Broken wheel!

kodiakfrank

New member
Just following up with this.

I still have not been able to find many reports of broken wheels. I appears that our broken wheel may have just been a fluke, caused by a manufacturing defect.

Still, I'm wondering whether there is any difference in strength between the "18 hole" OE steel wheels and the "12 hole" (slot-hole-slot...style) OE steel wheels that are on our 2008 cab-chassis?

I agree with those who have posted that the 18 hole wheels appear to be a stronger design, but it would be great to have some confirmation of that.
I just found my inboard right rear steel wheel cracked in an almost identical pattern. Same wheel design, 29745 miles, 2007 3500 cab chassis. Called local MB dealer and was told that they have seen "several" cracked steel wheels and that is due to overloading. Typical MB denial / it's operator error bullshite...
 

Burkilimo

Member
Both tires the same size? If the bolts were loose - it would’ve broken the studs off. Could’ve happened with an extremely tight turn - but unless it was heavily loaded - unlikely that it would crack the rim
Strange
 

lindenengineering

Well-known member
Normally on big trucks this caused by incorrect torqueing of wheel nuts or slight movement of the wheel on the hub
This is part of big truck & bus fleet maintenance PMs regarded as a safety issue.

The truck method is to lube the threads with a light application of gear oil having installed them by even torqueing , then periodically loosen each nut one by one 1/2 turn and retighten to the specified torque.
Don't leave this to tiresole (TYRESOLE) companies to do this for you . Or it might be your soul in jeopardy!
In the UK its the driver's responsibility to do this weekly on HGV's or before a trip.
Don't blame the manufacturers until you have conformed to this regimen first.
Dennis.
 
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Cheyenne

UK 2004 T1N 313CDi
But the crack is through the valve stem hole and not a lug hole!

The rim must have flexed about that hole sufficiently to cause a crack to propagate.

Keith.
 

lindenengineering

Well-known member
Yes exactly BUT
Hence you have to eliminate the area of concern causing the cracks .
The Society of Road Transport Engineers cited excess paint on rim flange faces , dirt/debris trapped between hub , & wheel flange faces worn, & studs stretching to excess under torque loads as frequent causes of insecurity & movement causing cracks.
I have seen something like it on low profile bus rims when Leyland Truck & Bus went from 10 cone stud location to flange hub centric installs.
The torque as upped to 550 ft lbs on 1100x20's then on some truck applications to 850 ft lbs.
(P.S. Don't try that on your Sprinter)
Dennis
 
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Kajtek1

2015 3500 X long limo RV
My 2015 dually has inner and spare wheels with steel rims, so I wonder if those reported here were replaced against manufacturer recommendations?
I read about wheels breaking quite a bit on Truck Camper forum.
Too often 4000 lb camper is put on 3/4 ton truck.
 

lindenengineering

Well-known member
The first line of investigation is to quantify if the problem is isolated to left or right side wheelset of the vehicle in question?

Second issue is to understand if a left side has been installed on a right side during a tyre rotation and this might be a "wild card" ,in short is the cracking only caused by left side axle to wheel set installs?

Are the wheels to hub mounted, so that the valve locations are 180 degrees offset or other possible install configurations?

DON"T jump to conclusions
, blaming manufacturers and dealers alike until you have some hard facts or evidence to qualify a possible fault source..

Dennis
 

Old Crows

Calypso 2014 View Profile
Again, that is an old style rim. Since we have seen multiple fatigue cracks in theses rims I’ll speculate that they originate from the corner of the oblong slots. Probably 3 or 4 reasons for that happening. Mother Benz changed the rim design to multiple round holes 6 or 7 ??? years ago probably due to noting fatigue failures in the old style. A running design improvement...
 

Slavy

2017 2500 4x4 6 cyl. with 34,000 miles
Well - another cracked wheel. I have a 2017 4x4 2500 with about 20,000 miles. I was just finishing a trip and on the last night, my drivers side rear wheel starting losing air. I could not see anything in the tire and a leaking air sound around the stem. I changed out the tire and drove home. This morning, I took it to the shop to see what was up and they discovered a crack in the rim near the stem.

