Busted Tundra

It all started out innocently enough - a hunting trip with my sons and my buddy & his sons. A week ago Thursday we were scouting a fairly remote area and it was some pretty steep, gnarly stuff - the kind that has you picking seat cushion from your butt cheeks when it's over. We made it through the bad stuff and were on our way back to camp down a smooth, dusty road. He was out front in his 2nd gen Tundra and I, like a stooge, was following too closely.

His huge dust cloud obscured a rock sticking out of the side of the trail and my front passenger tire slammed into it. The front of the truck bounced left sending the back wheel into it. It literally felt like we were in a car accident and I'm stunned that the air bags did not deploy. Both the front and rear passenger tire sidewalls had huge gashes in them and were off the bead. I put the spare on, buddy took the other wheel into town and returned awhile later with a used tire on it. The steering was completely roached and the steering wheel was a full 1/4 turn off center. I was able to nurse it a few miles into town and a shop. After a thorough review, they said that there were no broken parts but it was just badly out of alignment. Two days later, two new tires later and an alignment later I was back on the road.

My initial impression was that the truck was fixed but then I took it off road - where it seemed to perform well. But when I got back onto pavement and attempted to take it out of 4hi the light blinked and it wouldn't come out. Multiple pushes of the button and it came out of 4hi and it make a CLUNK like the transfer case fell out of it. Afraid that would get stuck in 4hi I parked it and we used my son's 4Runner to hunt.

Today we were on our way home, southbound on 395 and I felt a strange shimmy in the truck. It was like I was driving over rough concrete and then the truck started to shudder, the left rear started sliding around and it sounded like I blew a tire. And then I noticed a wheel that looked remarkably similar to mine rolling by me. It was all I could do to get the truck onto the shoulder. I'm thankful to God that we didn't die because it felt like we might. Three lugs were busted off, 2 were badly bent and 1 was intact. My suspicion is that the shop did not properly torque the lugs.

So..... aside from replacing the lugs, what else should I look for? The truck rode on the drum a fair distance before I could get it to stop - which it didn't want to do and I could hear the ABS system buzzing the whole time.

On the plus side, my son shot a nice buck.

TL/DR - wheel came off while doing 65mph on highway, rode on drum, wheel studs busted, thought I would die but didn't, need to know what to do to fix it.

 

Anytime a wheel is put on or rotated, whatever, you should re-torque the lug nuts after about 100 miles or sooner. Glad no one was hurt and the truck survived.

 

Going back to the assessment by the shop in town: I don't see how it could have been knocked that far out of alignment without something being broken or bent.

 

Heck of a story. Glad your son got a nice Buck, makes it all worth it.

 

Glad everyone survived and nobody hurt. Bad mojo happens in 3’s. I’d cut your losses and give the truck away for free.

 

I kind of wondered the same thing. I talked to the guy that sold me the truck and he said that about 5 months before he sold it to me (in July) he did over $3,500 of front end work - new ball joints, tie rods, shocks & struts, etc. We both wondered if there would have been damage if he had not done that work.

I went out and got new studs and lugs this morning. Using an air hammer I was able to bust off what was left of the remaining studs, allowing me to get the drum off. I replaced all the studs. I noticed the dust shield (?) took some damage. It went back together pretty smoothly but it sounds like something is rubbing (makes a "whooshing" sound) when driving. I'm going to take it into a shop so they can take a look at it but at least it's not sitting on the drum in my driveway now.

Any insight on this are appreciated. As to things happening in 3's... as I was riding in the tow truck it occurred to me to dump the thing but the tow truck driver was reminding me how great these trucks are.

One other thing - I checked the lugs on all the other wheels. The fronts were solid. The passenger rear were very loose. It's apparent to me that they didn't properly tighten the lug nuts.

 

I would check one more thing. Many years ago I had a Bronco that I ended up spinning around and hitting one of the tires pretty good on the sidewall. Come to find out it bent the wheel and the axle. Not enough to tell by looking at it but it was noticeable when driving. I had to replace both and it was fine after that. You can jack it up and do a runout check pretty easy on the front and rear that took the good lick. If you get excess runout you can check further and see what’s bent.

 

No doubt about the truck being great. Axle replacement ain’t cheap (if this is the woosh sound). New axle means new bearings etc. $2000 grand job easy at stealership.

New Toy axle, bearing, etc parts $800 their cost plus their crazy labor charge then hope the seals don’t leak.

Hope its just something simple that needs fixing.

 

I would pull that drum off and make a little clearance between the drum and the backing plate. That may be the noise maker.

 

HO-LEE SHEET!

Glad nobody got hurt...

Did the 4HI disengage and the ABS go away?

I'm guessing you may need a new drum (or 2) and maybe the backing plate.

Have the shop look at the front end, too, just to be sure.

Be careful out there!

 

Maybe try an insurance claim to help fund these costs? Its worth a try.