The tandem axle praises!!!!

Last Sunday I had the potential for a major disaster!! I was driving north to go to the local shooting range in my 712 Amb "the box is back on". When Murphy came up and stole all my lug nuts on the rear driver side axle. There was almost no warning just a wobble then I got to see my tire passing me.
This took about as long as it took for me to get a "OHH". The tire rolled across both north bound and south bound lanes, nearly missing a cop and several other cars.

Now to the important stuff!! the tandem, with it having another wheel a few inches away from it the brake hub never hit the ground, except when I made the emergency right turn.
All lug nuts where withing 3 feet of each other.

Now for the after action.... I got the tire put back on and checked the torque on every wheel, I discovered that the brake drum was not seated properly, the passanger mid was the same. It led me to remember that the brakes should be properly alligned before reinstalling the wheels don't let the impact do the job of seating the drums like I used to..
I would have felt terrible had someone been injured by my carelessness

On another not I did discover that my 2 ton engine hoist is perfect for lifting the Pinz to do brake work. Just loop a strap under the pintle and jack away, it lifts the Pinz as high as you need, still don't forget to use your jack stands, the engine hoist is nice since you don't need to get under your truck to use a jack with alot of blocks.

Branan

dc3coyote said:

The tire rolled across both north bound and south bound lanes, nearly missing a cop and several other cars.


Branan

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nearly missing? does this meen there was some contact.
I do know how it feels to see a set of 11x22.5's bouncing accross several lanes of vehicles!
all you can do is pray!

RE: Re: The tandem axle praises!!!!

Wow, that is pretty scary. Glad you did not hit the LEO as we know what happens to patrol cars...I would have thought you would have felt a wobble before the wheel came off.

Bill

I echo your sentiments about tandem axles...During the 8x8 tow, one tire blew out and there was not the slightest hint of loss of control, just a thud and I knew what had happened. I had no problem finding a place to pull over and my fix was simply to tie up the axle with a short chain.
Driving the 8x8 with a tire blowing may be a bit different, but I'd hate to have a front tire take off on its own on a deuce...

There was only half a second of wheel wobble, it was only long enough for me to look back and certain body part reach incredible levels of thightness.

No cars where hit but they were VERY close, the cop car was a miracle is the only way I can put it

WOW praise the Lord both you and fellow motorists were not injured! Thats terrible!!!!!!

Bjorn, what was the deal with the 8x8 flat? It looks like the tire was way out of alignment to wear like that. What was broken?

I was pushing a bobtail M915 up I 81 near Stroutsburg when doing about 85 MPH in the hammer lane the steering axle blew the right front tire. It happened as the truck was passing a small compact car with two women and two kids in it and the split ring blasted the car door and she swerved into the breakdown lane. The ring passed the slowing truck bounced all the way across the median which was about 200 yards wide at that point since the North bound lanes were higher than the South bound lanes and it too missed about three cars and then carreened down the mountain landing who knows where. The women were OK although scarred and were happy when I gave them a signed claim form for the damages. That too was a miracle and we have to thank God for them every time we get them.

hndrsonj said:

Bjorn, what was the deal with the 8x8 flat? It looks like the tire was way out of alignment to wear like that. What was broken?

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Well, thanks to the tandem arrangement, when the tire lost air pressure, the front end was still supported by the other tires and the blown one must have peddled along misaligning itself (like you suggested) and getting torn apart....I'm certainly no expert on tire wear, so I can only report what happened. All tires are tubeless and the one that blew was the only radial type.

The number one front axle did have a non-related problem, one shock absorber had been dented and acted like a solid strut and one torque rod had a bad bushing causing my right 1st front tire to wear badly. All that has now been fixed....

Let me take you back 18 months ago before I had the Tandem axels of a 712 under me when essentially the same thing happened....
Pinz's do not work well on three wheels!!

Face it, 712's rock.

at least you found your tire!

when my parents were driving this old car from Ellsworth we saw our own tire pass us and disappear into the woods!!!

we never found it again...

even after a 4 hour search....

Glad everythig worked out. When I was a teenager a friend called because he knew we had a towbar. His car wouldn't move and we hooked it up and started draggin it home.
About a 1/4 mile from where I hooked him up I saw in the rearview mirror as the left rear of his car dropped and I saw that OH**** look in his face. I was towing him with our Buick
convertible when I heard a thunk thunk as the entire wheel axle assy banged the hell out
of the left side of the Buick. After it passed us it wobbled back and forth down the four lane
in the middle of the day. There were cars in the oncoming lane swerving, locking up the brakes and freaking out. Only had one hit, a 4DR Impala that it hit bounced up on the hood,
rode up the windshield and over the roof to finally end up in our lane a hundred yards ahead of us. The guy in the old impala was just glad it all worked out safely and didn't care about the few dents to his old beater. Not something I would want to relive, Just glad I didn't get decapitated by swaying axle that only missed my head by a foot.

littlebob