HELP..rear wheel breaks off!

[David USMC]

ejb, Im real curious to see how your dealer responds especially if you approach him with your hat in your hands and paint the what if issue of an accident that resulted in personal injury. Maybe if he wouldn't bare the total cost of half an axle replacement maybe you could pay for the parts and he would provide the labor. That way you would have the peace of mind to know it was done per specs and he could be released from any liability down the road.

 

[W5FL]

Looks like you got a lot of good advice.

I would not force bolts through messed up threads. Just buy a good tap and try to retap the hole. The problem you may have is that the part is fairly hard. Helicoils are possible, but again you have to do a lot of machine work on the axle.

The dealer may work a deal with you to split the cost and is possible that he will pick it all up because he knows that someone didn't do their job right on a new tractor. I would not consider trying to force him to do it. The threat of legal action is counter productive and then any possible solutions will be made by the wrong people and take a long time and cost more than the repair. Most dealers are required as a part of the make ready to torque all lug bolts and the factory puts a paint stripe on them to prove that they did it. Now, even Discount Tire requires their employees to torque every nut on your auto wheels and sign the ticket that they have done it. It is a problem.

If I had to fix it, I believe I could do it where it would suit me, but for the money involved, I would take Bird's advice and get it fixed right.

Just glad you are not hurt! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[ejb]

HELP..rear wheel breaks off! - Good News..

Yi ha! after sweating it out all weekend about how much dough this mis-hap was going to cost me and how long I would be w/out a tractor, I have good news to report. Went to my dealer this morning, and w/out even a second of hesitation, he agreed to order to the parts I would need and come out Wed or Thursday and do the repairs, all covered under warranty.

He was not at all concerned about the few stripped threads, and he rightly pointed out (w/out having seen the tractor), that in all likelihood only the first few threads would be striped and the rest of them would be plenty to hold the bolt in place. He did make a point that I should be checking the bolts regularly (and especially the big bolts that hold the loader on).

Very refreshing these days, when I expect to be disappointed in almost every customer-service interaction I have, this was a pleasant suprise.

I felt so good when I left the place I wanted to buy another tractor from them just to show how happy I was...(but I didn't). But makes me feel good about picking them in the first place, and defintely will continue to send business their way whenever I can.

Thanks everyone for the input.

 

[MJB]

It may be possible that the wheel was properly torqued at the factory. I know that many cars built up until the 1930's and 40's used left hand threads on the lug nuts on the left side of the vehicle. (I have a 1947 Willys CJ2A that has this feature.) It seems the the rotation of the wheel tends to loosen the lugs on the left side if they are right hand thread. I believe that the increased vibration that a tractor sees could cause the lugs to work loose even if they were torqued properly, especially on a new machine where there isn't any rust on the lugs. No matter which way you decide to fix it I would certainly invest in some Loctite thread locker to put on the lugs of all the wheels, and recheck the torque whenever you service the tractor. Good Luck

 

[David USMC]

EJB,glad to hear the good news. Mike S,Check Westerfield and yourself are testimony to how good these dealers can be. Maybe the dealers efforts at the grassroots level will keep Deere at the top. I hope the corporate types at Deere will adequately compensate the dealer for the repair. If they do, and probably have in the past by the sound of it, the dealer will always be more proactive in a situation such as yours. The advice about the lock tite is excellent. In aviation crucial nuts on critical assemblies such as main gear trucks are always safety wired .

 

[Mike H]

Threaded fasteners. What a wonderful topic - books have been written on it. Unfortunately, I've had to read several of them! When my dealer dropped off my tractor a couple of weeks ago, he specifically said to be sure to check the wheel bolts 'periodically'. He said this was "because they were steel rims". I kind of chuckled and left that one alone; however, the conclusion was right even if the reasoning was shaky. If I had to place a wager (and I'm not), I would guess that a wheel coming off at 75 hrs, was not a factory installation problem.

Oversimplified, I'd say the three key factors in the connection are:

1. Preload - that's what the torque req't is. If this isn't done correctly, the bolt can come loose (with either too high or too low a preload).
2. Joint Stiffness - this is materials. The dealer's 'steel rim' comment could apply here. The preload specified is specific to the materials the joint was designed for. Change rims, change fasteners, the preload could be wrong.
3. Load - Unless there's a basic design flaw, vibration or impact loading are the surprises that can catch or overwhelm a joint. There is always a load at which the joint will fail (material failure or bolt loosening). In the aerospace industry we used to always loctite then safetywire every threaded connection to ensure integrity.

My recommendation would be to periodically check any bolt on the tractor that was installed as an 'add on'. These would be bolts that aren't painted. Paint is a great "loose detector" - you can just look at these bolts and see if they're moving. Wheel bolts, add on brackets for things like loaders, backhoes, mowers, etc. fit this category.

On my tractor, what jumped out at me was the nice shiny Gr. 5 bolts on the nice shiny painted white rims. I'll bet nearly every tractor is done like this but from a joint design standpoint (perhaps theoretical) this is a no-no. The joint could be relying on the paint! I'd bet 999 times out of 1000 (maybe less) the paint scrapes off during initial torqueing but the one time it doesn't . . .

I'd bet dealers all have stories of bolts loosening. I think it's prudent to make a point of looking these over, just like all the other things you're regularly checking over on any piece of mechanical equipment.

 

[gordon]

Re: HELP..rear wheel breaks off! - Good News..

Your dealer is a good and a very smart one. Why argue the fact of what happened it needed fixed and you weren't abusing the tractor so this was the smart move on the dealer.
He may eat some of the time on the job but he now has a loyal customer instead of a pissed off one. It's a shame more dealers don't treat their customers like this. Never burn your bridges./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
Main thing reguardless of the who pays is that no one was hurt.
This can happen to any make of tractor or car so it's a very smart thing to check./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
gordon

 

[JimBinMI]

Re: HELP..rear wheel breaks off! - Good News..

Gordon,

Absolutely! Good thing for all of us to do, sure some have already, I will the next time I use the <font color=blue>Mighty TC18 Boomer!</font color=blue>

We all benefit from sharing on the board, thanks!

JimBinMI

We boys and our toys!

 

[GaryK]

not that I don't trust the dealer, but when I got my tractor home i took out my trusty torque wrench and checked the wheels. i found more than a couple out of spec and one loose. Also found the tire pressures off. i do this on any piece of equipment or vehicle when is comes back from a dealer(check out the work etc.). That way I'm happy and I have no accidents down the road.

 

[W5FL]

Gary, I did too, then figured out that my torque wrench doesn't go to 240 ft pounds. Guess that is real tight! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif