Wheel FallOff

[alice@domain.elided]

I once lost my right front wheel going down a curvy hill.  I happened 
to be unloaded at the time.  My '76 Traveler dug its rotor into the 
pavement and tracked true to a stop.  This was a country road, no 
traffic.  I walked ahead to fetch the tire from a creekbed, jacked up 
the corner and stole one lug from each of the other three wheels and 
carefully drove home.  I attribute this loss to aluminium wheels and 
a "lug nut with flat washer" clamping style of nut.  I converted soon 
thereafter to a steel wheel with tapered standard lug nuts.  Never a 
problem since, never will use aluminium again. 

Just before the incident, I had towed a 4000# sailboat from Percy 
Priest Reservoir, Nashville TN to Bloomington IN ...imagine the 
"what ifs" of this happening while cresting Monteagle Pass in TN!

BTW, that Traverel, while too long for my taste and general 
all-around usage, was a damn good towing vehicle.  It was equipped 
with the 304V8 and auto gearbox.  The "gold box" let me down a few 
times ...I got to know the tow truck drivers pretty well ...was able 
to actually negotiate a package deal (3 tows for the price of 2).  
This permanently turned my SO off to IH products ...my Traveler 
always let me down at the worse possible time, while a Ford F150 I 
had use of, always saved the day.  
Mark