Runaway Truck Wheel Sends Kia Soul Flying

That happened to me in Mario kart

 

As a non-engineer and mostly non-retarded person, I've learned that most "disasters" had numerous warning signs which were ignored before the catastrophe occurred. I don't believe everything normal and suddenly the wheel fell off. It was likely vibrating, making noises, pulling weirdly, and a host of other factors which were ignored.

I'll put this up there with people driving down the road with the gas pump hose hanging off the back of their vehicle. They know full well something happened, they simply choose to ignore it and pretend it's fine.

 

Although the offset is extreme and obvious, I don't think it had anything to do with the wheel coming off. Since the brake disc is still attached, we must be looking at the hub coming off the axle. The hub should be held on by a pinned nut and big washer. There should be a tapered roller bearing in there... but the hub needs to get past the nut and washer even if the bearing disintegrates into pieces. It's also going to take awhile for the bearing to disintegrate and it will be very obvious that something is wrong. So I think what we are seeing is the nut coming loose... which isn't caused by the offset but rather a failure to pin it properly.

 

This was my impression when I first saw the video. Improper lug nut torque / failure to inspect regularly. I don't discard metal fatigue, but that's forensics stuff.

 

I knew it! I'm surrounded by assho....I mean engineers.

 

You can see the inside of the wheel after it comes back and runs into the car again. You can see the disc rotor which means the lug nuts didn't come off, rather it was the hub. At first I thought the hub-knuckle bolts could have broken or come loose, but that should be visible if that was the case. Most likely the axle nut loosened and came off. I see some axles have "self-locking" nuts which sounds dangerous.

 

Honestly I didn't analyze the video, had to look at the screencaps to even connect what you were saying. Which leads me to belive some idiot forgot about the cotter pin/used an old or worn out pin... if it even uses it.
User error most likely.