front driver side wheel fell off on highway, what to replace?

[Tiger07]

I was driving my ranger a couple years ago on the highway when my front driver side tire, rim and everything, flew off as it was loose or something. Of course the truck landed on the rotor and luckily I was fine as I was able to at least steer off to the side of the highway. Landed and dragged on the rotor, also one of the five lug bolts that holds the rim on snapped off so I know I have to replace that. When it dragged on the highway it actually grinded off the bolt/nut at the very bottom of where the rotor is attached too. I would like to know if anyone has experienced this or a similar issue and what I have to do to fix it and be able to drive her again. I'll attach some photos of it too.

 

[gw33gp]

I don't think anyone can tell you for sure what to replace from viewing those pictures. You will need to inspect up close and replace anything that is damaged. I would at least replace the lug studs/nuts and rotor. Lower ball joint and spindle may need to be replaced too.

 

[SenorNoob]

I'd be wary of that knuckle too. Looks a little thin on the bottom..

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Replace all the studs as well. There could be shock loading or damage done when the wheel left.

 

[Tiger07]

So I got everything taken off so I can see the steering knuckle (caliper, rotor, wheel of course since its gone) and took off the steering knuckle. I'm pretty sure the only thing that needs replaced is the steering knuckle (cause its grounded down flat at the bottom, so there's no bolt/nut at the bottom of it where it connects to the lower ball joint) as well as the lower ball joint. Now I can't get the lower ball joint off of where it sits on the platform looking arm thing, and I need to replace it as well so I can attach a new steering knuckle. The rotor seems to have no damage to it since the steering knuckle took all the hurt. But if anyone could tell me how to remove the lower ball joint from the platform arm thing it would be most appreciated!

 

[HGI]

Shit, glad to hear you walked away from that and that your wheel didn't go flying into another veichle. I'm wondering what was the cause of this, was there anything weird going on prior to the event? Who was the last person to take off your tires and when? Might be a good idea to go check your other wheels as I'd hate to see this happen again after all the time and money you'll spend fixing this.

 

[SenorNoob]

Would the standard ball joint press rental work on that?

 

[4x4junkie]

I think since the nut is gone, a few hard raps on the knuckle with a hammer next to the ball joint should pop the taper loose and it'll drop right off.

 

[Tiger07]

Got the lower ball joint out, took a good few rounds of heating it up and knocking at it downward with a sledge hammer but it finally came out. I've ordered a new lower ball joint and have the new steering knuckle, so I'm waiting on that as well as a ball joint press tool to install the new one. My next step I need to figure out is getting a tire and a rim. I'm most likely going to replace all four tires so they match, but I was told as long as I get a rim that matches the same specifications as the other three then it should be okay. Is that true or is it bad to drive with a different rim? I was also told that as long as there are two matching front tires and two matching back tires with similar wear and tread it should be okay?