Crackenback Trip - Day 2

Day 2 – 25/3/2012 - Goondiwindi to Molong

It was an early start. Up at 6 and packed up and on the road by 8am. It was going to be another big, and interesting day!

As we were idling around the truck stop after picking up fuel on the way out of Goondiwindi, we noticed a bit of a noise that seemed to be coming from one of the wheels. We didn't notice it the previous afternoon when we pulled into the caravan park. So I assumed that it was just stone in a tyre and thought nothing of it because the noise disappeared once we got up to speed.

About a 100km further down the road, just north of Moree, we pulled into a rest area for a quick comfort stop. On pulling in the noise reappeared and sounded considerable louder and more like a grinding noise. I initially thought that it might have been a wheel bearing so I felt all of the wheels for the temperature and they all felt normal. On checking the rear left wheel I noticed not only a wheel nut missing but the wheel stud as well!!!!! The whole wheel stud had sheared off!!

Missing wheel stud and wheel nut! (Bottom Left)

Then on inspecting the other wheel nuts on that tyre we found they were all loose and could be turned with my fingers!!!!! I tightened up all of the nuts and checked all of the other wheel nuts on the vehicle and the camper. I thought we should be OK to continue on with only 5 of the 6 wheel studs until we could get it replaced. Luckily there was also a truckie stopped at the rest area so we asked his opinion on continuing on with a missing stud. He also said it would be ok to get us to where we were going because we still had 5 on there. If we had lost any more then we probably shouldn't.

Because it was a Sunday there wasn't much chance of getting it fixed so we decided to push on to Molong and take it a bit easier and check the wheel nuts at at each stop.

We arrived at Molong late in the afternoon and checked into the van park. We were after a site where we could stay hitched up. Unfortunately the only site that was left backed right onto the main highway leading through town. Even though the trucks were supposed to be only doing 60kph, it looked and sounded a lot faster. It looked like it was going to be a noisy night.  It was the first night that we have ever had to use ear plugs.  And even then you could still hear the trucks!!!!