While we're confessing brake job errors...
I did a complete rear brake job on my old F-350 flatbed (Dana 70 axle). Spun the lug nuts down with a 3/8" impact but forgot to torque them.
You can see where this is going
Drove to the sawmill 6 miles away and got 2 tons of cut ends for my wood furnace. Coming back down the 2-lane county highway at 55 mph... no warning, wobble wobble THUMP screeeeeeeeeeeech. The left rear dually wheels came off and the brake drum slid on the pavement
Ron White - Tire Fell Off (NSFW)One passed me like a cartoon and went 200 yards down the road in the other lane, the other went out the rear 1/4 mile behind me. Luckily no one was on the road at the moment but me! Bent the crap out of the 1/4" C-channel bumper too.
Once I realized I could keep it straight and come to a stop, without being underneath 3 tons of truck and 2 more tons of wood, I unclenched about six inches of seat upholstery.
The studs weren't even damaged, but my brand new brake drum was sanded really flat on one side...
The guy whose house I ground to a stop in front of, phoned his brother to bring some lug nuts from HIS house. Unfortunately they were not the right size, but it was nice of them to try.
So I called 911 since there were no shoulders and I was in the road. The state trooper who came out was the same guy who'd called me a tow truck years ago when I had a flat on my pickup (and the spare was also flat). He remembered me, too.
He actually drove me about 4 miles to O'Reilly, I bought eight new lug nuts,
and he drove me back to the truck! I'm always amazed that people in rural MO will stop to help a stranger.
I put them on and drove the rest of the way home. Ordered another brake drum (Autozone lifetime warranty did not cover it, so I didn't try) and finished the job, using a torque wrench this time! Only once in nearly 40 years of wrench-turning have I done something like that.
