What's 133NM feel like?

[irondoc]

I just did a wheel rotation and haven't had alloy wheels before. The manual says 133NM i think. They didn't feel that tight when i took them off..... any ideas on how to gauge tightness?

I know, i know, i should go to a tyre place........

[isuzurover]

I just did a wheel rotation and haven't had alloy wheels before. The manual says 133NM i think. They didn't feel that tight when i took them off..... any ideas on how to gauge tightness?

I know, i know, i should go to a tyre place........

How long was the breaker bar you were using to remove them and how much force (in kg or lb) do you think you were exerting on the end of the bar?

[tomalophicon]

It feels a bit tighter than 130nm.

You could try a tourque wrench.

[rufusking]

Simple physics really. A one kilogram object under the force of gravity requires 9.81 Newton to hold it up (Gravity 9.81m/s2 x 1 kilogram = 9.81 Newton, for simplicity we round this to 10N). So a rotational force of 133Nm requires 13.3kg applied at the end of a 1 metre lever arm. It's nice and linear so it is the same as 26.6kg on a half metre lever arm. Hopefully this will give you some idea of how much force to apply to achieve the desired torque.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

I just did a wheel rotation and haven't had alloy wheels before. The manual says 133NM i think. They didn't feel that tight when i took them off..... any ideas on how to gauge tightness?

I know, i know, i should go to a tyre place........98 foot lbs - use a torque wrench

[Fred Nerk]

I bought a torque wrench a few months ago because I too was not certain how tight the wheel nuts were after just guessing.

I discovered that I was over tightening. That extra tweak "to be sure" was not needed. I'm not aware what the risk of overtight wheel nuts might be. I just feel more comfortable knowing that they are correct.

[Yorkie]

so does everyone carry a torque wrench in the car for when you get a flat?

i just do wheel nuts up as tight as possible with a 0.5m breaker bar, nothing come undone,,,, yet! ;)

[Fred Nerk]

I have the wrench in the bag of tools I carry when going on a trip. If I get a flat around home I would use the standard tools and then check when I got home. It always check the nuts after driving a changed wheel. Just in case the dirt (that wasn't noticed) between the wheel ant the hub falls out and the wheel becomes loose.

That said, I've not suffered a flat around home since I bought the wrench. Off road is a different story.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

I do mine up as tight as I can using the wheel brace that came with the car.
If I have to jump on it with my foot to undo,, its a touch overtight.

These (D2) are big nuts on steel threads, I doubt you could strip them with the original brace.

Have they downsized in the D3/4's?

[MR LR]

I do mine up as tight as I can using the wheel brace that came with the car.
If I have to jump on it with my foot to undo,, its a touch overtight.

These (D2) are big nuts on steel threads, I doubt you could strip them with the original brace.

Have they downsized in the D3/4's?
D3/4's have the same size thread, but a smaller nut.

Personally i just stand on the standard wheelbrace, thats 65kg, on a 0.4m bar, bit over 133Nm, but i don't jump, just let gravity do it, but if you can't undo it by hand they're basically too tight.

I've never torqued wheel nuts though, apart from on the trucks and tractors, and never have i or anyone i know who does that lost a wheel, not saying it's good practice, just never seen the point, and i've never had one come loose or buggered a thread.

However i have needed a bit of pipe on a breaker bar to get wheel nuts off after a tyre place has rattled the crap out of them when having tyres done, bent the wheelbrace first so that's when the breaker bar came out.

Cheers
Will

[Nomad9]

Hi Rufusking,

Nice.....................

[Nomad9]

Hi Irondoc,
I've always noted how much the nut head rotates after being finger tight against the wheel to when the nut is done up to the correct torque as a sort of double check when off road or somewhere where I don't have the trusty torque wrench.
If you are worried about it just carry a torque wrench in your tool kit they don't take up that much room. Always take one when I go on extended trips, takes a bit of the stress out of changing a wheel.

[Scary]

over tight nuts will stretch the threads and if you mess about often enough you will stuff up the studs.

Always take a tourque wrench when going away or offroad.

Additionally you should lubricate the threads with anti seize or at the least crc when changing to keep the threads clean.

most importantly is try not to put wheel nuts on when hot or the threads still hot as this is the easiest way to stretch the thread or strip the stud entirely.

[Davo]

over tight nuts will stretch the threads and if you mess about often enough you will stuff up the studs.

Always take a tourque wrench when going away or offroad.

Additionally you should lubricate the threads with anti seize or at the least crc when changing to keep the threads clean.

most importantly is try not to put wheel nuts on when hot or the threads still hot as this is the easiest way to stretch the thread or strip the stud entirely.

Right on all points there, Scary. I haven't put a torque wrench in the car yet, but when I got my old Rangie it came with most of the tools and the original handbooks. I hadn't had alloys on a Landie before, and I read that the handbook says that the foldable wheel spanner is made that way so that with the arm extended, you should have enough leverage to get the nut loose, but it's cleverly designed so that the handle folds over when you use it to tighten them. I checked with a torque wrench and indeed this factory spanner does give about the right torque when used with a bit of effort. Folded, the handle is 10" long.

[TerryO]

Simple physics really. A one kilogram object under the force of gravity requires 9.81 Newton to hold it up (Gravity 9.81m/s2 x 1 kilogram = 9.81 Newton, for simplicity we round this to 10N). So a rotational force of 133Nm requires 13.3kg applied at the end of a 1 metre lever arm. It's nice and linear so it is the same as 26.6kg on a half metre lever arm. Hopefully this will give you some idea of how much force to apply to achieve the desired torque.


So I guesss what your saying is I shouldn't use my whole 150 kg of body weight to tighten the wheel nuts? ...Oops!

Cheers,
Terry ... ;)

[rufusking]

If you think about it, when was the last time you had to stand on the end of a torque wrench to achieve a particular setting?

[scarry]

Be Very careful with D3/4 wheel nuts.I know someone who used the ft/lb scale on the torque wrench instead of the nm scale,effectively tightening the nuts to 140ft/lbs.The studs were OK but one of the nuts stretched.

Something had to let go,easier to replace a nut than a stud.