Sometimes Stuff Just Breaks

Today has been a new adventure. I picked up a preloaded trailer last night and headed out very early to get to my receiver on time. I was taking a detour on a small highway because an accident closed I-10. I was mildly concerned about any more delays, since the detour are up my hour cushion and I was going to be cutting it close.

A guy in a pickup flagged me down at a stop light and let me know I had sparks coming out my rear wheel. I pulled over and looked and saw I was missing a stud and three lug nuts. Talk about being thankful for a detour!

When the repair guy pulled it apart, I could see that the hub was broken where the stud came out. The inside wheel was also broken where the stud had been. The brake drum and the outside wheel are also no good. Also, I've missed my delivery today and will have a smaller check.

But I'm still very thankful for that guy with the Cajun accent who let me know, and thankful that the wheel didn't come off while I was rolling down the road at 65 mph. Plus, I get a shower today!

What other job allows that kind of gratitude at random times?

Trailer or drive wheel?

Trailer or drive wheel?

Trailer wheel. Here's some pics.

Didn't look like this during my pretrip:

Inside wheel was broken where the stud broke off.

Here's where the hub and the stud broke:

The cause? Maybe- Metal fatigue on metal holding stud- which had small crack already, then metal broke, then loose stud caused vibration, then nuts came off and stud broke? I don't see a dented wheel, so if tire hit something, wheel would have been dented. Sparks from broken metal and stud which became lodged inside brake assembly.

Yeah, I didn't hit any curbs today. The metal just broke. It's a fairly new trailer, too, less than a couple years old. Kinda scary.

Thanks for the pics, I could not visualize what happened - it's good to see some of the sort of thing that can go bad!

Probably caused by some tire guy hammering on the lug nuts with the air gun.