Make sure those wheel nuts are tight!

At this time of the year it's not only the wheel nuts you have to worry about.
The nuts behind the wheel are also of great concern, especially if they have been well lubricated before they screw up on the roads out there.

Cheers to all

Disco.

A timely reminder to check all wheel nuts before you leave on your trip.

Its made me make a note and if it stops raining, will do it tomorrow when the festivities are over.

bill

Merry Christmas all,

It's a common occurrence unfortunately. When wheels are removed the contact surfaces need to be wire brushed also. They must be checked regularly, even more so for the first couple of hundred klm's as it takes a while to bed in.

Once tightened I place an arrow facing towards the centre of the wheel on each nut with a black indelible marker. This makes it a lot easier to jump out and see any movement.

Cheers,
PeteS

Mate that's not good..I was in a vehicle with a mate towing a 6x4 or maybe the next size up with a reasonable amount of gear in it,traveling on the Westgate freeway in the fast lane about 300 metres before the bridge..We heard a bang (and he said someones hit us)..Looks behind no-one in the near vicinity..He had forgotten the put the pin in the Hitch..Luckily he didn't slam on the brakes either,trucks in every other lane etc..Anyway someone was looking out for us,Just up further they had coned the lane to get into the lane..So we could stop there for a minute and access how to get out of this..With him not thinking straight and expletives left right and centre lol (i was still thinking straight)..What are we going to do he said,A new Subaru with no tools in it etc etc..Anyway i saw he had an Oka Strap with the hardened end on it,so i as able to put that in the hole and it did the job till we could get to a hardware Store..

So yeah check and recheck before towing etc etc...

Gday,
The Mrs went in to Geraldton yesterday and come across a 5th wheeler without its tow vehicle in the bush.........sounds like it come off and dug into the road and skidded to a stop in the bush.
Not a good start to the holidays hey?

A couple of years ago my old man while driving his truck was following a caravan.
All of a sudden the spare wheel on the back of the caravan was bouncing towrds him. Bracket and all.
He was able to avoid it and pulled over. He picked it up hoping to find them further up the road and return it.
He never saw them again.
On the other hand, I got a brand new wheel and tyre as it did not fit anything he had.

It's not only the running wheels you need to keep an eye on. It's anything that is attached to the trailer, OR, the towing vehicle that needs to be secured properly.

It is also about tying down loads.

Mate of mine was driving between Denmark and Mount Barker (WA) a few years ago. Flat bed truck coming the other way with loose spare tyre on the tray.

Spare tyre bounced off, across the road and landed flush on the windscreen. The tyre was a large truck tyre and caved in the bonnet and leading edge of the roof smashing the windscreen in too. Fortunately mate escaped harm but the car almost written off.

Hope this is not too off topic, but does anyone know where to get the wheel nut indicators that you often see on truck in sizes for trailers?

Wheel nut indicators

Similar to above but in low quantities, in Australian and 19 - 22mm

Christmas Day about 3 years ago in Perth a wheel came off a boat trailer on the Kwinana Freeway near Mt Henry Bridge. The wheel hit the concrete 'New York Barrier' which separates the Freeway from the train line and went up in the air and came down on the opposite side of the Freeway going through the windscreen of a car travelling in the opposite direction to the boat trailer. The car then hit a tree and the lady driver sadlly died in hospital the next day. Trailer maintenance checks are an easy task for anyone including those with minimal technical knowledge and it is good to see others sharing such information here which may prevent the unecessary loss of another innocent life.

G’day everyone

As it is very important to have those wheel nuts tight enough, it is no good to have them tightened by gun so much, you have no chance to change a tyres when you have flat. That happened to us when we needed to buy two new tyres in Perth from Bob Jane T-Mart.
Luckily we didn’t have flat for all 17,600km driven on and off road.
When we come to Sydney, we just couldn’t take wheels off 4WD, so went to Bob Jane T-Mart in Sydney. It took to two fitters about 3/4hour, lots of swearing and two stuffed sockets before they took wheels off.

Well, when it comes to lost wheels, I met once one from truck rolling down Victoria Rd. in Sydney in morning peak traffic.
But I have met also other bigger things on roads. On same Victoria Rd. some cleaver truckie lost front of me big industrial lathe.
I also met …once on Ipswich Rd. at Wacol (QLD) ½ a house…some crafty truckie didn’t fit on intersection and downloaded it.
Cheers Dana

Boobook, Redcat Industries (online) can supply wheel nut indicators but most safety shops, in Qld at least should be able to as we'll. they are mandatory on many mine sites.