Wheel fell off
Took delivery of a 2009 Forest River Lexington on 29th March. Spent our first three nights as rookie motor homers at the club site at Longleat. Fantastic site and staff. Spotlessly clean and could not be faulted.
Heading north on the following Monday and a few miles on the M5 Motorway I noticed a slight vibration. Was travelling at 50mph with the cruise control engaged. Thought at first that it may have been a variation on the road surface. Said to my partner that I was going to pull over to check for a possible puncture. Signalled, slowed down and pulled onto the hard shoulder. Just as I was coming to a halt I looked in the rear view mirror and saw the rear NS wheel fall off. Luckily no one hurt. Called the RAC who turned up after about one hour. Patrol man realising that he could not handle this size of problem contacted his base to request a large recovery truck. Recovery truck eventually arrived and was much to small for the job. Eventually about 1930 hrs large low loader arrived with mechanic. He tried to jack up the motor home and it was then when the inner rear wheel fell off that I was able to see the remaining studs. It would seem that all the wheel nuts had unwound and were probably somewhere on the M5. RAC man recovered three. Two with clean threads and one with a broken stud in it. I can only assume that when the unit was given a PDI the wheel nuts were not properly tightened. The outer rear wheels are 16 inch 8 stud alloys. Does any member know of any company in the UK that can supply 8 stud 16 inch wheels, alloy or steel? Not impressed by the service from the RAC. Each call took between 10 and 15 minutes to answer and they did not keep in touch. Was stranded on the hard shoulder of a dangerous M5 for 6 hours.
Comments
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Odd that the motor caravan in question did not carry a jack of sufficent capacity to change a wheel should a puncture arise - or are spare wheels now abandoned in the interest of weight saving?
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Our new Hymer came with one of those pump gel things. Which would not have been much use in the above circumstances. It also came with a jack and spare. Although the spare and bracket were an optional extra. Not sure I would fancy changing a wheel on the motorway hard shoulder though, without a back marker.
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Awful thing to happen to you, on the plus side no one hurt, and hopefully not too much damage to your new MH. They are big by the look of things, so not surprised that RAC had trouble finding and getting an appropriate recovery vehicle to help, especially if it has a long overhang at the rear. It sounds as though you have twin wheels on at the back, and am guessing you lost the two wheels on the same side at the rear? There are a few horror stories about folks getting MHs and vans back from PDIs and Services with studs not fully tightened.
We have used both RAC and Green Flag in the past, on and off. Generally found them ok, sometimes a lengthy wait. We now get our recovery as part of our Bank deal, and on the two occasions we have used it, they have been superb. Rang us back, allowed us to decide what was best for us. This was with a solo vehicle, and latterly with our MH.
Can’t help on the wheel replacement, however, for what it’s worth, we have Jeep Wranglers, and get a lot of our requirements direct from US. All the taxes etc.... are generally sorted out for you, and we have found delivery quick and reliable.
Wishing you good luck and a quick return to touring.
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sorry to hear of youre problem .firstly why not go back to where you bought it ? read the riot act to them see if you get anywhere . secondly you will need correct studs for hub and nuts are different for steel or alloys . hope you get it sorted
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You will probably find a note somewhere which advised you to check the wheel bolts/nuts after approximately 50 miles of driving! so usually lack of attention by vehicle owner or attempted wheel theft!I assume that you purchased from a dealer.
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Sorry you have had the bad experience, but as said above there will be a disclaimer someware advising you to check the wheel nuts after a short drive.
Whenever i pick up my caravan from a service the engineer always torques up the wheel nuts in my presence, but i still check them when i get back to the storage site.
Hope you get the correct parts you need quickly and cheaply.
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Obviously the advice to re-check wheel not torque is sound. However how is this done on vehicle with a double wheel as opposed to a tandem axle? Is it something the owner can do?
David
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That is correct MM. Both wheels held in place with the visible wheel nuts.
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No luck with wheel replacement but I have been told that the existing alloy wheel is being refurbished. Hope to get the unit back towards the end of the month. Steep learning curve. Will now be purchasing a torque wrench.
Thank you for all your assistance.
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I am not sure about modern motor caravans but some commercial vehicles used to have left hand thread on the n/s.in an effort to stop them slackening in use.so double check.
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Why don't you look at fitting wheel nut movement indicators, as long as you don't have wheel trims fitted you will be able to see at a glance at any time if there has been any movement, indicated by the pointers going out of alignment.
All you need to do is find out what size socket fits your wheel nuts and look on the internet for the suitable size and type.
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