Hi All, Today I nearly lost a rear wheel again! Only this time I was travelling along the highway at 100kph when suddenly I heard some noise from the rear sounding like a bad wheel bearing or drive shaft. Luckily I quickly pulled over, to find the rear right hand wheel about 1" out from the guard and the centre nut was missing. I glanced across the freeway and noticed the wheel nut there on the side of the centre barrier...Luckily! So I consider myself lucky. Found the centre nut, and of course didn't lose a wheel which would have been a disaster. I would probably not be here to tell the tale. I make it a point lately to check the the wheel nuts each time I drive the car. Is there a permanent fix for this nonsense? I have had the car for 3 years and now this is the 4th time this has happened. First 3 times we didn't lose the wheel nut. The car has just come back from a major engine out and the car is perfect in every way. Only 16000 miles. Checked the diff and replaced the shaft with one of Robs (UZZSOARER) to be safe. But the original shaft was also perfect showing no signs of abuse. Anyone after an original perfect shaft just let me know.
Dean, I have the opposite problem usually, I cant get mine off. My local independent garage has told me that once you get this problem (during driving) it is common for it to happen again. I dont know if that is caused by damage to the tapers or what but it may be possible to check that by the use of a little engineers "blue". My suggestion is: loosen the wheel nut Jack the car remove the wheel clean and degrease both the outer tapers if necessary clean the tapers lightly with a very fine grit paper (say 1000 to 2000) add a little engineers blue to the tapers refit the nut by hand until the nut tightens remove and see if there is uneven removal of the blue on the tapers. There should be an even pickup across the taper IMO and if not this is where the problem might be. I dont know if this helps but my process for refitting the wheel nut is (with the car jacked): refit the nut and tighten by hand using the ferrari spanner to centre the wheel on the splines (not tight and no hammer) Drop the car and torque the wheel nut to 150 lb/ft. drive the car for a short distance accelerating and braking in a straight line a few times re-torque to 325 ft/lb. One of my old threads has a description of my 7 ft wheel nut removal tool, I call my "Joe" spanner as it was made by my mate Joe. My avatar shows me holding it If I can find my photos again I will post them up later. HTH P
Hi Phill, Your method is exactly what I do. They are generally a pain in the ass to get off. But more importantly they come loose generally after a service. The service guys are very embarrassed at the moment. They used all the correct procedures. They are Ferrari specialists and do many BB512, TR etc with single wheel nuts. Today could have been quite nasty. Normally it is the LHS rear that comes loose. Today it was the RHS rear. Now I make it a point to check the wheel nuts every time I drive the car. Has anyone devised a split pin etc. to prevent this happening? OR Anyone converted the spline to a 5 stud? I wonder if it would be possible to machine an adapter to fit over the spline and convert to a 5 stud wheel? 512TR rims need spacers on a standard Testarossa, so am thinking could an adapter be made to act as a spacer and 5 stud conversion. Today was really scary. I could have not only killed myself but killed others with a flying wheel nut, runaway tyre and out of control car.
It's impossible to put a right side on a left side hub. And vice versa. Unless hubs have been mounted in a reverse way ?!!? Besides, normally, nuts are auto-locking when you drive.
Jus to check, could you pls post pics of both sides of your car ? General view + close view w/ identification of which side is shown. Thx.
Dean, its just a case of swapping the hubs for 5 bolt ones. My guess is that is the best but also the most expensive option. P
This is a design issue. Ferrari knows about it. After this happened to me I had a long talk with Ferrari North America through WWOC. They totally rebuilt my entire 4 corners and it never happened again. The problem is that after a while the suspension loosens up and starts vibrating which backs off the wheel nuts. Tightening them will NOT fix the problem only totally rebuilding the four corners will.
Wheels and spinners on. Nrmally, it could only occur if you drove backward. But let's check if hubs are mounted the right side, since we can mount them even on the wrong way.
Interesting stuff, thanks Jim. Will this happen to all single nut TRs? On something so dangerous, why hasn't there been a recall? What is the cost to rebuild all 4 corners and what is done differently to prevent this from recurring?
I don't know why there isn't a recall. FNA paid to rebuild mine. At some point everything needs a rebuild and rebuilding before the hubs wear will cost a lot less than if a bearing starts to wear the hub. Not for free to rebuild a corner... The problem is when things wear they can vibrate and vibration can loosen things and CL nuts on the TR seem susceptible to this issue. As an aside the parts to rebuild the Enzo- P 4/5 rear wheel bearings was 16K to me and my cost may be less than others... TR stuff is likely less.
Our Euro mechanics know how to read a torque wrench Joking just in case.......... On a serious note BB512 1980, I too have not heard of single bolt wheels having problems in Europe, it is usually more of a problem getting the nuts off, not falling off. I do know that if they are not tightened properly in the first instance then problems start to occur as the loosening causes uneven wear on the tapers and so they cannot be tightened again properly. I am not sure if I believe the vibration problem described by Jim is the only cause. P
No it doesn't happen to all Tr's. Very few in fact. No recall was necessary as there is no problem if the bolts are installed correctly. Proper installation is only thing required to prevent this from occurring never mind recurring.
The service was carried out by 2 different ferrari service centres. Both were extremely paranoid about the issue and took extra care. There was a case here in Melbourne Australia where a wheel actually did fall off. So the locals are very aware of the situation and take extra care. The car has been fully inspected and there are no signs of wear. These guys here are not afraid to point out any issues, and because a TR is worth $100K to $200K here (and our dollar is stronger than the yankee at the moment) we are not adverse to spending money on these cars to make sure they are right. Pics are LHS Rear Zoom Out, LHS Rear Zoom in (cavallino facing forward) RHS Rear Zoom Out, RHS Rear Zoom in (Cavalino facing rear) (this is the one that flew off) Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
these wheels don't come off. the 288 gto also uses the same design. check your center spline and make sure the bolts that hold the splines are mounted in the correct direction. If the bolts are mounted backwards the wheel will loosen off. I found this on a new customers car, he kept hammering the wheel every time he drove the car because it would come off. The engineers aren't aholes, just the grade ten drop outs that "fix" them are.
We know the bolt are on the correct way. They tighten against the travel of the vehicle on both side of the car. Theorectically they should never loosen. So give me an education as to what to look out for on the splines. Anyone got photos of a good and bad spline?
In my case it was an 88 1/2 MY. My car was also very high mileage and rough road usage. Wheel came off at 70K miles. When corners were inspected there was play and all 4 corners were replaced totally by Ferrari FNA. It's possible that the new ones were designed differently or from a later design. I drove mine another 85K miles without it happening again. I'd take a hard look at entire corner and see if there is any play in bushings/bearings. If there is I'd fix that. As I remember it the play in the corner was quite evident.
