first let me say yes this is a Jeep question.

a few years back we purchased a geo tracker the 2nd morning we owned it (my wife was driving it to learn how to drive a standard) it started to wobble, then got worse so we pulled over, the left front wheel fell off and ripped the fender almost clean off!!!! called the dealer he stated "it has aluminum wheels and you have to check/tighten them regularly". my response "THIS IS THE 2ND DAY WE OWNED IT, HOW OFTEN DO I NEED TO CHECK THESE ..... THINGS). needless to say he fixed it.

Flash foreward to last week, I was in bedford PA, (nearly 2.5 hours from my house) the wife calls histerical the "wheel just fell off the Jeep!!" (96 xj sport 4x4) it's in the middle of the road what do I do. "well sweet hart I'm in Bedford so there's nothing I can do for ya, calm down and call the neighbor (he has an exhaust business) tell him to bring up a jack and put the wheel back on". so she gave him a buzz, he took a few lug bolts off our old plow jeep jacked it up and put the wheel back on. so far it seems ok, but any thing I should check, besides that the wheel studs are tight!!!!! it looks like it landed more on the dog bone looking suspension part, looks like a radius arm or some thing like it. the roads were icy so she was going slow and the jeep hit the ice and slid, probly better than hitting the asphalt and digging in.

ps just had the jeep inspected and guess what wheel was pulled?? we put the wheels from our plow jeep a 1996 grand cherokee on the 1996 xj she was driving. couldn't find the wheel studs so had to buy 5 new ones, I left the 3 from the plow jeep in the console in case we need them...lol

 

Its very possible that the shop failed to tighten the wheel properly. If so, it will wobble and can either work the lugs loose or snap the studs. Did the studs break? Check your wheel bearing by jacking up Jeep and trying to move wheel up/down/horizontally. If you have play, either hub or ball joints. Did you smash the lower control arm bad? Check the bushings... all of the bushings. Also make sure the rim isnt bent or the stud holes elongated.

This is a reason I dont like shops. I find 90% to be incompetent and then want to charge you an assload for things they are often guessing about (I didnt say all of them do this!).

 

Either a shop didn't tighten them enough or someone is loosing them for you.

 

Used to, when I put a wheel on, I'd just crank them down until they "popped." That is over tightening them. I got to where I tighten them and then use a torque wrench to make sure that they were tightened to spec. I have never had a wheel come off except when someone did loosen the lug nuts.

 

Had an old K-5 lose a wheel once due to over tightening(steel wheel). Lug nuts wallowed the holes out to the point it came off, glad I was doing only 15/20 at the time was running 38s when it happened.

 

we almost took the xj to beford. been a heck of a ride to have the wheel come off at 70mph. I've checked the wheels every other day since, all the lugs are tight.

wheel studs were fine, it did put some marks on the in side of the wheel. Gonna give the neighbor a buzz, he's got a lift so I'll get a good look under it. We bought this jeep for our son and put a floor and other work into it for a first vehicle for him, he was rather upset that his mom drove the wheels off it..lol

 

i all most lost one one my bronco. bearing went out only thing that held it on was the brake caliper and the spindle