Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

A couple weeks ago, my wife of 40+ years drove her '69 1600 to her hair dresser.
On the way home, at about 40 mph on 162 Street in east Vancouver, her drivers side rear wheel parted company with the car.
Luckily, she drove school bus for years and is an excellent driver so she kept her head, kept the car straight and brought the car to a stop on three wheels and a backing plate.
Cut a 60' long groove up the street and ground that backing plate down pretty well but other wise I'm surprised at how little damage there is.
We found most of the partts, brake shoes, drum, a spring but the 14" polished Libre wheel and tire are mia. Probably buried in the brush that lines both sides of the road. It may turn up but I'm not betting on it.
I'm going to need a backing plate, upper an lower spring and brake shoes to get the car on the road. I think the chances of finding a polished 14" AR Libre wheel are slim to none so will have to figure out somthing different to do there. I still have the stock 14" wheels and hubcaps so those may get cleaned up and go on. It looks like I have to pull the axle to get the backing plate off so I'll probably replace the bearing and seal "while I'm in there".
New brake shoes will be in order as well.
If any of you have a late model drivers side backing plate and springs, drop me a PM aznd let me know what you need for them. While I'm at it, if you have a single 14" or even a pair of 14 x 5.5 AR Libre's, let me know what you need for those as well.


Luckily, no one was hurt, no other cars were damaged and the car damage is minimal. She did a great job of staying calm and turning what could have been a real disaster into just a scary memory.

Dan
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I had that happen to me once. Quite the experience seeing the wheel roll past you hahah

You should be able to find that wheel if you spend some time looking for it!

Glad it wasnt worse

Thanks Simon. She drives the hell out of that car so when it came off, it was doing at least 40. There's a median planter in the middle of the road and it's 4 lanes. I don't think the wheel hit any of the oncoming traffic as no one griped and it would have caused some damage. In some places, the brush is do dense I could't force my way through.
We'd walked the road for a 1/4 mile in each direction, both sides and found nothing. There are a couple houses along there an no one found it in their yard. I suppose someone could stop, toss it in their pickup and move on in about 20 seconds but I think most people's first reaction is to help so I don't think that's it. I'm guessing it's comfortable in a nice stand of poison oak.
Dan

Good to see no one was hurt and minimal damage.
Did you figure out root cause?

I'm pretty sure it's my fault.
I'd replaced a wheel cylinder on that wheel. My typical practice is to put the wheels on, put the lug nuts on finger tight and block the bottom of the wheel to tighten them further with a 4 way.
I don't remember checking them once the car was on the ground and my neighbor's 7 year old was standing in the open garage door talking while I was letting the car down. I was watching him and distracted, not thinking about the job so it's likely that it was my carelessness.
Too big of a coincidence to be anything else.
Dan

Damn! That's a lucky break. Got off easy with minimal damage.

I wasn't so lucky. Had a 67.5 almost done needing only paint, losing a rear driver wheel.

On the freeway @70 Mph.

Driver next to me panicked as he saw a random wheel and tire coming. He swerved and clipped me sending me into a spin. What seemed like an hour of spinning ended up with me ass backwards in the center divider. Every body part except the doors was severly damaged. At least I had a protective force field around the cockpit.

He drove home with some dents, I went home on a .flatbed.
Gave up on that car and parted it out.
Lucky to be alive!


So for you, some parts, and you'll be back on the road.

Btw, my root cause was not doing a re torque. One by one, the lug nuts came off. Learned my lesson for sure.

TWO instances in under two weeks.

Glad that wifey is fine.

Don't have any parts for you, but wish the best.

Pete

Not much help at this point, but I always use a torque wrench on the wheel lugs as the last step in any wheel off repair. I don't bring out the torque wrench until the wheels are on the ground - so I know that it should be the last thing I get, check, and the last tool I put away. On cars with wheel caps, or centers, I do not put them on until the Torque wrench has been used. I only use a TW so that I don't have to remember if I tightened it in any other way - cause even if I did, it didn't happen until I torque them. (Kind of like pictures here!). Now, ask me why I have developed this discipline - and I might have a similar story......

So lucky. Your wife is clearly excellent driver.

My sister rolled a black 66 when she was 19. Guy bumped her rear quarter on the freeway, went off the road, up the embankment, rolled over. Amazing she lived, but equally amazing, not even a broken bone. Car was totaled. Lucky Lucky Lucky. Sounds like it was skill in your wifes case. She should be congratulated// j

Thanks Guys. Yes, she's a good driver. I think her experience, coupled with her love of speed that saved both of us.
Dan

I had a thought. If the wheel is buried in the brush and you cant find it, probably no one else will either.

I'd keep on checking back. Who knows, maybe in the fall when the brush diminishes, it will be there.

I dunno. Id keep checking.

Any tips for how to handle the car in case something like that happened?
No brakes, keep it straight?

Linda

About 4 yrs ago the same thing happened to Kim, Damn it Bill's wife, on the way to Shasta. We had just come off a very hard, twisty road drive and got on the freeway when we noticed a couple things come flying off... they were the lug nuts, quickly followed by the passenger rear tire. Kim too did a GREAT job not panicking and was able to drive the car to the side of the road. Similar damage, along with some body damage too, but we were able to retrieve the wheel and drive the car to Shasta. Amazingly that wheel crossed two lanes going forward, across two oncoming lanes and into the bushes without hitting any cars... it went a very long distance. Had that wheel come off during our hard driving, it is likely that we could have lost a dear friend that day. These were the Nissan Iron cross wheels, and they did not have the correct pitch lug nuts on them... close, but not correct. Since that time, I have checked torque on the wheels on a regular basis, especially prior to a long and likely hard drive. So thankful that nobody was hurt in all posted cases.

Gregs672000 wrote:About 4 yrs ago the same thing happened to Kim, Damn it Bill's wife, on the way to Shasta. We had just come off a very hard, twisty road drive and got on the freeway when we noticed a couple things come flying off... they were the lug nuts, quickly followed by the passenger rear tire. Kim too did a GREAT job not panicking and was able to drive the car to the side of the road. Similar damage, along with some body damage too, but we were able to retrieve the wheel and drive the car to Shasta. Amazingly that wheel crossed two lanes going forward, across two oncoming lanes and into the bushes without hitting any cars... it went a very long distance. Had that wheel come off during our hard driving, it is likely that we could have lost a dear friend that day. These were the Nissan Iron cross wheels, and they did not have the correct pitch lug nuts on them... close, but not correct. Since that time, I have checked torque on the wheels on a regular basis, especially prior to a long and likely hard drive. So thankful that nobody was hurt in all posted cases.

He just told me that story up at Shasta! Incredible the friction wouldn't spin the car at such high speeds but he said you guys had the car up and driving before he knew what happened!

I'm going to check my wheels tomorrow

Linda