aogrady
Well-known member
Hi!
First trip out after having extensive paint etc on the rear of the bus - and then this happens, 20 miles into a 230 mile trip........ :evil: (Well 2nd trip if you included nipping to the shop, but thats only 3-4 miles!)
I suddenly noticed a noise from my front wheel, stopped on the edge of the road, yanked on the wheel, nothing untoward that i could feel, aside from the brake drum running hot (more on this l8r) carried on slowly, no more than 15-20mph, as a knew a layby was only maybe 200-300yds away, but probably after half way to this, bang, the van lurched to one side, and came to a sliding halt - with the wheel coming off and resting a few yards ahead of the van, it seemed like it was sliding for ages, but wasn't, the girlfriend was screaming, the baby was screaming, i was fffing and geoffing pulling at the steering.......luckilly no one was hurt, just shaken up.
There was very little warning, and if i hadn't had slowed down, and just carried on at 50mph it could have ended very differently, especially if it was on the M5 which is where we were heading........
:msn4: Quite like the lowerzzz :msn4: The gouge in the tarmac starts about at the rear of the police car.
Unfortunaly the van took a bit of a beating when the wheel came off, as you can see, it has pushed up the wheel arch, pulled it out and folded it back and ripped it away from the spot welds on the post, taking the paint around the lower sill area. It has also pushed up the double skin in the edge of the seat tub area, near where the door closes, but you can't see this unless you look underneath, the door gap has closed up at the bottom a little too
I haven't looked to see if anymore damage has been done to the beam or drum backing plate since we got it back home, i really am not happy and can't even be bothered to look at the crappy thing :evil: Though i need to get it sorted, we are supposed to go away to Dubs at the Castle in a few weeks.
:roll:
I rang Carl @ Beetlebank, as he had done the paintwork etc the week before, he kindly came out with some new bolts, and jacked it up and swapped the wheels over. You can see where the wheel has damage the bolts, and the area where the bolts go, you can also see the gouges on the inner wheel where the drum rubbed, prior to wheel bye bye
I have yet to speak to him properly about all of this, as we have just come back from our trip. We didn't want to risk driving the bus any distance, and to be honest really didn't want to, so we hired a car for a few days, £105 - safe in the knowledge that the wheels are more than likely gonna stay on this one! :lol: Bummer, as just treated the bus to £50 of fuel.
I have a idea that i think i know what caused this to happen, fresh powder coated wheels, with paint around the bolt holes, even where tightened, perhaps if the paint cracks when tightened may work loose - especially if compounded by the heat from the brake drum???
I vaguely remember a thread about this, perhaps on the SSVC, with hindsight, if i knew the blasted wheel was about to drop off i may have checked all this :?: And if it wasn't wide 5 and had a center boss on the wheel like a normal car, change are it wouldn't have happened so suddenly, there is nothing to support to center of the wide 5 wheel, so if it comes loose, it will likely undo the bolts very quickly?
All in all a very bad weekend i dont want to repeat in a hurry, coupled by a poorly baby who started teething Sat night whilst we were away - oh happy days!!
Cheers!
Alistair
First trip out after having extensive paint etc on the rear of the bus - and then this happens, 20 miles into a 230 mile trip........ :evil: (Well 2nd trip if you included nipping to the shop, but thats only 3-4 miles!)
I suddenly noticed a noise from my front wheel, stopped on the edge of the road, yanked on the wheel, nothing untoward that i could feel, aside from the brake drum running hot (more on this l8r) carried on slowly, no more than 15-20mph, as a knew a layby was only maybe 200-300yds away, but probably after half way to this, bang, the van lurched to one side, and came to a sliding halt - with the wheel coming off and resting a few yards ahead of the van, it seemed like it was sliding for ages, but wasn't, the girlfriend was screaming, the baby was screaming, i was fffing and geoffing pulling at the steering.......luckilly no one was hurt, just shaken up.
There was very little warning, and if i hadn't had slowed down, and just carried on at 50mph it could have ended very differently, especially if it was on the M5 which is where we were heading........
:msn4: Quite like the lowerzzz :msn4: The gouge in the tarmac starts about at the rear of the police car.
Unfortunaly the van took a bit of a beating when the wheel came off, as you can see, it has pushed up the wheel arch, pulled it out and folded it back and ripped it away from the spot welds on the post, taking the paint around the lower sill area. It has also pushed up the double skin in the edge of the seat tub area, near where the door closes, but you can't see this unless you look underneath, the door gap has closed up at the bottom a little too
I haven't looked to see if anymore damage has been done to the beam or drum backing plate since we got it back home, i really am not happy and can't even be bothered to look at the crappy thing :evil: Though i need to get it sorted, we are supposed to go away to Dubs at the Castle in a few weeks.
:roll: I rang Carl @ Beetlebank, as he had done the paintwork etc the week before, he kindly came out with some new bolts, and jacked it up and swapped the wheels over. You can see where the wheel has damage the bolts, and the area where the bolts go, you can also see the gouges on the inner wheel where the drum rubbed, prior to wheel bye bye
I have yet to speak to him properly about all of this, as we have just come back from our trip. We didn't want to risk driving the bus any distance, and to be honest really didn't want to, so we hired a car for a few days, £105 - safe in the knowledge that the wheels are more than likely gonna stay on this one! :lol: Bummer, as just treated the bus to £50 of fuel.
I have a idea that i think i know what caused this to happen, fresh powder coated wheels, with paint around the bolt holes, even where tightened, perhaps if the paint cracks when tightened may work loose - especially if compounded by the heat from the brake drum???
I vaguely remember a thread about this, perhaps on the SSVC, with hindsight, if i knew the blasted wheel was about to drop off i may have checked all this :?: And if it wasn't wide 5 and had a center boss on the wheel like a normal car, change are it wouldn't have happened so suddenly, there is nothing to support to center of the wide 5 wheel, so if it comes loose, it will likely undo the bolts very quickly?
All in all a very bad weekend i dont want to repeat in a hurry, coupled by a poorly baby who started teething Sat night whilst we were away - oh happy days!!
Cheers!
Alistair
