when the wheels come off

So recently bought a discovery 300 tdi in Spain mostly for work on the farm but the longer i own it the more i want to tinker with her. Anyways last week was driving home from a friends farm and felt a slight wiggle in the back end started to slow down to pull over when slam down goes the back right had side and to my surprise my back wheel overtakes me and disappears in to the pine trees in the distance! turns out the bloke i bought it of hadn't tightened the nuts on the wheel spacers I didn't know where fitted! so now have a lovely smashed rear right hand side panel. Trying to upload pics but apparently file size is to big. not to computer savy. just glad there was no oncoming trafic.

Something to remember for the future, no matter who else fits the wheels to your vehicle always check straightway after that the wheel nuts are tightened to your satisfaction.
I am constantly dealing with disasters where wheels have fallen off after our so called "licensed and reputable" tyre service mechanics in the small town we live in "forget" to tighten wheel nuts adequately or conversely over tighten them with an air wrench making them almost impossible to remove without massive extra leverage, I have seen one guy snap off 3 wheel studs on a Toyota Landcruiser using the air wrench before he realised he was doing the wrong thing.
Remember it is your health and safety, do not trust others to always do their jobs properly

with wheel spacers or heavy steel wheels nuts can come loose on lhs even if tightened correctly previously,its worth loctiting wheel nuts for spacer

jamesmartin said:

with wheel spacers or heavy steel wheels nuts can come loose on lhs even if tightened correctly previously,its worth loctiting wheel nuts for spacer

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Hello again James, I've not been on for a while so if this is a belated greeting so be it, good to see you on again.

DiscoPol said:

Hello again James, I've not been on for a while so if this is a belated greeting so be it, good to see you on again.

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+1, as we used to say in the old days.

Had this happen to me thankfully slowing down for traffic lights but still bloody scarry seeing your wheel heading into the Chinese takeaway without you day after tyres being fitted. Now get home loosen the nuts and tighten them up again just in case I get a puncture and dont have a tool kit to remove them. Glad to hear your ok

DiscoPol said:

Hello again James, I've not been on for a while so if this is a belated greeting so be it, good to see you on again.

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greetings to you to

This owner had a wheel fall off in front of me, after having set of tyres fitted at one of the tyre companies at a LRO show in Warwickshire some years ago.
Just got as far as one of the showground roads to go and park and it happened, lots of people around lucky he was only doing 5mph and not out on the open road on his way home, needless to say he wasn't happy and stormed back to the tyre fitters only a minute or so away. A very big fella he was as well.

At least they used spacers, the previous owner of mine decided to use washers.
But as James says, I always loctite them on too.

There is something about Land Rover alloy wheels of a certain age, if I take the alloy wheels off my 90, refit them and torque them up, a few miles later they will need torqueing up again. My mate had a Disco 1 same problem nearly lost a wheel until he learned to retighten them after a short run.

waldershelf said:

There is something about Land Rover alloy wheels of a certain age, if I take the alloy wheels off my 90, refit them and torque them up, a few miles later they will need torqueing up again. My mate had a Disco 1 same problem nearly lost a wheel until he learned to retighten them after a short run.

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Should not be needed. Nuts should be nipped up tight off the ground then lowered until there is just enough tyre grip to to torque. Never loose assembled lowered then torqued.

wammers said:

Should not be needed. Nuts should be nipped up tight off the ground then lowered until there is just enough tyre grip to to torque. Never loose assembled lowered then torqued.

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If I can (& when I service for rally cars) I have someone to apply brakes with the car jacked up off the ground to nip then torque / tighten, Landy alloys have sleeve-nuts so rely on spigoting to locate but the steelies have tapers on nuts to locate (not forgetting the centre bore & hub centralising spigot)
There is also the discussion about oil / copper slip etc. on threads wheel faces & spiggots but that's another can of worms :-D

Rich. (Prefers steel wheels ;-). )

Zed. said:

If I can (& when I service for rally cars) I have someone to apply brakes with the car jacked up off the ground to nip then torque / tighten, Landy alloys have sleeve-nuts so rely on spigoting to locate but the steelies have tapers on nuts to locate (not forgetting the centre bore & hub centralising spigot)
There is also the discussion about oil / copper slip etc. on threads wheel faces & spiggots but that's another can of worms :-D

Rich. (Prefers steel wheels ;-). )

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Yes having brakes applied off the ground is the best way to do it. Specially with tapered nuts.