Disaster Strikes

Last week, on my way home from showing my car to a bunch of friends and my sister, I was on the interstate going around 70 MPH. About 22 miles from home, the rear driver-side of the car just collapsed. All I remember is there being a lot of smoke and sparks, but somehow I managed to cross the carpool lane and get into the asphalt median without getting hit or hitting anyone else. It was the scariest driving moment to date.

It felt like the rear driver-side of the car just collapsed, and the car was super hard to control. I thought the lug nuts had come loose and that the rim and tire would be lodged in someone’s windshield. After I came to a stop in the median, I opened the door to find the tire lodged between the asphalt and car, still in the wheel arch, but at about a 45 degree angle. I immediately called my insurance’s roadside assistance number so I could get a tow home. I did this before I even got out of the car to see what the problem was. I could see when I opened the door that the lug nuts were still on tight, and upon further inspection, I saw the splines and threads from the outboard shaft, which meant that the hub nut on the stub axle had come completely loose.

I immediately remembered that the previous owner told me that he recently replaced all four hub assemblies, but I have no idea how long ago that was. He must not have tightened the nut enough for it to have worked loose like that. I also noticed that there was now a bit of a tweak to the stainless quarter panel, so my flawless stainless body was no more. It took the tow truck over an hour to get there. As he started to drag it onto the tow bed, it was raised enough to finally fit a jack under the frame. I then did my best to put the tire back on the hub so it didn’t have to be dragged all the way up the ramp. The tire about came off again on the way home since there wasn’t anything holding it on there.

The car must have fallen on the tire so quickly and the brake lines combined must have held the tire under the car. Today I was able to get the car into the garage and see the extent of the damage. Here is where the car was dragging along the interstate:

This is what it looked like after I took the tire off. The nut and washer were inside the rim:



This is what the tire looked like after I took it off:


My poor quarter panel! It's not terrible, but it's no longer perfect:


This is what happened to the caliper and hub carrier. Both of them snapped:


It really could have ended up much worse than it did. The tow truck driver was amazed that the car didn't have more damage... especially after he saw the grooves in the interstate behind the car that I had made.

Here's a list of things that I need to replace so far:
Rear Hub Carrier
Lower link, washers & pivot nut
Rear shock
Brake caliper
Rear brake line
Parking brake pads
Driver side tire
Fix or replace driver side rear quarter panel

I don't know what the condition of the actual hub bearing is. The outer drive shaft's threads are a little damaged, but I may get by.

When I removed the tire, I noticed that the hub nut threads were caked in grease by the previous owner. I'm wondering if the grease contributed to the fact that the nut came off the threads. I guess I'll never know for sure.  I'm glad this didn't have to be a post where I announced that I had destroyed my DeLorean.