Sledgehammer updates

[mazspeed]

Few more pics

[mazspeed]

Well I have an update on the car.
I went to pick the car up last night from Gearhead garage and was driving it home and on the freeway I lost the left rear wheel. I was doing about 65-70 when there was a violent shake and the wheel broke all 5 studs and left. I was able to maneuver it to the side of the road, but there will be no show for my car this weekend. Thankfully the cal track bars saved the car. It used them as a ski so I was able to fight the car where I wanted on the freeway, to the right side of the road. Damage. There is some small crack on the body inner fender wall. The cal track bar is destroyed, the Wheel is destroyed, and the left axel is destroyed. I called Jason since I was so close and he came out with his tow guys and his crew, got it loaded on the flat bed trailed and we took it back to the shop. The diagnoses was that there was gear grease on the wheel itself and there was a lot of play in the axel. It looks like it broke a bearing. I'm more then curious how this could have happened. I bought the rear-end from "biggearhead" on the camaro.net forums, and it came without axels pressed in. Jason wanted them shipped that way, and then Jason had them pressed in. How could this have happened? Does anyone have a clue of what might have gone wrong? I'm afraid to drive the thing at this point. I'm very lucky that’s, all that happened, I thought that I was going to take someone out, as the car was going out of control, but I got lucky. I just need to know what the hell happened?!


Mike

[jonny51]

Mike that really sucks but atleast everybody is safe.I hope you get to the bottom of this but everybody will have there opinion.

[mazspeed]

Originally Posted by jonny51

Mike that really sucks but atleast everybody is safe.I hope you get to the bottom of this but everybody will have there opinion.

Hey Jonny I really appreciate that. Yeah I'm kind of looking for answers so if anyone has them, we will be sure to listen. This is also a credit to Jason. He was the first person I called and rounded the troops in really no time and came with a group of guys with parts and a wheel cart to get the car on the trailer in traffic. When we got back to the shop there were no less then 10 people trying to figure out what went wrong. In no way do I blame him, or really anybody for it, it's an accident that happened and as you say thank god no one was hurt. But I'm looking for answers as this should not have happened to a $2500 rear end set. I just can’t believe how little damage there was. He even told me they cold fix it that night and have gotten me to the show today, but I declined.

[ilovefirstgens]

damn!

Good to hear your alright, but sure is a bummer for right before the show!

Im sure youll have it back on the road in no time

[McssGmachine]

Sorry to here that man! Glad to hear your alright!

[mazspeed]

Thanks guys, the damage to the car is very minimal for going 65mph on the freeway and losing a wheel. It can be fixed in less then a day, but it's the parts that will take time. I have been e-mailing Johnny at baer, and the distributor that sold me the rear end and everyone has been great so far. I pretty much know what happened, but won't say till the rear is pulled and figured out for sure. The only thing I worry about is the boyd coddington smoothie wheels, but since they have been sold off, the wheels have came in a lot faster then they used too, so this is good news. I will keep everyone informed over the next few days on what happens. But after this wild ride, it's time for a cage. Also time for a light weight motor. I'm done screwing around with custom made parts! It's time to really open the wallet.

Thanks again guys
Mike

[zbugger]

Mike, that's too bad about your little incident. The last time I've seen that is when my cousin had bad wheels on his old K5 Blazer. He'd usually lose two at a time. It would most likely be something to do with either the wheels or the studs themselves. Maybe the lugs weren't all the way seated or something? Can't tell without looking though. Glad to see it's gonna get fixed though.

[jonny51]

Open the wallet sucker....................

[mdprovee]

Sorry to hear about your accident, especially since was just finished. Just glad everyone is ok. Keep us posted.