newbie with problems

[itsblazin420]

Hello everyone. Recently got into Chevys after purchasing this 1990 Suburban 1500 4x4.

Everything was going well except for I neglected to fix the automatic locking hub!

After a while One day when riding home after running some errands my truck started making crunching noises and I pulled over to find this had happened...

I got it towed up to a shop that was near my house. They replaced both of my hubs from auto to manual locking hubs and replaced rotor, spindle, brakes, and all the works.
Well today I'm driving home from work make a right turn and the truck is making a vibration I was thinking a cv axle or something. Going about 35-40mph and still making the vibration more like a bump bump... bump bump. Next my front end slams down on my rotor and my tire goes flying across four lanes of traffic ending up 200 yards away. Meanwhile I'm getting the truck pulled over to the side of the road while sliding.

Tried to call the shop from around the house and they were closed. I left my car there and returned with a jack stand so it wasn't just sitting on the rotor. Its been around 400-450 miles since I got the work done on the truck.
Is this the tire shops fault? I'm afraid I'm going to be fighting a losing battle trying to get this work done for free since its been so long since they've worked on it. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[K85 Octane]

Looks like the shop didn't torque down the lug nuts properly. It was a while ago so you might be SOL, even trying to fight it might not be worth it, just never go back and tell everyone you know to never go there.

Buy a new rotor, hammer out the studs and swap rotors. Off and on, maybe total of 1-2 hours worth of work, depending on bearing skills etc. Make sure the caliper mount/ dust cover isn't bent too bad. You can straighten it a little if you have to.

EDIT: you can take the old rotor and see if they can turn it, but triple check for cracks down the center.

 

[itsblazin420]

Well if the shop won't own up to its mistake I will not be taking it back there. Trying it myself should be fun and will probably be what ends up happening. Blah....

 

[rebelgregory]

Hard to say for sure in the pics, but it looks as if all your studs are broken off. They look narrowed and shiny on the ends....and too short. If this is the case, you've been on borrowed time for probably way longer than you think. I suggest you check the wheel for extensive damage to the lug nut holes. Your wheels are lug-centric, meaning that they are centered by the lug nuts, not the hub. If they have been damaged too much, or cracked, the wheel is trash.

Also, not to be the bearer of bad news, but it doesn't llok like you got what you paid for:

Your rotor (in the vents), studs, and hub are all the same color and way too rusty to be only 500mi old - unless you go mudding alot.

My guess is they replaced the lockout hubs, brake pads, and bearings and races. This is probably all that really needed replacing, they just charged you more.

I hope I'm wrong about this, but shady shops really piss me off. If they really charged you for all that, I would be their worst nightmare until they fixed everything and refunded you for what they never replaced.

Don't forget - check wheel.

.

 

[919jackass]

most shops give you a 12/12 warr. meaning 12mo /12k i would call them in the morning to let them know what happened they should make it right and pick up the tow bill as well. it looks like the lug nuts were over tightened. when that happened the stud stretches then under a load while driving they broke the wobble /vibration you felt was a loose wheel. even as a shop owner he/she would want to know. i would let them fix it on there dime give them a chance to make it right.

i have some of my best customers come from very bad situations from other shops or coming into the dealership where i work and correcting something that we messed up big or little. seeing how they react will let you know the quality of the shop as well.

any time one of my guys messes up we always make it right. if i have time i will have there car detailed as well for a nice i'm sorry we f*cked your car up
but every situation is different. be calm be firm let them know what happend. just my .02

 

[rampage]

When the auto hub exploded, were you on dry pavement with 4WD engaged?
In the pic where the wheel came off it's hard to tell if the studs broke off or the lug nuts were loose and fell off. As mentioned before, both are the fault of whoever worked on it. One is simply forgetting to torque thighten them, the other is because they used an impact gun and stretched the studs. This is the reason that I use a torque wrench and tighten mine to what it calls for in the GM manual (and in a star pattern). I'd take it back to the shop and give them a chance to make it right. If they worked on the passenger side too then more then likely the studs are stretched there too and need to be replaced (assuming the studs broke on the driver's side). The lug nuts should be around 90 ft/lbs for aluminum wheels, so check to see what the passenger side is tightened to.

