A lesson learned.

[TSMART]

How many times have I read in this forum to tighten all nuts and bolts once in a while. Yet I was mowing a couple weeks ago and the front wheel on my 224 with 400 hours just fell off and went rolling away. You would think I would see something like this, but I really didn't.

I am very glad my loader was just off the ground at that time. Saved my butt. If it would have been up I would have gone flying. Which would be OK except for the landing. Since that repair I went over the entire tractor and found several other things loose, too.

It broke a few studs which I was able to get at NAPA. I needed to buy an easy out to get one out still stuck in the hub. But no problem. HOWEVER, had I been driving the tractor on asphalt at 15 mph I really could have been hurt. So that is the reason for this reminder.

Also ended up being an unnecessary $60 repair, cause I had to buy an easy out set too.

Things loosen up. Watch out for that. I am not a pro and know I could get hurt on a tractor.

I just wanted to put out this reminder to keep someone form getting hurt.

I should have LISTENED to the good advise here! Do NOT be like me!

 

[Bob Rooks]

Accidents DO happen, and they happen to the best of them. Equipment wears out and breaks all the time. It's not a matter of IF, but WHEN. Keeping up on the check-list and maintenance items can put off the WHEN for quite awhile.
:thumbsup:

 

[RonMar]

ALL machines break... Poorly maintained ones break more frequently... Glad you were not hurt.

 

[EdisonCheug]

thanks for remingding..
we should take care of our machines more, otherwise, we could only regret when they break.

 

[succor]

Excellent post!!! Being on this forum a short while got me servicing my foton a little more often; including tightening bolts!

 

[Thomas]

Whew to close for comfort.
Mins. of checking tighten like putting money in the bank.

 

[GuglioLS]

How many times have I read in this forum to tighten all nuts and bolts once in a while. .......SNIP....SNIP

I should have LISTENED to the good advise here! Do NOT be like me!

TSMART don't feel bad, I had a similar situation....

After a big snow and plowing the driveway for the "final" time, the wind picked up and blew all night.

The next day I had to leave the house for a work related trip. Our daughter Katie, left just a few minutes before me. Well she didn't make it to the top of the driveway. Her AWD RAV4 was buried in a snow drift! So me dressed in business attire fired up the Jinma, then proceeded down the driveway to pull her out and re-plow for the umpteenth million time!

Along the way my steering wheel felt jerky. I looked down at the front wheels, the left front tire was wobbling in a bad way and I saw lug nuts FALLING OFF!

I stopped right there in the middle of the driveway, lowered the FEL bucket to lift the wheels off the ground. Then proceeded to walk to the shop to get the lug wrench.
Upon my return I attempted to tighten the nuts, not good, the lug threads were all chewed up. I did the best I could under the circumstances, but had to get my daughter out, clear the snow so that both of us could get going. I had a plane to catch!
I got her unstuck, plowed the snow drift, returned my poor baby to the barn and made a beeline to the airport.

Upon my return I assessed the damage

This is as tight as I could get them, none of the nuts were seated against the wheel:



Stud threads got pretty chewed up:



I will have to disassemble the front hub to drive the old studs out.
All the red stuff you see on the wheel is NOT locktite!



I think what happened is all that 4 wheeling, back and forth pushing mountains of snow under high loads loosened them up. Honest, I tightened them up real good with a big lug wrench Two years ago

As you put it - Moral of the Story Check your Lug Nuts OFTEN!
(And every other nut, bolt and screw you can get to.)

Simply checking the lug nuts (more often) would have prevented the following repair and everything else that went along with that.....

On my tractor it's not a simple matter of just hammering out the studs. The entire hub has to be completely disassembled :confused2:

OH NO - lots of gear oil "leaked" out all over the place




Oh man what a mess........
See that small pan :laughing: I should have used a kiddie pool instead. I guess I better call BP to clean up the mess.

After I cleaned up my "little" accident it was time to get back to work. This is a photo doc of what it takes to get the studs out.....




All that because I failed to check and tighten 6 lug nuts!

Larry

 

[RonMar]

I don't think the chinese hardware is as hard as it should be. Under most circumstancs it is OK, but for some of the higher stress applications like wheel studs, uder load it stretches a little which allows the threaded parts the opportunity to loosen further. On my backhoe, I have to tighten the 8 bolts that hold the hoe to the subframe regularly, and I believe this is the reason...