Steering wheel hub broke!!!!

Steering wheel hub broke!!!! Boy did I get the sh-- scared out of me. I was driving today and the steering felt a little lose. So I slowed down and then bang the whole thing came off. Right in a crave. Took her through the weeds!!!!. Luckily it came back on the road. The aluminum block that is the hub was in a lot of little pieces. Never seen one do that before. Lucky for me I carry tools. Got the old vice gripes out and brought her home in one piece.
Now guess who is getting a call Monday. Never seen aluminum come apart like that before.
Grant GT steering wheel and hub.

Holy crap!!! Im glad you were able to get her stopped in the weeds and not the hard stuff, like a car or cement block.. What a wild ride..

Ive never heard of aluminum fracturing like that. Usually those parts are made from 6160 hopefully T6 and the failure rate is very low for that material. Interested to hear what they have to say. If they are serious, and they should be they will want the pieces back to do a complete examination. Glad you and the car are ok. JR

We all know the chinese dedication to quality parts making

Glad no one was hurt (you or the car). Hmm.... Vice grip steering kind of a cool name for a steering wheel. Got any Pics?
:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

I blame church!!!:devil:

:poke::poke::poke::stir::stir::stir::stir::stir::s tir::stir::stir:

I have a Grant wheel and one of the three bolts threads pulled out. I found out when my horn started honking and I pulled it apart and found the stripped screw. I called them and they shipped the parts express after I email them the receipt off purchase.

Tell grant they owe you MORE than a dam steering wheel if they want you to play nice and not take out a FRONT PAGE AD in the local paper.

Wow that could have been such a bad thing. Lives could have been taken. I hope we can all take note of this and see what the outcome is from Grant wheels. Anybody with a Grant wheel should be pulling the wheel off and inspect the hub. Glad you and the car are OK Tim.

1992 Chrysler mini van the same thing happened to my wife. She got in the car to go to work in the morning and the steering wheel came off and fell into her lap. The only thing holding it on were the horn and air bag wires. We attribute the damage to the fact that my very large Bro-in-law was using the steering wheel to get himself in and out of the car and broke it. Scared us because she drove home on the highway the night before.

Well I took what was left of the hub to TVA today and let a friend look at it. He said it was metal fatigue. That the aluminum had been real hot for a long period of time. More that likely in a fire somewhere like a warehouse or something like that. I sent Grant a note on it lets see what they have to say.

Dayyuummm bro, glad you are okay, bet that pucker factor was up there....:eek:

Hate to see the black beast all bent up....good thing you weren't hard on the throttle when it happened.....

T,

Most are cast aluminum.

Get a LeCarra and you will be way happier.

Holy smokes Tim..........sure glad everything worked out!

I blame church!!!:devil:

:poke::poke::poke::stir::stir::stir::stir::stir::s tir::stir::stir:

Your right Bryan............Tim I am going to have to give you a refund and make you put the stock stuff back on.....that way you will leave it in the garage and not want to drive it and mess things up:D

Keep your money!!! I will keep the CBR stuff on and drive the crap out it. But frist I have to get the crap off the seat.:yes:

Most are cast aluminum.

No... Really??? Show some data.. Cause I didnt know.. Its pretty cheap to have a turning center pop out parts with a swipe of the mouse to change the diameters. A whole lot more expensive to recreate a die mold for stamping when you dont even know how many parts are gonna be needed. Cast??? Really?? That surprised me. Where did you get yer info from??? Im curious now. A turning center can pop these simple parts out big time. I cant see casting them... Im always learning here guys. I love it... JR

No... Really??? Show some data.. Cause I didnt know.. Its pretty cheap to have a turning center pop out parts with a swipe of the mouse to change the diameters. A whole lot more expensive to recreate a die mold for stamping when you dont even know how many parts are gonna be needed. Cast??? Really?? That surprised me. Where did you get yer info from??? Im curious now. A turning center can pop these simple parts out big time. I cant see casting them... Im always learning here guys. I love it... JR

well I've only dealt with a few of them for different vehicles but all of them were indeed cast pieces. they were all Grant by the way.

It takes about twice the time to machine a set of dies as it would to 'spin the part'.

After you have the dies made, you can injection mold them ( die cast ) in just a few seconds. The dies are sent through a cool process, then the part is removed, and dies are sent back through.

If it takes two hours to 'spin the part' complete with threaded and tapped holes, etc.. but you can die cast it start to finish in 20 minutes..

you get the idea.

It takes about twice the time to machine a set of dies as it would to 'spin the part'.

After you have the dies made, you can injection mold them ( die cast ) in just a few seconds. The dies are sent through a cool process, then the part is removed, and dies are sent back through.

If it takes two hours to 'spin the part' complete with threaded and tapped holes, etc.. but you can die cast it start to finish in 20 minutes..

you get the idea.