 

[sweetk30]

any time lug studs are pressed in / out and or new hub/rotor unit i ALWAYS tourqe to spec . run few miles back off then re do the tourqe to spec again . thay sill seat in the extra few .001th of an inch and or new will strech a tiny bit . always good to recheck them or this can happen .

had to say if thay will fig it for you .

make sure to check the rim and lug nut centers for out of round or messed up tappered seat or the lug nuts wont ever fit and tourqe up correctly . some places can refurb the rim if this happens and its a old out of date rim and or super $$$ rim . otherwise best to just get a new rim over the coast of down time and repair to rim .

also always make sure your lug nuts / studs have a little lube on the threads . if DRY or rusty you can get faulse tourqe reading and thay will back off. mopar products had this problem for years for some reason .

dont use anti seize if you can . but if you do just a tiny bit on the threads only not the tappered seat. best to use little motor oil or grease . just a tiny bit on the threads only .

also if over tourqed this can strech a stud and make it fail also . seen it happen first hand many times.

our style trucks for 7/16 1/2 ton 4x4 studs were basicly to small if you ask me . lots of guys swap out to 1/2 inch .


spec : aspr charts on the walls in repair shops i have worked at and also own the charts.

1/2 ton 7/16 = 80-90 . i tend to do 100 max my self no problems.
3/4 ton and 1ton is 120 range.

and any rim combo thread flush with open end of nut min or 5-6 full turns on the stud threads to nut min for clamping force to hold and not strip out threads. also lots of lug nuts these days are CHEEP CRAP . get some good ones . MCgaurd is still top quality these days .

and also good-n-tight with your 1/2" braker bar and 5 ft pipe is WAY TO MUCH ask my buddy how he found this out at 70mph on the highway with 5 snapped studs on his dd car.

good way for you to learn is fix this one your self .

 

[bigred88]

good way for you to learn is fix this one your self .

Yup. Owning an older truck like this, it's going to be in your best finnancial interests to learn to do stuff like this yourself. I don't know your experience with working on cars in general and I know the anxiety that can come with tackling something new for the first time, but this is a pretty straight forward repair that I'm sure all but the most mechanically incompetent can handle. Do a little reading, buy the right tools (they'll probably cost less than paying a shop, plus then you have them for the next time). Plus, you'll get to know your truck better, and take a little more pride in the work that's done.

 

[454Sub]

A side note, but after wheels are put on by a shop, you are supposed to re tighten them after a little bit because they naturally might come loose. That is not the shops fault really. Now, if they charged you for a rotor that is some bs because that rotor looks like it came out of an ocean. If the lugs are short, the tire falling off IS the shops fault, but if its the correct length stud, technically the tire falling off is your fault as technically that is in theory a common knowledge thing to retighten wheels.

I would recommend doing it yourself, as a cheapie Haynes/Chiltons manual available at every Auto-zone or whatever will be a good guide, and its an easy job. You only need one special socket to do it, and they sell it as well.

 

[itsblazin420]

UPDATE: Thanks for all the responses. Great information and much needed. Went up to the shop this morning when they opened. Long story short told them what happened and they would not take any responsibility. They didnt try to make it right by fixing it and I just had to leave before I got any more angry. They said it would have fallen off in the first week if it was going to. I told them wheels just dont come off by themselves. They clearly messed up somewhere with the lugnuts. I ended up just having it towed to the house while on my break from work. Im going to do the rotor replacement myself on both sides. I should have just fixed it myself to begin with. Its hard to trust shops these days and this scenario just goes to show. The wheel is a little wallered out and I'm going to take them to a wheel repair place to see if they are driveable/safe.

Luckily I had some old lugnuts to slap on there to hold the wheel on during the tow..way better than dragging it up the bed of the tow truck. Thanks to Mace's 24 hr towing for doing a great job!

