Wheel came off while driving! Not good!

krash kendall · Dec 28, 2006

I heard a small "POP!" followed by metal on metal. I was able to crawl on the shoulder the half a block to the gas station so I could get off the highway.

View attachment 414380

Although I knew it was the wheel bearing, I was shocked to see the extent of the damage when I got home and the fact that with the single bowl master cylinder I completely lost my brakes when the drum pulled off while the car was moving.

I lifted the car on the jack and without removing the lug nuts pulled the wheel off drum and all. The wheel was just hanging on there and if I hadn't got to the side of the road as quick as I did, the day could have been much worse for my son and I.

The nut, cage nut, and cotter pin are still on the spindle (superheated of course), but the outer bearing and fender washer have now been transported to another piece of spacetime. I am suspicious if the washer was even there to begin with.

Funny thing is, only two days prior to this I had jacked the car up and checked all four wheels for bearing play and ease of rotation and there was no indication that there was any problem with this one.

Fortunately I was able to get another V8 spindle and drum assembly before I even got the car home.

65stanger · Dec 28, 2006

YIKES!
Glad to hear you didn't live up to your screen name!

BTW, while you are repairing your wheel assy, replace that fruit jar with a dual chamber MC ('67 is a direct bolt in!)!!!

2nd Mustang · Dec 28, 2006

Thank goodness no one was hurt!

I had a similar event last month, but on my boat trailer. The inside bearing literally was destroyed and ate the spindle on the axle. I was able to nurse it home on side streets due to the fact it's only a 14 foot boat but had to replace the whole axle. Good luck with your repairs.

69 Rustang · Dec 28, 2006

Happened to me once on a nice -30degrees below zero Nebraska day back in the early 90's. I was on the freeway doing about 80 and felt a small tug to the right on the steering, then a few seconds later another small tug--I slowed down very quickly and got off the road. When I pulled the hubcap I knew right away that I had fried a wheel bearing. Surprisingly it was a roadside repair as I hitched a ride, called the roadside assistance (AKA "Dad") and he bought a bearings and tools out to the car and we fixed it and drove home. The spindle on mine was not damaged--guess I caught it early enough. The worst part was I broke the watch my girlfriend had just given me for Christmas while fixing the car in the cold--I still have the car at least.

Krash--glad you were OK--a close call!!!

1320stang · Dec 29, 2006

Man, I'm just glad you and your son are okay and didn't go thru what my son and I did on the 5th. But I'll bet when it first happened, you looked over at him and he was looking at you and you felt the same way I did before we crashed, sorta helpless.

Weird thing is, since that happened, my son has been pretty careful, he also commentates on my and my wife's driving a lot. Not that we drive bad or over the speed limit a lot, we can be driving at or under the speed limit and if he thinks it's too fast he'll tell us to slow down. He also been more careful at home. On one hand, I'm sorta glad because he was sorta fearless, but I'm hoping it doesn't make him too cautious.

chepsk8 · Dec 29, 2006

No Armco nearby? No walls or run-off areas?

In all seriousness, glad you caught it early, and kept damage to a minimum, and all occupants safe.

Snow tires up front?

69 Rustang · Dec 29, 2006

chepsk8 said:
Snow tires up front?

Where else would you put them???

65stanger · Dec 30, 2006

chepsk8 said:
No Armco nearby? No walls or run-off areas?

In all seriousness, glad you caught it early, and kept damage to a minimum, and all occupants safe.

Snow tires up front?

Ya, he left the guardrail for you!

krash kendall · Dec 30, 2006

chepsk8 said:
Snow tires up front?

Riken "Classic" radials. They are your basic all season radial.

I was able to installl the new spindle and drum yesterday without much trouble. My son actually helped for real this time! I put him on the floor of the driver's side so he could reach the pedals and had him pump so I could bleed the brakes. He also jacked the the lower control arm to load the ball joints so they wouldn't spin while I tightened them. I'm very proud of him to say the least!

StangDreamin' · Dec 30, 2006

Glad you guys made it safely, krash. After past automotive mishaps; I figured that any accident that leaves the bodies (both car and occupants) intact is just an illustration of God's capacity to overcome man's capacity to destroy himself; so I hadn't posted before. But a comment Dan made has caused me to comment:

chepsk8 said:
Snow tires up front?

