Almost killed today! Drivers side Rim flew off leaving tire in wheel well!
Legend
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 8,663
Likes: 8
From: Central Oklahoma
Got my truck running really good after the plenum gasket change & tune up and used it to go to haul my Guitar amp Half stack & PA to band practice today and couldn't have been happier with my new 97 Ram until after practice I was heading down the Highway at 65 mph in the passing lane and it felt like my front left tire had gone flat and so I merged over 3 lanes to the side of the road to attempt to get out of the way of the 3 semi trucks behind me and as I got into the right lane my trucks front left side slammed to the ground at around 58mph and I knew I was in the $hit then! I grabbed the wheel hard & kept it straight and then drove it 3/4 of a mile on the highway at 35mph and another half mile off the off ramp and to the next parking lot I could find which happened to be the DMV.
As I got off the Off Ramp I noticed my front left wheel well was full of flames and I floored it to the next parking lot leaving quite the set of posi marks in the intersection. As I got into the DMV parking lot I got out and threw my cup of water from Mc Donalds on the flames but the result of that was equal to a band-aide on a gunshot wound....luckily at the time I realized I might lose my whole truck to a fire a guy slammed down a CASE of Bottled water and we put it out! My mom ended up finding the rim 20 feet inside the median on the highway. I heard a noise in front which I thought might be a wheel bearing in the few days prior to this, but after putting new lugs in and taking it apart in the parking lot I now believe it to have been caused by loose lugnuts, all of the lugs were sheared off! The previous owner said he replaced a wheel bearing on that side a year ago. Other than the slight wheel bearing sounding noise the truck drove great and had no weird vibrations or steering issues. After buying new lugs and a new rotor I was able to fix it in the DMV parking lot and drive the truck home.
So without further ado here are the pics!
As I got off the Off Ramp I noticed my front left wheel well was full of flames and I floored it to the next parking lot leaving quite the set of posi marks in the intersection. As I got into the DMV parking lot I got out and threw my cup of water from Mc Donalds on the flames but the result of that was equal to a band-aide on a gunshot wound....luckily at the time I realized I might lose my whole truck to a fire a guy slammed down a CASE of Bottled water and we put it out! My mom ended up finding the rim 20 feet inside the median on the highway. I heard a noise in front which I thought might be a wheel bearing in the few days prior to this, but after putting new lugs in and taking it apart in the parking lot I now believe it to have been caused by loose lugnuts, all of the lugs were sheared off! The previous owner said he replaced a wheel bearing on that side a year ago. Other than the slight wheel bearing sounding noise the truck drove great and had no weird vibrations or steering issues. After buying new lugs and a new rotor I was able to fix it in the DMV parking lot and drive the truck home.
So without further ado here are the pics!
That is wild. Change your drawers and make sure to ask a Mod to move this to the General Forum
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Captain
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 561
Likes: 3
Wow, great save on the truck. Im suprised the tire didnt catch fire, hell suprised it stayed after the rim. This makes me want to check my truck over now being same year before that happens. I know I have a wheel bearing out but I better check everything else when I get the front end redone this weekend
Actually the tire did catch fire lol that was the cherry on the catastrophe cake lol. Probably would be a smart idea to carry a fire extinguisher regardless of what a person expects to happen, if I won't ever need it I may at least be able to help someone else out with it.The tire also somehow nailed the front left brake line, that was leaking pretty good, not sure how flammable brake fluid is or isnt but that could have been messy fast if the guy in the van hadn't had a case of water for me to use!.
Legend
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 8,259
Likes: 4
From: Austin, TX
...never painted flames......
Glad you were able to keep it under control AND you did not lose your truck....but I am a lot closer to changing my stock rims now! I suggest you look the others over very closely - - like pulling tires off and looking at them!
It is amazing that the tire stayed with the truck. Never saw that before!
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Captain
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 561
Likes: 3
I put my spare tire on and was able to have my Dad drive it back home for me, for what he said seemed like "a perfect handling & driving truck" minus the fact the tire knicked the metal brake line somehow and he had to conserve on brake useage. But now I'm worried about how much ball joint meterial was taken off the buttom....it was riding pretty hard on that & looks like it ground quite a bit down.
Glad you were able to keep it under control AND you did not lose your truck....but I am a lot closer to changing my stock rims now! I suggest you look the others over very closely - - like pulling tires off and looking at them!
It is amazing that the tire stayed with the truck. Never saw that before!
I want to say thanks to all for the well wishes, the Ram now just may need a new lower ball joint assembly and new brake lines to be back on the road in a safe state. Definitely checking all the rims now!.
Last edited by JoshSlash87; Jul 19, 2012 at 04:15 PM.
Thread Starter
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Captain
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 561
Likes: 3
Definitely going to change it out now...its really fkd!, compared the passengers side & drivers side today. The steering knuckle casting the ball joint sits in is half the thickness of the good one on the passengers side and half the ball joint is missing!. So I'll need a new steering knuckle.