Freightliner Broke my Wheel Stud

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

I had the wheel seals, bearings and races on the rear drivers side of the bus changed out in my 1967 Eagle at the El Paso Frieghtliner dealer last November.  When I was in Quartzsite last month I noticed that one of my studs on the wheel they worked on was broken and my hub cap was missing.  They had a young kid working on this and I was concerned that he may be not doing everything exactly correctly and it appears that my intuition was correct.

I called them and they said I can take my bus to a local Freightliner dealer here in southern California and they will take pictures and will have to send them back to the Freightliner dealer in El Paso to have them authorize any work.  It is like one Frieghtliner dealer does not trust the other one.

This could mean that I have to take my bus to them twice, once to have them take photos (who knows why) and another day to have the work done after they authorize it. Is this normal? This seems like a lot of extra work to get warranty work done when they had a mechanic do a job that was not qualified to do the work correctly the first time.

Also, has anyone had any experience with the Freighliner dealer in Fontana, CA? This is the closest dealer to me and they said only a Freighliner dealer can do this re-work.

[bobofthenorth]

I assume that means they over torqued the nuts which makes everything they touched suspect to my mind.  At the very least I'd want all the studs changed and I'd want to stand there and watch them do it.  They won't like that. Keep a close eye on that hub temperature.  If they messed up the bearing install you'll have worse problems than just a busted stud.

[Branderson]

Im so scared dealing with mechanics especially bc i know very little. Luckily i found a great diesel bus mechanic in town. He only serviced it once so far but i was very impressed.

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

I assume that means they over torqued the nuts which makes everything they touched suspect to my mind.  At the very least I'd want all the studs changed and I'd want to stand there and watch them do it.  They won't like that. Keep a close eye on that hub temperature.  If they messed up the bearing install you'll have worse problems than just a busted stud.

I agree Bob.  I mentioned this to them to have all of the studs replaced just in case.  We will see if they will agree to do this as it is still up in the air. They will not agree to anything until I take it in for inspection.

[HB of CJ]

Time marches on and stuff.  What we could easily do OURSELVES with the right tools years ago is not possible today.  At this point in our lives we MUST give trust to somebody.  Sometimes lots of somebodies.

Used to be that you could watch over the shoulder of the old guy doing your wheel work and you could also ask questions along the way.  A good old coot will gladly answer and tell you why it is done the way it is done.

Those days of knowledgeable logging truck based heavy truck shops are long gone.  Nowadays we must stay in the customer lounge and sneaking onto the floor is not allowed.  What can we do today about this?

Probably nothing.  No accountability today.  If somebody screws up work he will NOT come clean.  Why should he?  He is not going to be caught and called out.  Having a trusted home base shop might be an answer.

Might not be either. 

[luvrbus]

They will replace 3 studs 1 above and 1 below the broken stud per DOT I doubt you get all 10 replaced though 

[buswarrior]

Unfortunately, the damage to the studs could be attributed to any time in the life of those studs not necessarily the most recent job.

Real or imagined, somebody else may have stretched 'em long ago.

Regardless of who pays, closely inspect the rest for evidence of over-torque - stretched necks, threads leaned over.

Hiring in a mobile mechanic gets you someone you can watch and talk to.

Decades of our educational system bad mouthing the trades, streaming the worst into them, is coming home to roost.

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[luvrbus]

Just watch Gary if they need to hammer the rest of the nuts off with a impact gun they are stretched you should be able to screw the nuts off by hand once broken loose 

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

Just watch Gary if they need to hammer the rest of the nuts off with a impact gun they are stretched you should be able to screw the nuts off by hand once broken loose 

Thanks for the tip Cliff.  I plan to watch them every minute.  Should I ask them to remove them with a Torque Wrench to see how tightly they are torqued and record it for evidence?

[eagle19952]

pitch gauge...tells pretty much all.

[buswarrior]

After time, removal torque's relationship to application torque gets fuzzy... it has been some months now...

Your hope is in a benevelent dealer, not in a technical argument that will be readily refuted.

No maintenance history, no record of who touched what, when.

No case.

The vendor might have liked the opportunity to finish the story before it got told?

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[luvrbus]

The small studs on the drive axle are easy to stretch and break that why the hub pilot is the standard of today all wheel studs are the same diameter front,drive and tag   

[chessie4905]

1967 Eagle??? At that age, who knows how many times wheels have been removed over the years, even using torque wrenches some of the times. Even good fasteners fatigue over time.I would recommend having ALL studs and nuts replaced on that wheel position. At least that wheel is back to 100 percent. Of course, direct them to use a torque wrench when reinstalling. Now would be the time since they have to remove hub to remove studs. Make sure they don't try to charge the total labor for this, just the additional time to do the remaining studs over the ones they are willing to take care of. Take the time to work this out before they start with a agreed upon price.

[ol713]

   HI Gary;
       Thanks for the info and your cause for concern about your coach. After Quartzite, I blew a oil
       seal on the drivers side tag axle. I am to take my coach into the shop today for repairs.  Now
       I know a few more questions to ask. Last time the coach was in the same shop for air bags,
       they hammered the wheel nuts on the tag axel.  I estimate they were tightened to 600 ft/lbs or a little more.
       I will mention this to them today.  

                                                 Thanks,  merle.

[Jim Eh.]

As far as the "mis-trust" between dealers goes I would say it is fully understandable. Although they may sell the same product, unless they are owned by the same people, they are different businesses. it would be like taking a Chevy to a Ford dealer. Once the 2nd company works on your wheel they are NOW married to the job that someone else started/completed/messed up. Caution is obvious on the part of the 2nd shop.

As to what caused the failure in the first place ... assumptions abound, fact is the stud (BTW axle or wheel?) is broken. Sloppy workmanship, poor quality products, past useful service life ... you will probably never know. We all tend to blame the front line person to start. I am not saying it is NOT his/her fault just that if they are in that position, especially at a brand name dealership, it should be accepted that the tech does know a thing or two about working on heavy equipment.

Just my opinion ...

One trick is to ask the service writer for the torque specs BEFORE they start work on your vehicle. This will give everyone a heads up that you have a higher knowledge than the guy on the sidewalk out front jogging past in a lavender track suit.