 

[chulisohombre]

It would take a lil bit to seat those studs and loosen up if they didn't press them all the way into the hub. Either takes a lot of pressure or beating them in with a punch like I did. And the lug nuts need to be checked every couple hundred miles to make sure they stay tight after that job. I'm surprised you didn't feel a wobble before it fell off. Sucks that it happened. This is another example why I do my own work if I can help it. Unless you check behind a shops work to see that it was done correct you will never know. I'd talk to a lawyer and see what kind of claim you have. That could have killed you.

 

[British Slave]

Make sure you have the right lug nuts for those wheels.

 

[496truck]

I can NOT believe they wont take responsibilty for that. That is total BS. If you have your repair order (work receipt) it should have the mileage on it from when the repair was done. Now compare that to the mileage on the day the wheel fell off. That is THE KEY piece of evidence you need on your side. If after seeing that, with such low mileage after the original repair was done and they still won't cover it, then take it somewhere else and pay to have it done RIGHT. Really, pay to have it done. Then save every reciept from the tow bills to the new repair and your original repair and take them to small claims and get every single cent back.

You gave them the chance to cover it on their dime. Now it'll cost them more to cover it on someone elses. Any good shop would have covered that and said sorry for the inconvenience. Every shop I have worked for and seen that happen, whether it was same day or 3k miles later has ALWAYS taken care of it RIGHT and in house without any fuss. Maybe an employee lost because of it but no issue regarding the customer. It happens, they need to suck it up and fix it. Talk to a lawyer, see what your options are at the very least.

 

[rampage]

And make sure that when you talk to them there are other customers who around who hear you.

 

[itsblazin420]

I checked the work order yesterday and of course there is no mileage documentation on it. I'm pretty much screwed at this point. I was looking up small claims court for my county today and was thinking about it but I need to talk to an attorney first. Not looking good.

 

[sweetk30]

as a mechanic for over 15 years if thay wont fix it then suck it up as legal wont get squat on this small claim .

bigger stuff mabye legal would pay off in the end.

live and learn that most shops act suck and few are GOOD .

and a lot of repair orders show on them retourqe lug nuts within 50-100 miles . that gets them out of the legal problems. i only recall 2-3 people in 1 year ever asking for a recheck .

 

[FAB454]

as a mechanic for over 15 years if thay wont fix it then suck it up as legal wont get squat on this small claim .

bigger stuff mabye legal would pay off in the end.

live and learn that most shops act suck and few are GOOD .

and a lot of repair orders show on them retourqe lug nuts within 50-100 miles . that gets them out of the legal problems. i only recall 2-3 people in 1 year ever asking for a recheck .

Agreed
I used to work at a large chin, retorqued 4-5 that came back because of there paperwork in 10 years.
I think in this case if they don't make good, Google reviews are your friend.

 

[British Slave]

The internet is a powerful tool. Facebook and other social media's can carry your word loud and clear. Better Business Bureau. Let the world know, post pics and their response. They will hear you then. Be careful and don't post anything you don't have documentation to back up.

 

[496truck]

I checked the work order yesterday and of course there is no mileage documentation on it. I'm pretty much screwed at this point. I was looking up small claims court for my county today and was thinking about it but I need to talk to an attorney first. Not looking good.

Yeah, without that mileage documentation you are pretty much stuck. On that same note it is legally required that a shop notes the mileage of a car coming in and going out. The whole work order is a legal document and when a problem like this happens it is all admissable in court. That could work on your side if you wanted to go that route. The judge would look at it and ask the shop where the mileage is cause now they can't prove whether it was done a mile ago or 80k miles ago and then fine them on your side.

If you don't have the time and money that it will cost up front to go the legal route then it's not an expensive fix. As said, just suck it up and fix it.

 

[sweetk30]

depends on the judge . i lost a case 1 time for a no vin # on the work order. the judge said no way to prove it was the same atv motor as the one i was filing for . found all this out in the end after 3 diff court dates and end of final trial .

o.k. his shop didnt last much longer in the end he closed up . and to this day i still tell my story to anyone who wants to listen and tell them to never buy a thing from him or his familay .