Christmas was sweet.. today wasn't... hub problems

[Coastiehummer]

So for Christmas I was blessed, my girlfriend bought me new wheels for the truck.

5 Mickey Thompson Classic II's .. all black.

Then, the guy I bought the truck from gave to me for Christmas the LE badges for the truck.... and my brother got my windows tinted for me..

I was so excited. To make it better, my truck was finally put back together after replacing the leaky hub seals and undercoating the whole truck, refinishing the rack, brushguard, sliders, and bumpers, and a nice wash and wax.

Today however, I was driving on the highway and as I was getting off on the exit, I felt a shimmy in the steering wheel and then heard a nice grinding noise. This sound was the spindle nut coming off, and the spindle and tire coming out of the hub. Fortunately I was able to get it into the gas station parking lot, but the damage had been done. The nut striped the ends of the spindle, the main drive gear is chewed up and destroyed, as well as the spindle nut and locking cap screw.

I know I am lucky to not have this come off while on the highway, going 55 mph. I would be devastated if I had hurt someone, or totaled my truck.

My lesson from this: If you are replacing the seals in your hub and have to remove the spindle, ensure the locking cap screw does not break from over torque. If it does, do not drive your truck. Take the time, wait, and order a new spindle nut. I was entirely too excited to drive my truck after four months of it being apart... don't let the excitement get to you. Be smart, fix it right.

If anyone needs to work on their hub, these are my recommendations: I recommend contacting Dave at Bluehummer and ordering his locking spindle nut kit. Its an aftermarket, guarenteed locking nut that requires no special tools. Dave has been an outstanding help throughout this whole process and I cannot thank him enough for his expertise and timely service. He has gotten me everything I have needed, from the seals to the locking nuts, and now will be getting me the bearings, possibly a new spindle and a new drive gear. He has also included the AM General service manual so that I have the detailed instructions on how to work on the hub. And finally, he told me how I could make my own spindle nut socket for $20 instead of having to buy the Kent Moore Tool for $125. He is a great help, and I recommend him for any needs for your H1.

:sigh:

 

[HUMMER INVESTMENTS]

Thanks for the info! Seems like you had an exciting Christmas

 

[twinmill28]

Hmmm, this is interesting it was the spindle nut; from the description, I was confident it was the nut behind the wheel.....

 

[alrock]

Glad you're safe and you got all of the other GOOD presents for your truck.

 

[3Hummers]

Glad it worked out as well as it did, could have been much worse.

 

[hummech]

geared hubs are very persise how they need to be put together. there is a whole procedure that you have to do to get the bearing to reseat to the race when removing the spindle assembly. those set screws only get torqued to 90 inch pounds and then you have to reverse the clamp nut after marking it and make sure it does not move back when all is set up. if you do it right the clamp nuts do not fail, i have replaced the questinable ones and reused the old ones if they fall in to specs. i would reset up the other geared hubs by the book just to be sure those are ok. also if you have non factory off set wheel, it will snap off the clamp nuts and or the spindles. they are very sensitive to the wheel off set. i rebuild the geared hubs all the time and see the damage caused by other people.