-
Lug nut torque
If one wants to do it correctly, to what torque should one set the lugs?
Hopefully, pics of new hub covers to follow soon.
-
28 Replies
-
Karl, 450-500 ft.lbs.
-
Get a Torque Stick and put it in your tool box – for use at home or on the road. I use the 1″ drive yellow one rated at 475 ft lbs.
-
dang. Mine only goes to 150. Do they even make a half inch drive that does 500 ft lbs? I can’t find anything over 250.
-
I doubt it. If you are planning on doing work on the coach, at the very least plan on a good basic set of tools, including some impact wrenches and a big compressor with a large tank.
One thing I can assure you of, and that is if you start doing most or all of your own work, you will pay for the tools in less than a year and the knowledge and satisfaction will be immeasurable.
-
I found a 3/4 drive that does 600 ft lbs and costs $500 and a torque multiplier for $200. And I don’t recall anyone ever using it when I had work done. Do they? Jon, did we use one when we took off my wheels?
-
Also, I have a friend with a shop who said they would put the 3/4 impact driver on it. I have a 1/2 impact driver that I just bought. Is that good enough?
-
When we pulled your wheels we used a 1″ impact wrench, and used an X12 to check torque
Actually an X12 or equivalent is not a bad way to go, except it is far less efficient in terms of time compared to an impact wrench. They are overpriced when new so I would lurk on ebay until one showed up cheap. You can get a 1″ impact wrench suitable for our type use for under $300, 3/4 impacts even less, but they need a lot of air, hence the recommendation on the compressor. For a 1″ impact you need a 1/2 in air line which is excessive for most other uses.
I used an X12 for 10 years in lieu of an impact wrench. Heavy, a little cumbersome, but definitely does the job.
-
Ok, so I can have my friend put the impact driver on it, but I won’t be able to check the torque.
No X12’s on eBay, $700 new. I just ordered a knock-off on Amazon for $80. 58 turns to 1 or something like that.
So, now I need to understand the other tools I need and the procedure. It comes with two sockets, one of which is the 33 mm I need, and a 1″ driver. How do I measure the torque then? Can I somehow use my 1/2 torque wrench?
Thanks, all.
-
Karl, If you’re having your tires installed at a truck tire place, their impacts are set for the proper torque spec.you should have them re-checked 100-300 miles later. You cannot do this stuff with 1/2 or even 3/4 stuff, it takes 1″ drive tools.
-
Bonz,
I
have an old Ingersoll 3/4 driven with 1/2″ hose and it will put
them on tight big time. Jeff has one just about like it and they’ll
do the job, but 1″ is better with lots of air and a torque
stick.My
question is why do you want to even full with this stuff? I do some
at home by necessity, but this is brutal work and better done at a
truck tire place or by a service truck.Besides,
you break your hand messing with this heavy stuff and Nat will be
some pissed when you can’t do the cooking!:) -
Don’t really WANT to, but need to put on new brackets to install the new hub caps.
The friend with the equipment is an auto mechanic, so it won’t be set to torque at all. I’ll google truck tire service trucks and see what comes up.
-
A torque multiplier used with a 1/2″ torque wrench is the ideal way to check torque on the wheel nuts.
The X12 as an example is a 12 to one ratio so if you use a torque wrench on the input side to tighten the nuts and you are looking for 450 to 500 foot pounds, set the torque wrench for 40 ft/lbs and you end up with 480 foot pounds at the nut. But there are some losses through the torque multiplier so it is likely the actual torque on the nuts is something less than the theoretical 480. When I bought my X12 (it was $300 back then) the salesman told me to add about 5 foot pounds to the torque wrench to compensate for the losses through the gear reduction. or to keep it simple he said use 1/10th of the torque required.
I have no way to check actual torque with the X12 other than what the input force is, so I have always divided by 12 and added 5 foot pounds. No wheels have fallen off, and no cracks in my wheels so it has been close. I now use my 1″ impact set at the lowest possible setting and when I have checked using the X12 the nuts are sufficiently tight meaning they are all tighter than my target setting, but I have no way to determine how much tighter. An impact wrench has zero repeatability because different input air pressure varies the torque so I usuallly bottom out the nut and give it a short burst to tighten it a little further.
Over the years only once have I ever seen anyone check torque on a wheel lug nut and that was more than 20 years ago when Prevost was in the old Wilson Avenue shop. Two guys used a 4 foot torque wrench to tighten the nuts properly.
-
OK, got it now.. I’m not a fan of brackets being mounted under the lug nuts or the oil hub cover. I just received all new baby moons, top hats and stainless nut covers from Real Wheel that mount without disturbing the lug nuts or hub cover.
-
Tom is echoing what Prevost has said for years. Never ever place anything between the lug nuts and wheels.
-
Tom,
How did you know which ones to order?
Log in to reply.