I just got home from getting my TJ towed. I had been deer hunting 8 miles from my house and had been in the deep woods of our property. The road to and from the stand I hunted is pretty rough but I have been in and out the same route for the last couple of weeks. Three miles from the hunting site back to the house on the highwayI hear a rumbling sound from what sounded like the right rear when I let off the gas but when I applied the brakes the rumbling stopped. When I put it back under power the rumbling stopped. Thinking it was a limb that had gotten caught I kept going but slower. I had slowed down considerably but when I hit a bump it felt like the rear end had busted loose and the Jeep sank down in the back. I called the tow service and when we jacked it up all of the lug nuts were missing from the left rear tire hub. I dug around for some extra lug nuts and we put the left tire back on and winched it onto the roll-back. The left rear tire had come off and fortunately centered itself in the wheel-well when I hit the bump and then pulled off the road. The mystery to me is that the threads on the studs did not look overly damaged as I would expect a loose wheel over time to cause. I don’t routinely check for loose lug nuts but if it had been loose for a while it seems that the threads would be worn down and making noise. I was hunting two miles from the nearest dwelling so I don’t think one of the angry neighbors took them off. Also, wouldn’t it be more likely to loose lug nuts while going through the rough stuff and not on the highway for 5 miles with no noise? And to lose all 5 at once? Thoughts from anyone?
