It's been an interesting afternoon. Driving my CRD which had been making clicking noises intermittently running some errands tyring to see if I can find what is causing that noise, when all of a sudden the front pass corner dipped down and I saw my wheel/tire go rolling past me on the grass

Pulled off to the side (fortunately was going like 20mph), retrieved my tire, and surveyed the damage. Four of the wheel studs were sheared off, the fifth was bent and has a bit of a wiggle in it. No way I could "borrow" some nuts from the other wheels and crawl home, so I got a tow.

I was expecting the nuts to have come off and that was why the tire was loose, but am really puzzled by the four sheared off studs. I am very certain these wheels were put on right and torqued properly (did it myself and triple checked it). So I am curious if this failure mode is familiar at all to anyone here, and what could have caused it.

The other question is what's the right way to fix this. First quick look, it appears the bearing is fine and the hub itself too. Have not pulled the brake caliper and disk off, but it looks like there is clearance to push the old wheel studs out and press in new ones with the hub on the car. Is that OK? Replacing the hub assembly is another option, but I wonder how one removed the axle nut when you can't put a wheel on the hub to keep it from turning while loosening the nut. Other thoughts?

Well, I suppose on the bright side, i MAY have found that ticking/clicking noise

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2006 KJ CRD

Same thing happened to me several years ago.
Had violent shaking. Found 3 broken lugs when I stopped.
A 4th broke off when it was pulled up onto the tow truck.
The 5th one broke off when my CRD was dropped off in my driveway.

Bought a replacement hub from the local parts store and fixed it the next day.

This type of thing is usually caused by over or under tightened lug nuts.
In my case, I think they were under tightened.

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U.S. Army Retired

Wheel nuts that come loose is most of the time due to rust between the hub and the rotor or between the rotor and the wheel. Also corrosion on the wheel if it's alloy.

Remove rotor and clean the hub, the rotor and the inside face of the wheel. In your case you most likely need a wheel. put new studs and your good to go. Also a good time to service the brakes !

I work on a libby the other day with a loose wheel, the rear rotor where so pitted on the surface that contact with the wheel it needed new rotor. I took off others wheel as well and give a good clean and another one was just about to come loose.

Thanks PZKW108, good to know. Odd thing was, I had both front wheels up off the ground, spinning them and shaking them just a few weeks ago and they seemed fine.
After disassembling things a bit more, looks like just some new studs and nuts and cleaning up the other stuff should do it.

Guess I learned a lesson, when you hear clunking/ticking check those wheels and lug nuts, no matter how sure you are that they are fine...

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2006 KJ CRD

Make sure the lug nut holes and tapper is good on your wheel ! If you have a doubt switch with your spare !

I had a similar experience - but not as severe.

I heard a clicking that turned into a clunking. I couldn't isolate it either even after jacking up all four corners and tugging, pushing, shaking & spinning. Eventually I noticed a missing lugnut & stud. LR wheel was loose.

Replaced the sheared stud & torqued, drove some & retorqued again. Only thing I can figure is that I fixed a slow leak in that tire while the vehicle was down for about 2 years and in the process I didn't remember to either fully tighten or torque it back. Been fine ever since.

So no body damage from the run away tire?

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2005 Liberty CRD, with 135,XXX miles. Rockers, exhaust valves, Provent, EGR block & butterfly delete & V6 air box at 100K

1998 XJ 4.0L, stock with 130,XXX miles

First Jeep: 1962 Willys CJ-3B