Good point... Oh, but its more like 10 minutes for a cnc center with live tooling. Turn, drill, tap and the whole works. And... If the machine can except a large enough bar through the spindle you have a bar feeder. Endless supply of aluminum to be cut. Guess then they could add the all important buzz word for car parts, billet LOL Which IMO is funny. Billet??? Its either cast or machined. When machined they like to throw in the billet word Its all good. Well, till yer hanging on to a steering wheel and its not attached to anything but your hands. JR

Good point... Oh, but its more like 10 minutes for a cnc center with live tooling. Turn, drill, tap and the whole works. And... If the machine can except a large enough bar through the spindle you have a bar feeder. Endless supply of aluminum to be cut. Guess then they could add the all important buzz word for car parts, billet LOL Which IMO is funny. Billet??? Its either cast or machined. When machined they like to throw in the billet word Its all good. Well, till yer hanging on to a steering wheel and its not attached to anything but your hands. JR

Will never herd a word from GRANT. Got looking through some of my stuff and found an old metal one. Had to re-drill and tap it. But I do fell a lot safer with it over the cast one.

Call a lawyer.

Basts won't discuss their crappy product with you in a civil manner?

Make them regret it.

Will never herd a word from GRANT. Got looking through some of my stuff and found an old metal one. Had to re-drill and tap it. But I do fell a lot safer with it over the cast one.

Are they ignoring you!!! Gimme the phone!!! I am hard to ignore... Did you call or email. I have had some "no replies" with email dealing with companies that have a serious safety issue. They dont want to put anything in writing and email does that. For fear of a lawsuit..

They should be kissin yer butt right now. It could have been a major multiple fatality accident and lawsuit if the situation was slightly different. Like you at 65 and pointed at oncoming traffic..

No way should they brush you off. And the thing is its not like you are looking for any car or bodily injury damages, just a response and acknowledgment and a "oh, we are so sorry we are going to seriously look into this and here, have a new wheel and hub on us".

And really, they owe you more than a "lets ignore this dude" attitude. That pisses me off. They got off lucky BIG time. JR

I sent an email to Grant customer service with a link to this thread. If they read this it should get their attention.
Tim

Actually a link may be a good idea for us all that are on other car sites. It's a serious problem that shouldn't be ignored. You were extremely lucky. Maybe the next person(s) won't be.

I got a hold of the guy that I bought the wheel off of. Asked him if he got it from Grant or through someone else. He blew me off like I was trying to start something like a law suit or something. I told him I just wanted to let him know of the issue and that he may want to ask around and see if anyone else had any trouble with theirs. Man try to do the right thing and people get mad. I have been on some other sites and have put the word out for people to take there wheels off and give it a look see. If there is no cracking or if there is no powder looking stuff around it then you are good. But if you see cracks or powder then get it off the car now. I did not get hurt and did not hurt anyone so I fell very lucky at that and just what to make sure that nun of you get hurt.

I sent an email to Grant customer service with a link to this thread. If they read this it should get their attention.
Tim

Hey Tim, that was good of you to step up too. As a dealer (you prolly are) they might actually look into it. Its funny how manufactures wont want to admit to anyone there is a problem, dont wanna hang their neck out, even if they do decide to look into the possibility of a material defect. But a company that deals with approved street use products that deals with braking or steering has a major liability issue. I hope they at least look into it and communicate it to either their customer, Tim or their dealers, nuther Tim. JR

I got a hold of the guy that I bought the wheel off of. Asked him if he got it from Grant or through someone else. He blew me off like I was trying to start something like a law suit or something.

Ohh. Possibility it wasnt even a grant hub huh?? Is he a machinist that maybe buys grant wheels and makes his own hubs?? Interesting. Yeah, bet he was giving the cold shoulder. If thats the case, where he made the hub then he should be outed.. If like Wilwood, grant may pin mark all their product codes on the hub. Thats done for several reasons, one being part traceability. Steering and braking components have alot of risk factor, and the major manufactures know this, so they do a certain amount of backwards traceability. They have major insurance policies, some hard to get without some additional precautions, like traceability. You know, just like the aircraft parts manufactures but on a smaller scale.

See any identification markings on the hub??? JR

Serve Grant through small claims court- that will definitely get their attention. Just ask Edelcrap.:devil:

Ok. So I just happen to have a brand new Grant GT steering wheel up in the rafters. Had it for years. Car is still too rough for it. Anyway, I have the grant hub brand new in the box too.

And yup you guys are right, its a cast piece. Actually feels kinda weak. LOL How can I hold a part and say it feels flimsy. Well, I dont really. Ive held alot of mechanical parts, and my brain just relays flimsy. I know, lame azzed description. Maybe the weight for the size, I dont know.

But anyway, I took a pic... For Tim. See if yours looks anything like this. This is for a 80s GM steering shaft so that may be diff. But how bout the markings??? JR

Does yours look anything like this one. Grant hub.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v366/Jrouche/Steves%20Nova/steering/granthub.jpg

I had a Grant wheel hub screw that stripped out. I found out when the horn started honking constantly because the horn switch had shorted out.
I emailed Grant, they asked for my receipt for proof of me purchase. I emailed them a copy and the other info they asked for. In a couple of days I had a new install kit in the mail. On mine it wasn't a bad part the bolts they sent with it had bad spots in the threads. I didn't notice when I installed the hub. The screws ate the threads as they screwed down. When I pulled the hub off all the screws had a dent in the threads that caused the problem.

Best I can remember it looked like that. Now it is in a zillion pieces.