Wheel torque

[bigredhdt]

For those of you who remove your own truck tire, how do you accurately torque your lug nuts?

[jenandjon]

Yea, We hammer em on with a Inch air impact until they stop turning.

[SuiteSuccess]

I don’t work on my own tires but I carry a 48” torque wrench that goes to 650 ft/lbs.  Part of my pre-season ritual is to check the torque on every wheel before our first trip then I repeat several times during the year.  As an anecdote I was with another member of this forum when he was getting a wheel worked on and as the tech removed his wheel cover on a steer tire (which also covered the lug nuts) two nuts fell off in his hand.  That was eye opening.

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

53 minutes ago, jenandjon said:

Yea, We hammer em on with a Inch air impact until they stop turning.

That is how to stretch the studs.  That procedure works only if you have a torque monitoring extension.

[Lance A Lott]

At work, school bus and coach buses, they use a 1" torque stick with a uncalibrated 1" air gun. The mechanic says he has checked it many times with a torque wrench and it's always correct.  I have a 4 to one torque multiplier for use with a 150lbft torque wrench. 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

Like Carl, I carry a 3/4" torque wrench capable of 650 lb'ft of torque.

[ARGO]

Having been from the stud-piloted-wheel era, I always use nevr-sieze on bolts/lug nuts etc. Trying to get a wheel off with the old Budd wheels stud/nut combinations is not fun if they are seized. Apparently now that is a no-no, since it throws off the torque reading. My torque method is the #8AYS torque spec. Defined, that is a 3/4 ratchet with an 8' bar w/ All Your Strength. (That has been arrived at being the proper torque, because that's what it takes to get the lugs off when having been put on by a 1" air gun.)

[Moresmoke]

16 minutes ago, ARGO said:

Having been from the stud-piloted-wheel era, I always use nevr-sieze on bolts/lug nuts etc. Trying to get a wheel off with the old Budd wheels stud/nut combinations is not fun if they are seized. Apparently now that is a no-no, since it throws off the torque reading. My torque method is the #8AYS torque spec. Defined, that is a 3/4 ratchet with an 8' bar w/ All Your Strength. (That has been arrived at being the proper torque, because that's what it takes to get the lugs off when having been put on by a 1" air gun.)

If you have Aluminum hub pilot wheels, steel hubs, and run in the salt at times, it is a good idea to use never seize on the hubs. I have had to get the port a power out to push wheels off before.

[dennisvr]

I guess I'm just old school, but I still put them on with a 1" impact.  Like I did when I was in the business and what every tire shop that I've seen do also.  
Our trucks would average 100,000 miles a year and cant recall ever having a issue with loose lug nuts.

[dennisvr]

I also lent my torque multiplier to a friend to do a brake job on the front of his truck.  After reinstalling the lugs nuts with the multiplier he took the truck to a tire shop to make sure they were tight.  He said they couldn't tighten the nuts anymore then they were.

 

[rickeieio]

Old school rule of thumb, if using any lube (anti-seize) on the threads, decrease the torque value by 10%.  I use anti-seize on everything.

[GeorgiaHybrid]

15 minutes ago, rickeieio said:

Old school rule of thumb, if using any lube (anti-seize) on the threads, decrease the toque value by 10%.  I use anti-seize on everything.

You know, I could have a lot of fun writing a response to that last line.😎

[rickeieio]

33 minutes ago, GeorgiaHybrid said:

You know, I could have a lot of fun writing a response to that last line.😎

I would expect nothing less............😜

But, I gots to know......is the 10% thing pretty close, from an enjinearing point of view?  I read it many years ago in a technical article written by a fellow named Gordon Jennings.

[bigredhdt]

For those who don't "wing it", which do you think is more accurate, the torque stick or the torque multiplier?

[Darryl&Rita]

A torque multiplier is worthless, without a torque wrench. Just sayin'. Otherwise, both are assumed to be equally accurate, but the extension requires multiple items to cover the range of a torque wrench.

[bigredhdt]

2 hours ago, Darryl&Rita said:

A torque multiplier is worthless, without a torque wrench. Just sayin'. Otherwise, both are assumed to be equally accurate, but the extension requires multiple items to cover the range of a torque wrench.

I would think that the torque multiplier would amplify the error in the torque wrench and have an error itself.  Which leads to a much bigger error than a single piece of equipment. 

[adept99]

You folks have opened a very large can of worms.  Torquing a threaded assembly is just a poor man's way of stretching the fastener to it's specified clamping force. Works dandy 99.999% of the time. However, sometimes you need better accuracy and stretching, as mentioned above, is a much better process. 

Assuming that your torque wrench is properly calibrated with all the traceability documentation, that is as good as you're going to get until somebody is willing to spend a LOT of money and eventually, even that won't help any more. That leaves us with the torque multiplier. The difference is that the wrench is an "instrument" for precise measurements and the multiplier is a "tool" that does not make measurements, bur rather, aides in gathering those measurements.

At each step up in force multiplication, an additional amount of error is introduced into the function. However, that error tends to be linear and can be allowed for in the equation being solved.

Whoopee !!

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

For what it's worth,

Loves truck stops that have the tire center will check the torque on your wheels for a minimal charge, or free if you bought the tires from them.  

[Lance A Lott]

A 4 to 1 torque multiplyer has a none torque value which I would have to look up I think it is 10 to 20 percent so if you are trying for 450 you would need 495 to 540 on the wrench.

[GeorgiaHybrid]

OK Paul, we could get really technical and explain why a turn of the nut method is about 90% more exact than a torqued nut and a torque stick on an impact gun will vary depending on air pressure and volume as well as the fit of the stick to the gun and to the socket. We could then move into elastic deformation of the stud or plastic deformation in torque to yield fasteners.  That could get us into a lively debate over having the threads included or excluded from the shear plane.

I decided a long time ago to just torque them to spec dry without lube and forget it.

And eieio, the 10% is a rough approximation but can be off a LOT depending on the lube used. From the sound if it, you are an expert on lube so I will that up to you. 😎

 

[Pete Kildow]

Also always use the 1" impact. Air pressure set at 140 lbs. Hammer then tight, and from 1984 to now. Never lost one, but guess I have been lucky. But then again every tire shop around still does that.

We always shot for 450-500 lbs of torque. And every time I would check them. Would be between those numbers.

[beemergary]

170# of me @ 2.5 ft. on and off on my budd wheels. Got to remember there's right and left threads. No road service for me.

[rickeieio]

14 hours ago, GeorgiaHybrid said:

From the sound if it, you are an expert on lube so I will that up to you. 😎

Been married to the same woman for near 45 years and ain't seized up yet.😁

When I first discovered anti-seize, I thought it was too much bother to dab it on every fastener.  After many years of wrenching on various equipment, I keep multiple flavors of it on hand.  A little dab will do ya.

[rickeieio]

Just did a bit of research on torque sticks.. I'll not be wasting any $$ on those.

[Parrformance]

Ok so just a thought, with some motor homes the tag axle has a single wheel.  For those that are not singled, what are the thoughts if removing a wheel from each side of the non drive axle?