# Torqued my nuts !



## moblee (Dec 31, 2006)

I have recently had two tyres changed on my mh....
Now I had two of my children with me so we kept well out of the way.

The lad doing it was very young which did concern me abit,..I saw him use a Torque wrench but I don't think he knew what setting to use.

I've just checked my nuts  By standing on my long armed wheel spanner & each one took a 3/4 turn 8O Was I in danger of wheel loss ? i'm starting to develop a real phobia about it.

Advise please


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## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

So, have you overtightened them and started to strip the threads.

I usually have a simple check.

Tighten nuts until you grunt. :lol: 

Dave p


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## JeanLuc (Jan 13, 2007)

moblee said:


> I've just checked my nuts  By standing on my long armed wheel spanner & each one took a 3/4 turn
> 
> Advise please


That is really not a great way to tighten your nuts. Over tightening can be just as bad as under tightening (not loose and coming adrift of course) because over tightened nuts can shear. If you want to reassure yourself that the wheels are fitted correctly, buy a torque wrench and apply the setting specified in the motorhome / base vehicle manual.

Philip


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## trevorf (May 16, 2005)

Not sure on motorhomes but on my caravan engineers course we were told recommended torque for wheel nuts is

90lb/ft for steel wheels

110lb/ft for alloys

I consider myself of medium build and strength but can easily apply more with a standard short wheel brace 8O 




Trevor


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Three quarters seems excessive but wheel nuts should be checked around 100 miles or so after having been loosened. Without knowing how much torque you applied it is not possible to guess. I must admit I have never torqued wheel nut just relying on a good tightening and checking later. I am sure that if you gave them a nip up they will be fine but check again in 100 miles or so, Alan.


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## moblee (Dec 31, 2006)

Thanks for your replies.....I didn't jump up & down on my spanner so as to strip the thread I just stood on the end of it.

I think I'll invest in some of those triangle things they have on lorry wheels :lol:


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## pete4x4 (Dec 20, 2006)

better to invest in a torque wrench really.


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## androidGB (May 26, 2005)

On my Sprinter 616 based vehicle I believe the wheel nut torque figure is around 135 ft. lbs


Andrew


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## tony50 (Oct 16, 2007)

First thing to do as advised already is get yourself a decent Torque wrench . Secondly get the correct setting for your type of vehicle ( sometimes you can get all alloy wheels or all steel wheels fitted to the same type of vehicle ) Alloy wheels are generally a different torque to steel wheels
Thirdly slacken wheel nuts and retorque them do one , then , do a nut opposite if it's a 5 stud then tighten opposite as near as you can ( Reason ! you don't know that if he tightened the wheels with a Air Impact gun that he didn't over tighten them to start with !)Recheck torque as recommended by Vehicle manufacturer in 10 to 20 miles .
Over tightening as said before can be dangerous , i have seen wheels crack around the nut area ,on a Truck I have seen a Steam cleaner point the steam lance at a wheel and as he moved the high pressure steam jet over the wheel nuts 3 nuts and studs dropped off ( due to metal fatigue or over tightening .)
ps. I'm not trying to scare you but too many people take wheel fixings for granted . In 44 years of vehicle servicing I never had a wheel come off and I don't want your wheels coming the other way on their own towards me !!!!

Tony A


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## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

You only stood on the spanner.
So how heavy are you?

12 Stone woukd give a half turn
14 stone would give three quarters.



dave p


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## grizzlyj (Oct 14, 2008)

Last time I took my wheels off I used a torque wrench when putting them back on. 300 miles later I had a nut missing cos the stud had sheared, presumably from a hard life and air guns overtightening previously? Thats the first time I'd used a torque wrench on them too!

Following that, a little research revealed that its not a good thing to grease the nuts before replacement. If you think about the fact that by lubricating the thread they'll be easier to turn, less nut to wheel friction etc, you will need a greater tension applied to the stud before the torque wrench feels the required resistance to the nut turning. Wheel torques are, I'm told, given in the dry nut condition.


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## androidGB (May 26, 2005)

DTPCHEMICALS said:


> You only stood on the spanner.
> So how heavy are you?
> 
> 12 Stone woukd give a half turn
> ...


Surely it would depend on what level they had been torqued to before he started

Andrew


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## inkey-2008 (May 24, 2008)

While working on the farm we had to tighten large nuts on a dics harrow.

The instructions where fit spanner supplied, slip 6 foot bar over spanner 14 stone man to stand on the end of the bar. 

You got the correct torque.

Andy


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## grizzlyj (Oct 14, 2008)

My nuts need 40kg at the end of a meter lever. Kitchen scales are cheaper than a torque wrench


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

grizzlyj said:


> .............
> Following that, a little research revealed that its not a good thing to grease the nuts before replacement. If you think about the fact that by lubricating the thread they'll be easier to turn, less nut to wheel friction etc, you will need a greater tension applied to the stud before the torque wrench feels the required resistance to the nut turning. Wheel torques are, I'm told, given in the dry nut condition.


There was an interesting discussion on here a couple of years ago about whether to lubricate or not. Before that I was a definite no, afterwards not so sure although I still don't do it, Alan.


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## robrace (Jun 30, 2005)

*correct torque*

When we first bought our racing car I had a stud shear off.The wheels were torqued up to about 90ft lbs!I changed all the studs and torqued up to the correct figure of 45ft lbs!!Our F3 car the figure is 90ft lbs.It is as important to get the correct figure.I have watched with interest at our local tyre depot.They don't appear to look up the correct figure for each vehicle but do them all the same!Am I right?


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## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

Kylie makes my nuts tighten all by themselves :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: 

dave p


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