yeah this week has been pretty lousy. it started off with the baja hurricane. i lost three close friends, and many other friends had there homes slammed into the beach or sunk. At last count nearly 30 vessels were lost in the bay and another 20 or so on land when they were toppled by the high wind. I was fortunate and just rec'd word today that my boat, Natasha, came thru with no damage. Survivors guilt is a real thing. There is another hurricane lined up and following the same track.

Today the d/s wheel decided it wanted to go it's own way. I was driving down an access road headed to the hwy when suddenly I felt a strong vibration and saw what i thought was a chunk of rubber fly across the road. Blowout? i thought but no pulling. At the stop sign i jumped out and the tire was fine but i noticed all but one lug was gone. there were several cars behind so i rolled the dice, kept the wheels straight and headed across the intersection to the racetrack driveway apron. 20 ft from sacred ground the wheel jumped off, the truck collapsed hitting the ground - hard. The tire didnt move away fast enough and crushed the fender when the rig went down. Not all bad - I get to visit the Montero ranch for some gried therapy retail shopping.

Of course this had to happen the one freakin day i took the high lift out of the rig because i was moving a bunch of stuff between workboats. After and hour of blocking traffic and people stopping to see if I was ok (noone could help since they were all driving priusus, minis, and smartcars - ie nothing that couldn't be lifted by hand or needs a real jack) a friend showed up with my highlift and 10 minutes later the spare was on and i was on my way. The escaped wheel has its lug holes ovaled out and there was lots of aluminum shavings in the steel lug threads. The lugs look ok, but i'm planning to swap them out since my wife likes to drive this rig too. Given my luck lately i was right to name the truck "The Dude" because it sure Abides.

Natasha and the Dude

Alright so on to what I "think" caused it. There are a few things to consider.
1. I swapped tie rods, pittman arm and idler arm this past weekend. I remember tightening everything in the correct order and then cranking a little more when the tire touched the ground. They were beyond snug but not my normal mongo tight since i didnt want to harsh the mellow of the tiny techs at the alignment shop.

2. I just had it aligned - by the tiny techs. My first thought was that the shop was at fault. I very calmly call them to ask if they had swapped the tires side to side becuase it was handling very well (didnt want to put them on the defensive). They said no and that it was the result of their level of care for my rig. yeah yeah - ok.... not their fault - and i'm happy about that.

3. Prius guy. Now at first I wanted to lay the complete blame on him. and I still think the little f^&kstick had something to do with this; but to be honest he's not exactly a big guy. Avg to smaller might be more approriate. i mena honestly the prius looks a bit big on him. Why does his size matter? Because I dont think he could've broken my lugnuts free, at least not without help. I'd be impressed if he could identify a lug wrench and know how to use it.

And i'd like to believe that since i only removed his valves and there was no real harm done that trying to kill me would be an irrational escalation. Then again there are more than a few nuts out here.
So how'd it happen? who knows? I purposely didnt do my typical mongo tight job, but they were beyond snug - I used both hands and even leaned a little. I'm not sure what to think other than maybe when i tightened them down the wheel was at a slight angle and never seated fully. I woudve expected them to catch this at the alignment shop. I'll be taking it in tomorrow to have it checked out again.

In the end I've actually been rather fortunate this week.
I wasnt crushed when the rig fell.
The wheel came off before i got on the hwy, not to mention i was crawling along so i only skidded a foot or two at most.
My boat/home/"mistress" is safe for the moment, and of all the friends I have down south whose boats sunk or were beached, only 3 are gone and the rest survived. Given the intensity of the storm thost are good numbers. You're probably seeing Cabo on the news. La Paz was hit just as hard if not worse and has 6x as many people just no toursim which is why we anchor there.

I suppose I can be angry and point unsure fingers or just be happy that all my fingers and toes and those of loved ones are too.

Yeah, maybe i'm getting sappy in my old age, but today i got a video of my little girl that reminded me i have bigger fish to fry. My kid stood up on her own for the first time and started to walk. Would've been great to see it in person, but sh!t happens. I cant waste any time on the negative and need to focus on finishing our temporary dwelling so the wife and kid can come home and have a place to live. - at least until I can bring Natasha north next year. And i can move out of my shop.

But just to be safe, I'll have a chat with electric car boy tomorrow. Should be fun since I just picked up keys for a 10 ton forklift. I love putting the FUN in dysFUNctional. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/evil.gif" alt="" />

...and yeah, the Montero Ranch will have another visitor... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

UPDATE: Prius guy visited me today. Word got out and he ook the initiative to come see me. He apologized for knocking over the rig and offered to pay for any damage. He didn't realize what had happened - thought he had just hit the bumper and didnt think anything else of it. Never occurred to him that it might have fallen. jack <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/butwiggle.gif" alt="" />. He saw the fender damage and thought it was his fault. When I told him about the wheel coming off he was downright speechless. After his visit, a couple of his friends here stopped over to make sure everything was cool. They say he was really concerned that I was going to raise the bar and retaliate with lawyers or more hijinks beyond his tires.

He's bringing a case of my favorite beer as a peace offering and not going to park anywhere near my shop if he sees my truck in front of my shop.

Gotta give the little guy credit, he stepped up. Fair enough. All's well that ends well.

Dang son!!!

Well I'm glad he took the initiative at least. Dan did you ever determine what caused the wheel to come off? It sounds like the alignment shop didn't rotate tires. Do you think it really was a matter of not torquing down those lugs "Mongo tight" after all?

Judy says good luck with your fender replacement. She also told me to tell you to knock it off with all the bad luck lately. It kind of made laugh when she said that, as if you have any control over that kind of stuff.

I would definitely say that is some bad luck. But like you said, all's well that ends well. I'm glad things worked out for you.

Jay, even though Mongo's got no control over things like luck, I would have to agree with Judy.

The Montero Ranch had a scheduled visit from Dan today, note Seaweed in the left of frame:




My wife, Melinda, came out to see who was visiting. Dan offered her a ride in his cool Montero, and she's now ready to spend $$ to fix her 4-door up. After they returned, Dan evaluated Seaweed for parts he needed:



When it was time for leaving, I shot a photo to show what Mongo-i-zation can do to a Montero:




We had a great afternoon, relayed stories of Dan's trip to Baja and then visiting with the AZ Crew. Already known for their heartiness and diehard-Montero skills, Dan said they were good guys, too.

Thanks, Russell! It was good to see you and the family again. Let me know when that rabbit hits 70#s!

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Interesting story of your experiences.

I would like to add that I'm glad you are ok.

Now, WRT to the wheel, as I understand, you have aluminum rims. I have found that once removed, they do need to be re-torqued after a short drive. I have had the lug nuts come loose on my jeep enough time that I do a frequent re-torque. Don't seem to note as big a problem with steel rims; only the alloy rims.

Back in action, good to see.