The case of the missing lug nuts

chuckles · Sep 22, 2002

I was out tilling a field today with my L3710 and while turning noticed the right front wheel seemed to have "active camber control"! Stopped and discovered 4 (yes 4!) missing lug nuts, with the last two backed off about 30% of the way. The wheel was bent over about 20 degrees from normal, and the empty lugs were entirely clear of the wheel mounting holes! I lifted the front end with the FEL and tried to tighten the remaining nuts, but the wheel would not align over the studs with the missing nuts. Closer examination showed that the wheel was bent, with a couple cracks radiating inward from the holes where the remaining nuts were taking the strain. The studs that were lacking nuts were cleaned of most of their threads. Finally, I took off the nuts, spun the wheel 180 degrees, remounted, tightened the nuts with a socket wrench, and drove very slowly back to the barn (about 150 yards).

So, I bought the tractor used (311 hours) 60 days ago. I'm wondering if when they prepped it (and repaired a bracket in the vicinity of the right front wheel), if they forgot to torque the lug nuts upon replacement of the wheel. I'm surprised and embarassed that I didn't notice things were not right until this late date. Seems I'll need 4 lugs replaced, plus a new wheel. I'll contact the dealer tomorrow, we'll see how they react. I have a 30 day warranty, but I think they bear some responsibility (but could be convinced otherwise).

Any thoughts on whether this could have happened due to my use? I have been in the back forty being relatively aggressive making a road. About 24 hours since I took possession.

And what does a new front wheel for an L3710 (R4's) typically run? I figure the lug replacement is more labor than anything else.

Looking forward to folks comments!

chuckles · Sep 26, 2002

Here's an update,

The dealer didn't think the tire was off, and said if they did need to take it off for welding they'd have taken off the FEL frame also. My intuition is that there's a good chance he's right, so I bought 4 lugs studs and nuts, plus a new rim ($138).

Changed the lugs studs in the driveway, a piece of cake! The rim isn't that bad at all (it straightened out when I tightened up the lugs), but I'll have the tire changed over soon. The tractor works great now, and I'm happily off tilling the back field. All in all the potential disaster was a minor inconvenience, easily fixed.