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First the transmission in the Taurus, now the rim in the Focus, all within a month. Harass us old guys as much as you want, the longer we are around, the longer we are around. By this I mean experience helps, at least a little bit. Although this is the type of experience I can do without.

Last night around 23:00 (11:00 pm to civilians) as we were driving home in SVT-WGN (Focus SVT Wagon), bang, and the car suddenly wanted to go north (on an eastbound highway.) Rule one, get the vehicle under control, then slow, then stop. Pulled over to the side of the road. On this highway the shoulders are non-existent. Four way flashers on, surveyed the damage in the dark. Lost the driver side rear wheel. Looks like at least a couple of wheel lugs were sheared off. While the right front tire photo doesn't show it clearly, it is definitely balder than the other side (I used power to help straighten out the Focus.)





Part of the irony was at the time my wife and I were discussing what happened in a fatal accident which happened just eight miles west of our incident. Four elderly people died in a roll-over accident. My hypothesis is the driver dropped a wheel off the pavement (remember, no shoulders), jerked the wheel to the left to get back on, swerved across the highway, rolled over and end upside down in a slough. So if elderly means experienced, why did it happen? In this case they were very recent immigrants.

So now we are without any wheels. Cheap means we still have not found a suitable transmission for the Taurus (okay cheap could also be a synonym for procrastination). Both vehicles, especially the SVT-WGN will be back. I just remembered another bit of irony. Most of the parts on the rear suspension for the wagon came from an SVT that had rolled. Maybe there was a stress fracture we missed.

Maybe after a few weeks of walking, I may be slightly less gravitationally challenged (fat chance says my wife as she reads over my shoulder. Whack to the back of my head, just for sharing her pun.)

that's a little scary. glad everyone was ok and you were able to steer it to safety

Over tightened them maybe ?

(09-13-2014, 07:35 AM)2000zx3sct Wrote: [ -> ]Over tightened them maybe ?

Every time we torque down the wheel nut we stretch the stud a bit ... there are only so many times you can use it before it needs replacing. That's why I cringe every time I see a mechanic just reef it down with the air gun ... anything over the rated torque and the service life of that stud is seriously shortened - and yes, at some point this could happen.

We change our own wheels twice a year (winter and summer on different rims). Yes, we use an air wrench but with torque limiting extension bars. With a torque wrench, we hand tighten the final stretch to 100 ft-lbs.

Some mitigating circumstances. First, as mentioned these brakes did come from a roll-over SVT. We do not have a magnaflux setup to check for stress cracks. Since the SVT-WGN needs other repairs and modifications, we will now probably replace all of the wheels studs as a precaution.

The second factor is this spring we have had an incredible amount of flooding on our highway. Our provincial government just built up grades with clay and gravel. Wash boarding occurs after every rain. Some of the potholes are large enough to swallow a Focus. An anal retentive perfectionist could be re-aligning his suspension every second week. I am more guilty of the opposite, procrastinating until it is too late.

On the positive side of the equation, even near midnight, was how many people stopped to ask if we needed help. We read stories from other places about people who just drive by; here, well over a half dozen anonymous Samaritans stopped to check.