Almost a complete disaster

So did you call road service?

You know you can't move with that mess. I would have all the studs replaced on the axle, tell the guy he is paying for the downtime and charge him a nominal rate for sitting on the side of the road for hours.

 

Studs???

The hub is junk for sure. Steel or Aluminum doesn’t matter.

 

I carry a torque wrench in the truck. After tire changes I Re torque nuts after driving 2-3 hours.

 

Well, here’s 2 things I’ve seen over the years.

(1). Guy I know pulled in to my friend's shop with his flatbed and noticed a lug nut laying in the wheel on the rear axle of the trailer. 2 days earlier he (truck owner / driver) had installed new brake shoes on that axle.

I ask him his procedure for adjusting the brakes, and as it turns out, he had slid the drum on then adjusted the brakes “before” putting the wheels back on. He then pulled the knob in the dash setting the parking brakes on the trailer before installing the wheels. And what happened first time the brakes were released…? Yep, the lug nuts were loose because the drum had not been tightened against the hub with the lug nuts installed.

(2). I’ve seen guys put the lug nuts back on and hammer the daylights out of them with a 1” drive impact till it will tighten no more, then put a torque wrench on them and say they are torqued to specs…. No they aren’t, they’re actual over torqued and most likely stretched causing damage to the studs.


Glad he is offering to lick his calf over….

 

I want to be the 1st to say, good job, driver, you certainly dodged a bullet there. Generally, on a situation with loose or broken studs, it has to do with weight. 2 studs remaining with 80K would never have made it that far. Hauling max weight, we used to tighten the "wagon wheels" almost everyday. In your situation, however, with mobile homes, there's no weight to speak of, and this is clearly a previous shop issue. I never remember torque wrenches, just that mombo 1" drive impact, never had an issue. Good work, driver,