Grrrr!

[JDNSW]

Servicing the 2a today - one of the first things I do is put it on axle stands and take the wheels off - lot easier to get underneath!

About a month or two ago I got two new back tyres.

Yes, it has happened again! RH rear wheel, could not budge any of the nuts. My rattle gun would not budge them. As it was already on stands, I turned the brake adjusters to lock the wheel. Could not move the nuts, but managed to turn the wheel. In the end I jammed a ramp under the wheel to stop it moving and put six feet of pipe on my breaker bar to get more leverage, and managed to loosen them.

One nut I noted the position it was tightened to, and after loosening it tried to tighten it to the same point using the torque wrench to see just how tight they had been - the maximum setting of the torque wrench, 210Nm got it only about fifteen degrees from where it was.

I tried to phone the people that put it on, to give them a piece of my mind - guess what? I forgot it was Sunday - only an answering machine.

[weeds]

That’s no good John, especially if you were not at home.

The last two sets of tyres if purchased in Brisbane it was a pleasant surprise to see the techs use a tension wrench.

Given the defender is the brides daily drive when I get home from getting new tyres fitted I always loosen the nuts and retention so that the bride can physically undo them (60 something kg leaning on a breaker bar)

[cripesamighty]

Not good. So how exactly would you change that tyre if you got a puncture in the middle of nowhere?

[V8Ian]

Not good. So how exactly would you change that tyre if you got a puncture in the middle of nowhere?
That could be somewhat inconvenient, but a stud failure could be catastrophic.

[JDNSW]

This is the second time this has happened to me with wheels fitted by tyre places in Dubbo - and no; two different places! The other wheel fitted was correctly torqued - or something like it anyway. (There are no published torque figures for the 9/16" wheel studs as far as I know.)

I've been lucky - last time this happened to me the tyre on the 110 went flat overnight while I was at home - I had to borrow 3/4 drive socket and breaker bar from next door after I broke my 1/2 drive breaker bar (and Sidchrome refused to honour their lifetime warranty, saying it had been abused). My no-name breaker bar withstood the pipe extension a bit better.

[weeds]

If there is no specific torque than I’d instruct them to use the OEM wheel brace.

[Zeros]

I’ve had similar experience with ridiculously tight oil filters fitted by mechanics on two vehicles. Not even a filter wrench could undo. On more than one occasion I’ve needed to puncture the filter with a big screwdriver to get the required leverage to undo.

I do most oil changes myself, but once a year or so I take my vehicles for a full check by specialists and any major work.
At least a quarter filter turn back myself straight after these services might be good policy from now on!

[123rover50]

I rattle mine off and on with the Ryobi set on the centre setting. Still allows tightening by hand with the short bar. Get about half a turn. Really saves time when swapping a set of wheels.

[JDNSW]

Yes, much the same here, with the machine on the minimum setting. Take up about a quarter turn by hand after putting the wheels back on the ground.

[weeds]

I liked the design of the wheel brace in the 2 door rangie I had........

it was hinged in the middle, when doing the nuts up the handle was only 1/2 length, when undoing the nuts the handle folded out to double the length.......good idea I reckon

[JDNSW]

Same on my County - I suspect in fact identical! And yes, a wonderful idea!

[Geedublya]

Whenever I go to a tyre place now I ask what they torque the nuts to. If they do know I ask them to do it to my specified torque. If they don't know I ask them to tighten by hand and then I recheck with the torque wrench at home.

I did some experiments with both battery operated and air impact wrenches at home and found it very difficult to achieve uniform torque settings on wheel nuts.