slamed in to my truck cab ,bed,rear tire and bent my axle $3800 in damage.

Ive had this name for oh 15 years, I think Ill keep it and check lugs in the future.

 

[mkiiSupraMan18]

^ good call.

 

[GrimJack]

My tire shop advises everyone to check their own lugnuts after anyone touches them.

 

[swaq]

I never would have thought to check lug nuts either. I'll have to keep that in mind next time someone else touches my wheels. Usually I have the opposite problem where the shop over-torques the lug nuts...

 

[flight doc89]

Both front tires could have just rolled off. So lesson learned 'check lugs on a car you buy'. The back were fine but I retorqued every lug just to be sure lol.

you got lucky.
http://www.wanganmidnight.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1148&page=2
fuckin aftermarket wheels slingin' the damn lugs (unless there is a different reason for the truck to lose 2 wheels a month apart, first the front left then the rear left) now i check'em all the time

 

[MDCmotorsports]

Ever see Ron White?

 

[annoyingrob]

I had the same thing happen on a car once. Couldn't figure out what the rattling around was, took the cap off the lugnuts, and 2 of them fell on the road. That was the last time I ever let anyone else touch my lugnuts.