As soon as I saw this Dodge van down the street, I knew something was off. Why is that rear wheel sticking out like that? Did someone swap in a wider rear axle?
Walked over to the other side: Umm, no. Looks normal here.
Got down on my knees to check this out: Yikes! The axle shaft, brake drum and wheel are coming out! This is exactly what happened to our ’65 Dodge Coronet wagon on an elevated section of the NJ Turnpike as we were bypassing NYC on the way to Maine for vacation one summer.
But here’s the odd thing; I’m no expert on axles, but I was somehow under the impression that wasn’t likely to happen to full-floating rear axles, since the axle shaft does not carry any weight on it directly. But obviously that’s not the case here.
Definitely not common to see this on a full floating axle like this. There is a nut that retains the hub and adjusts the bearings.
The two common set ups are two nuts with a keyed fold over washer to hold everything in place or a nylock nut that is further secured by a small piece that fits in the keyway and is driven into the nylon. https://www.autozone.com/suspension-steering-tire-and-wheel/spindle-nut-retainer/dorman-spindle-nut-retainer-81036/644657_1117393_13423_4024
So if that fold over washer was folded one too many times it may have snapped and let the jam nut and then adjusting nut work their way free. With the nylock set up you can only remove and replace them so many times before that wears out and that little retainer isn’t always properly installed and sometimes damaged.
So the nut backing off is a good possibility. Complete wheel bearing failure will also cause the hub to detach from the axle. With the shoes and wheel well relatively free of gear oil I’d say the nut backing off is the more likely scenario.
Plus side all the parts are trapped in their somewhere and if it came off relatively quickly and didn’t bung up the threads too much it can probably be put back together enough to make it home.
Saw this happen on the roach coach ( uhh, called a “Food Truck” now) that frequented the company where I used to work.
Called the shipping guy to get the forklift to pick up the back end of the truck.
We pushed the axle back in and the guy drove it down the street to a repair shop!
The next day he was back and said it was less than $50 to fix it.
It happens to Spridgets all the time, weak axles and hard driving don’t mix.
It does make the brakes easier to inspect, however. Not that they will do much good with the axle in this position.
Hehe!
Why yes, it’s little known that there are inboard brakes, outboard brakes, and the rarely-used slightly-inboard brakes.
Unlikely, but possible- The rear hub has a pair of bearings that ride on the outside of the axle, which are held on by a lock nut (see image)
The lock nut is installed under the axle shaft outer flange is installed. If the lock nut backs off, the hub and axle can walk out.
Those are for a Dana Front axle, or GM axle that uses the Dana 44 knuckles.
Personally I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more frequently. They all have a special socket of course, but I’ve ran across way too many that had been removed and installed with a hammer and chisel or screw driver. Whether it is the ones you pictured, the hex nuts with fold over washer or even the “Dana rounded hex” nylock nut that uses the retainer wedge.
I may or may not be guilty of doing it that way once or twice in the past.
Same setup on my Dana 28 front axle in my Ranger.
Too many times to count I have seen guys not getting the locking pin into one of the holes in these locking rings. I have also seen the nut with the pin put on as the lock nut on the outside of the ring. A small detail but disastrous results can be the outcome.
Yeah I’ve seen a few where the little pin was sheared off by someone using the inner nut as the outer nut, or crushed by not lining it up with a hole in the washer.
Hope the owner sees the issue before they drive off.
Unless this has a limited slip differential, it isn’t going anywhere under its own power.
I own the correct socket for the front hubs on my ’83 Ranger 4×4. And the outer lock nut is torqued to 150 Ft lbs. On a side note, my best friend had a axle come out of his ’79 Chevy LUV and pass him on the way up to Mt. Hood. And if you do use a hammer and chisel on those nuts, you are way in over your head and not qualified to do the repair.
Back when the hex nuts with the fold over washers were the norm the hammer and chisel method was generally accepted. It was rare to see a truck that was more than 5-6 years old w/o signs of that method being used in the past. Back then the proper sockets were relatively expensive.