Those are "snow tires"? I always thought snow tires were lug-treaded "pizza cutters"; with or without studs
I had a slightly more agressive tread than in that picture on some Remington "all-weather" tires that I had on my Gran Torino while living in Tucson back in the day.
Of course, Jeff Foxworthy (in one of his "You might be a Redneck..." routines) stole the second line from directions to the house where we were living when Cowgirl Tink was first born: "Turn off the paved road..."
He left out the part about turning to the right after pulling up out of the sandy wash (as well as the part about staying out of the wash when it was raining).

bnickel · Dec 30, 2006

ye p, been there done that with my old 70 cougar fortunately it had disc brakes so it didn't seperate from the car completely, however the outer bearing's inner race welded itself to the spindle and we had to get an air chisel to get it off. fortunatley for me at the time, since i was completely broke, before the bearing race wellded itself to the spindle it had slipped outward far enough that it wasn't where the bearing would normally ride when it did finally weld itself together and i was able to reuse the spindle against the better judgement of the mechanic that air chiseled the race off the spindle and mine as well but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. i drove the car another 5 years 40,000 miles after that with no other problems. i have to say i'm now a big believer in the 70 later spindles wholeheartedly.

Krash, although it's unlikely to ever happen again in your lifetime now you might consider also upgrading to front disc brakes as well as the dual chamber MC to keep from having to repeat this incident at some point in the future.

one of the kits fomr Degins would be a good low cost way to upgrade both at the same time. about 500 bucks for you and your family's safety is money well spent.

krash kendall · Dec 30, 2006

bnickel said:
Krash, although it's unlikely to ever happen again in your lifetime now you might consider also upgrading to front disc brakes as well as the dual chamber MC to keep from having to repeat this incident at some point in the future.

one of the kits from Degins would be a good low cost way to upgrade both at the same time. about 500 bucks for you and your family's safety is money well spent.

That is the plan now that he has the older geometry set-up. The idea of having the caliper as a back-up to hold everything on is really appealing. Also, everything in one box without hunting around crossreferencing part numbers can't be beat.

bnickel · Dec 30, 2006

krash kendall said:
That is the plan now that he has the older geometry set-up. The idea of having the caliper as a back-up to hold everything on is really appealing. Also, everything in one box without hunting around crossreferencing part numbers can't be beat.

i'll be ordering one of his drop spindle kits, once he has them ready, for my next project car.

krash kendall · Dec 31, 2006

1320stang said:
Man, I'm just glad you and your son are okay and didn't go thru what my son and I did on the 5th. But I'll bet when it first happened, you looked over at him and he was looking at you and you felt the same way I did before we crashed, sorta helpless.

I had read your thread when it was fist posted and was sincerely happy to hear of the outcome. That looked like a tough little truck!

As far as the feeling I had, it was kind of "Well son, you are about to go through your first 'car broke down, hike home to regroup, then rescue aforementioned car' scenario that I went through with my dad when I was your age. It wasn't untill we got it home and I realized the wheel was no longer attatched to the car what-so-ever that I got the shakes thinking about what would have happened if I hadn't immediately pulled to the side of the highway and stopped when I heard the new noise, rather than continue the half block to the gas station.

3-0-II · Dec 31, 2006

Holy cow!!!!

Glad you and your son are safe, that is absolutely insane

jikelly · Jan 12, 2007

Glad you guys were ok, and the damage wasn't too bad. Scary stuff.

mustangdave · Jan 12, 2007

Glad everyone who had this happen is safe but, O.M.G.!!!!, how long do you people wait to change bearings!!??!!??!! I change mine anytime I replace pads just beacuse it is so cheap.

BDT 1967 · Jan 12, 2007

I have first hand seen what can happen in the not so lucky scenario, Going out to the dump, with 2 trailers, i was driving a 1 truck pulling a trailer, and my friend was pulling the other with another work truck, ( 97 F150 ) We were pulling at about 50 when the wheel came off his trailer, rolled the truck and the trailer, they settled in the ditch, truck on its side. Thank god he was ok. But it could have been bad. Nothing scarer than watching that unfold in front of your eyes. Makes me shake just thinking about it.

Wheel came off while driving! Not good!

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