I have the van heavily loaded, but the GAWR for the rear is 5360 lbs and the actual van weight is 5140 lbs. So I am under the max weighting and the tires are rated for 2905 lbs each at 75 lbs air pressure. (5810 lbs total)

I am planning on buying a new rim, but hope this is not a trend. Just wanted others to know that this is still an issue.
 

sailquik

Well-known member
The slotted steel OEM wheels are more prone to breaking in exactly this way.
The steel wheels with the round holes are significantly less likely to fail in this way.
That wheel at some point may have been on the front and run into or over a curb.
Those of you with the slotted wheels probably need to change them out for the
OEM with the round holes.
Depending on the supply at the moment, there are often brand new RV takeoff wheels
available for not to much $$.
The slotted wheels were only installed on USA Sprinters for a few years (like around 2010-2012
maybe) then they all seem to come with the round hole wheels.
As suggested, there probably should be a recall on the slotted wheels on Sprinters and Sprinter
based RV's.
Roger
 

showkey

Well-known member
Still amazing that these rims have not been recalled ?

BMW had some BIG problem:
like these:
As part of this cracked wheel class action settlement, which was reached last month, BMWhas agreed to reimburse eligible Class Members for past repairs stemming from the allegedly defective alloy wheels or will cover the cost of repairing cracked alloy wheels in select BMW vehicles if these defects occurred during the ...Mar 27, 2015

Mb fought it once.......December 10, 2017 — A Mercedes-Benz cracked wheels lawsuit has been dismissed as the court ruled the Mercedes owners couldn't prove the wheel rims are defective. ... Owners allegedly must continually complain to the automaker about cracked wheels to convince the automaker to cover any of the cost of replacement rims

There are other forums where its a common topic other than Sprinter models:

Cracked Wheel - MBWorld.org Forums
https://mbworld.org › ... › C450/C43 AMG





Sep 12, 2017 — He then admitted that they get 5 or 6 cracked wheel problems every week. ... (Per discount tire) My service advisor at Mercedes says it is not a warranty item, ...
Cracked rims a common problem?
Apr 28, 2017
Cracked Rim - Now Slow Leak
Mar 23, 2017
Wheels Cracking
Jan 22, 2019
Crack in rim...covered by warranty???
Nov 26, 2007
More results from mbworld.org
 
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Slavy

2017 2500 4x4 6 cyl. with 34,000 miles
Well - got another cracked wheel! On a road trip and sensor showed low pressure. No nail, but noticed the stem leaking. Took it to Les Schwab and a small crack in the rim! They ordered me a new rim and waiting for it to arrive.
 

sajohnson

'09 View/08 3500 chassis
Well - got another cracked wheel! On a road trip and sensor showed low pressure. No nail, but noticed the stem leaking. Took it to Les Schwab and a small crack in the rim! They ordered me a new rim and waiting for it to arrive.
It's clearly operator error. :cool:

After reading showkey's post (#54) above I realize it is a common problem. Oddly, although I've been on Sprinter-Source since 2009, I don't recall reading about any cracked wheels before starting this thread.

It's interesting that there has not been a recall ordered. I imagine the cracked wheels lawsuit was dismissed because the burden of proof is on the plaintiff(s), but at some point, after a certain percentage of parts (wheels) have failed, the burden should shift to the mfr (MB) and they should provide the necessary parts and labor to correct the problem.
 

showkey

Well-known member
If this issue was happening on F150, Honda Accord, Camry, Ram or Transit ……..it would have far more traction to get noticed by the FEDS and class action groups.
Broken/cracked rims are no way a common wear item and can be a safety issue.
 

sajohnson

'09 View/08 3500 chassis
If this issue was happening on F150, Honda Accord, Camry, Ram or Transit ……..it would have far more traction to get noticed by the FEDS and class action groups.
Broken/cracked rims are no way a common wear item and can be a safety issue.
Absolutely.

Another potential factor is that the NHTSA presumably has some threshold that must be exceeded before they take action.

A forum like Sprinter-Source is likely to get a lot of reports about any given issue. So there's at least a possibility that those of us reading forum posts here might get an inaccurate impression of the extent of the problem.

Thanks to RVBarry for posting the NHTSA link. I'm pretty sure I already reported our cracked wheel but I'll double check.

Everyone affected should definitely report their cracked wheel(s).
 

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