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12-30-2018, 08:47 PM | #1 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 88
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Help! Lug bolts just snapped!
Holy cow ... This is awful, just awful.
I just put new tires on my i2 SE, and after torquing on the wheel to 25ft-lbs (at least according to my torque wrench) - just testing it out in the garage, the right wheel just snapped right off! All 3 lug bolts just completely snapped. Simply unbelievable. Could you imagine if this had happened out at speed? I'd be in a world of trouble. So a couple of things ... #1 - any suggestions on how to replace the lugs? It seems they're press-fit into the triangle plate. Anyone been able to replace them successfully, whether by heating the plate or ...? #2 - Now I can't trust the left side either! I checked the manual and torqued to 25ft-lb of torque - see the wrench. http://www.segway.com/media/1603/i2_..._and_wheel.pdf How could I have possibly snapped these bolts? And more importantly, how do I fix them? Anyone have a suggestion on someone who's experienced in such things? I really don't want to drop $1000 on two new transmissions - I may as well scrap this thing instead. Seriously, what a disappointment. |
12-30-2018, 09:51 PM | #2 |
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Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 88
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12-31-2018, 01:30 AM | #3 |
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Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Breinigsville PA
Posts: 138
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Did you have a tough time getting the nuts off the first time that maybe the studs fractured on removal then fractured even more on installation?
I'm sure those studs can be replaced but there might be a lot of disassembly required. Give a good repair shop a call and bang their ear a little. Maybe you can do the bull work and let them replace the studs in the hubs. Maybe these guys? http://segwayofannapolis.com/ |
12-31-2018, 10:13 AM | #4 | |
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Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 88
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Quote:
I found a used pair of gearboxes on eBay for a reasonable(ish) price so I’m going to change them out. We’ll see what kind of condition the couplers are in but I’m thinking a full gearbox replacement is the only safe way to do this .... unreal. |
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12-31-2018, 10:59 AM | #5 |
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Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: USA
Posts: 168
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I likely have that torque wrench. 10-75 ft/lbs clicker type.
Those bolts do look stretched. Could someone else have over torqued them during servicing? Hitting it with an air impact wrench? Could they have stretched when the wheel was loosely tightened down and still ridden? A precision measurement equipment lab I used to work with would often throw out torque wrenches for being out of tolerance and not being economical to fix. Out of tolerance torque wrenches are common. Could yours be rusty or binding inside the torque wrench? But, I figure you would have noticed the over torque you applied when it started hurting your hand more than usual. I am betting that someone else over torqued it during previous servicing. Maybe tightening it down again and again as the nuts came loose during test driving. Note, you have to clean off the rust on the mating surfaces to get an accurate torque. You have to take a wire brush to it. Otherwise, the rust binds it up early when torquing and then grinds down during use, thereby leaving the fasteners loose. I lost a wheel off my rusty car this way when I was young. Repair is just getting a machine shop to press in new studs. Or a car shop. hub might need to be removed from the gear box. |
01-01-2019, 01:05 PM | #6 |
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Freedonia!
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I’m not a metallurgist, but I don’t see evidence of internal failure. That is, don’t see any evidence of cracks, internal rust, etc. Haven’t seen any other reports of this failure, and I’ve been following SC since 2006.
Given that all six bolts failed, it would seem that the issue is specific to the individual machine. It is possible that some unusual process, such as hydrogen embrittlement or galvanic corrosion could be a factor. The hubs look corroded, but there is a lot of clean grey steel showing in the bolts, and 25 lb-ft isn’t that much torque. Occam’s Razor points to overtorque. Maybe contact Segway about this. If I were Segway, I’d want to take a close look at those bolts, in case something is occurring over time in the field. If so, maybe they’ll send you some new hubs in exchange for your failed parts. Questions: 1. How old is the machine? 2. Why are the hubs so dirty/corroded? 3. After snapping off one or two bolts, why did you proceed with the rest of them? |
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