What is the truth about "wheel separation"?

I can't say that I've ever had one myself after 20 plus years of driving. I have had a cap break loose, felt it, caught it before it flew off and got off the road quick enough to avert any incidents but never lost a wheel (knock on wood).

I take my pre-trip seriously and have been labeled accordingly for putting things out of service if I feel they are a problem.

Fortunately, with the company I'm with, they are great communicators, take good care of the equipment and are conscientious about safety concerns (and I didn't say that because they might be reading this stuff... they actually are one of the better companies I have ever worked with).

 

thanks, like i said, if you have had it or seen it is what i am seeking. so many reports have suggested it is much more than "reported". okay, now worries, then what is that number???

 

What is interesthing about the youtube video's is the fact that they were all cases off not wheels coming off the hub but the complete hub with wheels coming off,which mean they were bearings that broke which is much harder to detect as a driver

 

the feedback we have so far is both are difficult to detect. there are some warning signs and even technology that indicates a problem, but is not preventing a separation so still all are at some form of risk. will be interested to see some form of numbers from the poll. ie; if an average driver puts on 300,000 miles a year (not sure what the real number is) and then see if they lose one wheel a year, once every five years, more, that will start to identify what the real numbers are. as always, thanks for your input!

 

It's a mechanical device.

It's not if, just WHEN it will fail.

You can learn the signs and symptoms of those indicators and then change it before hand.

But you aren't going to stop it.

 

i see your point, and thank you for your input. you are absolutely correct too, about when not if, which was the point of this whole question was to determine what that point is. i remember watching star trek on one of the 4 tv channels we had as a kid when we adjusted the rabbit ears correctly and how cool their "communicators" were. we all carry communicators around today like no big deal, of course, i am sure only the government has them with fasers on them. i am confident this problem has already been solved too, it simply has not hit the market yet. if something were created to resolve this not so common issue, and it only saved one life, would it be worth it? i hope we can all agree it would, at least to the family of the person who is no longer here.

i found one area (a state sized area) that reported one death every year for 20 years. in addition there was quite a bit of property damage too. again, i am dumb as a fence post when it comes to technology, engineering, mechanics, etc. i took typing instead of auto or wood shop when i was in school. however, i have had what many consider serious success on providing solutions where every party involved benefit. symbiosis was always a fascination for me how two living entities shared something and both parties benefit equally. that is my end goal personally. guess i am one of those guys when you tell me i cannot do something, i will. thanks for continued inspiration.

 

My background is industrial management, mechanic and manufacturing engineering.

As "manufacturing" has progressed over the years, it's actually become it's own worst enemy. Management wants things done cheaper for for less cost.

Engineering obliges them by taking out material from the product reducing cost at the expense of service life. Not saying that things made 50 years ago were ALL better, but the things that mattered at times were.

Materials have been changed and removed from the product to the point where the service life of a component is KNOWN when it will fail. It's often NOT published much from manufacturers because they are telling you then when to expect to have to replace something. It would open up a legal nightmare for them as well at that point.

Example.

Turbo's have a service life of around 600,000 miles. They are often warrantied for 400-500K miles. Why? because they know when the service life will be up and someone will get rid of the main end item (the truck) before the components start to fail. Components being; starters, a/c compressors, air compressors, fuel pumps, injectors etc.

Tires, rims and suspension components are similar mechanical devices that will have known service lives as well.
They have fatigue cycles that are well documents and have specific test protocols to determine them.
http://standards.sae.org/j1095_200910/

And you wonder why things cost what they do.

Before that product even GOES to market, an engineer can tell you when to plan on replacing it. And you think they want the consumer to know that? Every competitor on the market will use that information against you to put you out of business.

 

great input! of course things were made much "better" or at least of much higher quality 50 years back. remember the movie mrs. robinson? 1967, get into plastics. that was the start of the change, or at least a change. our costs are still related to our monetary system though. when money is lent into place and controlled by a private foreign corporation (yes, many don't know the federal reserve is not federal and has no reserves-it is in the white pages in phone books and is our countries 4th private banking cartel in our history) if congress spent money into existence we would not have a fiat currency that inflates and deflates, but i digress. the more money is printed, the less it is all worth. simple, numbers never lie.

thanks so much for the SAE report! if i read it correctly it is up to the private corporate manufacturer to determine its own life span and thus safety records.

 

I've been a mechanic for 20 years and I have seen it more than a couple times. Not on trucks, but trailers. Both wheel separation from fastener failure and bearing failure. (losing one wheel,or the set from the axle) Fastener failure is much more common. And I'm sorry to say lack of proper maintanence is the most common issue. I am just learning of the importance of replacing old, rusty rims, and fasteners on a regular basis. Proper torque is vital to insure clamping of the rims to studs or hubs. Not only do those old rims look crappy they are dangerous to the safe operation of the vehicle. A good thorough pre-trip will help find issues before they become serious. Look for those rust trails from lugs and nuts and reach down and grab those lugs. You might be surprised what you find loose.