Happened to a friend at work one morning. Rear wheel and axle came off her Skoda 110 (rear engine) and passed her on the freeway. Yeah, she was late coming in to work that day and in a fine state of nerves!
Respectfully, Fr, this is clearly a fabrication. Or, at minimum, this was not a friend
It is well-known that no-one would ever let a friend buy a Skoda of that era, and even if they did, would never allow them to drive it.
I must also observe that driving a Skoda 110 and being passed by a detached tyre and axle – or, indeed, one of the more energetic octogenarians using walkers in this country – is hardly a thing of such exceptionality as to prove your case.
“And if you do use a hammer and chisel on those nuts, you are way in over your head and not qualified to do the repair.”
I made a socket to fit these collars, with spare chrome (18mm?) socket and 15 minutes with a bench grinder. Grind the business end and leave 4 fat prongs to fit the 4 recesses in the collar. Worked great. Still have the socket 20 years later.
♫ ♪ You picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel…♩ ♪ ♬
That is so bad, it’s good
God rest her soul (she’s been gone since 2015) but that was my Grandmother’s favorite way to sing that song. When I was a kid she’d sing that and our German Shepherd would hooooowwwwwllllllll.
Okay, Shepherds are smart, but was it really objecting to the wordplay?
I remember pulling into work on Christmas Eve 1971, and seeing this happen to a coworker’s new ’72 Vega GT. When I showed him the passenger side rear wheel sticking out from his car, he said “They were supposed to have fixed that yesterday!”
Many years ago someone told me the axle shaft completely separated from his Vega as he was driving down the MacArthur freeway. That must have been a thrilling ride. I guess this was another of the many weak points of the hapless, but attractive little Vega.
This isn’t exactly the same as what was shown here, but it reminded me of a car I saw last week, driving slowly, in the right lane, with it’s hazard lights flashing. As I passed it, I could tell that the rear wheel was not pointed forward, but was severely toed out. As a result, the car was sort of “crabbing” down the street at a funny angle rather than pointing forward. I have no idea what would cause it to be so severely out of alignment (but I bet some of you have ideas). There’s were no signs of it having been in an accident or anything.
The guy I saw today wasn’t so lucky!
On the interstate I was alerted by the smell of some grey, non-fire smoke. Came across a white Dodge pickup maybe 15 years old, pulled safely a fair bit off the road, and some part between the left front tire and the frame failed.
The whole corner of the truck looked like it was in a huge pothole, and the smoke was almost everywhere.
Fortunately the driver was solo, standing outside, no cuts or blood, and on his phone for a flatbed I’m sure. He was likely going 60-70 at the time–could have been worse.
the Dana 60 rear in my old F-250 had the nylock nut + retaining wedge. oddly enough, the left rear wheel had left-hand-thread lug nuts.
Only the left rear wheel, that is.
I just helped replace an entire diff in a mid 70’s 1 ton chev because of that very failure. The axle came out pretty far and ovaled the end of the axle tube.This one was a GM corporate unit and was replaced with a few year later diff that had square slots cut out of the inner diameter of the single axle nut that you lined one up with the keyway on the axle and put a tiny square key in to prevent it from backing off. A bitty little spring clip holds the key in place. A thorough replacement of all of the brake parts and a new pinion seal along with new u bolts finished the job nicely. I’m used to working on school buses that have axle nuts in the 31/2 to 41/2 inch range so the 1 ton stuff looks a bit small.
This brings back memories of riding in a taxi on a Taipei freeway, when we encountered an axle shaft and wheel cartwheeling along. Not sure if it was our driver’s skill or the totally random nature of the axle and wheel’s path, but we managed to avoid it. I never saw the truck that lost it.
I’ve seen a few Volares/Aspens with a rear wheel three feet out from the side of the car, but never a Dodge van.