07 08 F350 wheels loosening

[mbrule]

Last night I was "shooting the breeze" with my Uncle who works for a local highway dept. They have 2 F350 dumps an '07 and an '08. A vibration was noticed in one of them, the cause was found to be the front lug nuts loose!!!! On one side 2 broken studs and all nuts only finger tight!

The other side and the other truck checked and all found to be loose and having chucked enough to require new studs!!!

The '07 had had some recent work at the dealer, but the '08 has never had the tires off since new!

He said the wheels center on the hub, the studs are 1/2 inch and the holes in the wheel larger. It looks like the wheels managed to chuck against the lugs and loosen up! I know older 1 tons centered on the hub and had alignment pins to prevent this.

Anybody else had trouble like this????

 

[Diamondpilot]

Do they have the factory wheels on them? My neighbors nephew had a 99 F-350 that lost a front wheel due to aftermarket wheels. It broke all the studs because they were not long enough to properly secure the wheels.

Make sure you torque the wheels to spec with a torque wrench. Very important with any wheel, especially aluminum.

Chris

 

[mbrule]

Factory wheels.

Not sure, but likely steel as they are municipal vehicles, so probably "strippers".

The '08 was as received new, and the front tires on the 07 were last r and r'd by the dealer.

The trucks are used to plow snow if that matters.

 

[slowzuki]

Obviously not doing their inspections. All the commercial vehicles here have the little plastic pointers so you don't have to torque your lug nuts all the time.

 

[mbrule]

Not sure what you mean by the little plastic pointers. And yes, it appears that inspections must be lax!!!

But, what I am wondering is, is this common for lug nuts to loosen on these trucks? (assuming that is what happened of course)

 

[wvpolekat]

Plastic Pointers:
Wheel Check | Loose Wheel Nut Indicator, Wheel Safety Indicators

Gives you a visual way to see if they are loose.

My guess would be they were not torqued properly.

 

[Toddao]

"strippers"? As in they take dollar bills?

 

[mbrule]

"strippers"? As in they take dollar bills?

LOL....

No, I meant not heavily optioned. Steel wheels, vinyl seat, no power windows, etc.

 

[mbrule]

Plastic Pointers:
Wheel Check | Loose Wheel Nut Indicator, Wheel Safety Indicators

Gives you a visual way to see if they are loose.

My guess would be they were not torqued properly.

Those are pretty cool, and would certainly prevent the problem.... IF they were looked at regularly.

I think you are probably right about the torquing, strange thing is one was serviced by the dealer and one is as delivered, presumably as built....

Course they came from the same dealer so may there is a "limp wristed" mechanic there that doesn't have a torque wrench!

 

[Robert_in_NY]

When I went to remove the wheels on my 06 F-250 the first time they were very tight still and since I was on the side of a road I only had the tools provided and had to use my entire body just to pop them loose. This was last summer.