Idiots and rattle guns

I had one on the x-trail so tight that it spun the stud in the hub so back it went and I had days of fun watching the "fitter" use a piece of hacksaw blade to attempt to cut the head off from behind after dismantling and disassembling the brake calliper and associated bits with the wheel still on. They then decided to weld it onto the hub (without battery/alt disconnection so fried them both as well) and get it off a few turns and stopped again, so then he couldn't cut the head off so he was now between the hub of the wheel and mounting face of the hub, again with the blade. 4 days later it was apart. They then wanted to use the same hub, by welding the stud to it. Same wheel, with hacksaw cuts into it, and same brake caliper that was damaged during dismantling.

They made $800- for the set of tyres. Cost them that for the elec repairs alone. Then hub assy, brake discs (got the supplier to supply as a set), calliper, wheel, set of nuts (only came as a set from Nissan),. Total was just shy of $3500-, when he finished the boss made him fit a big new sign saying that all staff must hand fit nuts only and be inspected by a second person and then fired him on the spot.

i have a decent Wurth rattle gun with low torque settings for doing up, and automatically uses the full 450Nm to undo. always recheck by hand afterwards, and almost always they require retensioning.

jc

JC is yours the one that does the torque control electronically or the air valved one?

If its the electronic one, Dont trust it too much, One of the failure modes is to fail to full power...

Highly entertaining when the guns being used with a deep reach to spin down nuts on some long, fine pitch Stainless steel M5 studs

only air valve, i'd trust it more than any electronic controlled ones (didn't know they existed???). of course you have to remember to set it first:D

jc

Came across 2 girls in a Defender on the Coastal Hwy in 2010 with a flat.
These girls were very capable but couldn't get the nuts undone.
42deg. 2 dogs in the back, no shade.
Wheels had recently been rotated and tyres checked by tyre dealer in Exmouth for their trip to Perth. Rattle gun used.
I bent every bar in my toolbox and failed to loosen any of them.
Ended up taking them back to the last roadhouse.
Could easily have been a life threatening situation.
Terry

i always ask that they use my wheel brace ( i leave it on the drivers seat) when refitting the nuts and i always check before driving off that i can undo them.......5 min of my time at the time of picking up my rig save frustration later

the horror stories go on :). As an idea to how tight they do them up a standard defender wheel nut is 80 ft/lbs , heavy duty Wolf is 120 ft/lbs and Discos are 103ft/lbs. Now those are fairly high torque figures yet all can be easily undone with a standard wheel brace by my 15yo daughter! :)
Now having personally bent breaker bars undoing tyre shop nuts:eek: it is amazing more are not just twisted off by those so called x-spurts!

The reverse also happens. At White Motor Corp the wheel nuts were tightened on the assembly line with a calibrated rattle gun. After post assembly inspection and road test, the nuts were slackened off and retorqued by hand with a torque wrench. Over-tightening wheel nuts on spider wheels was a source of rim distortion and cyclic rough ride syndrome hence the care taken in tightening to correct torque only.

Truckies would take delivery of a new truck and say to us "Don't you guys tighten wheel nuts? I checked them at (here insert name of town) and I put a quarter turn on them and 100 k's later put some more on." Their method of tightening was usually to stand on a long bar until nothing moved. No amount of explaining the engineering reasons behind tightening to given torque only would sink in. "If they are not done up tight they will loosen and lose a wheel" they would say. Not so.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by justinc

only air valve, i'd trust it more than any electronic controlled ones (didn't know they existed???). of course you have to remember to set it first:D

jc

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sorry, should have stipulated...

its on their electric rattle guns....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

The reverse also happens. At White Motor Corp the wheel nuts were tightened on the assembly line with a calibrated rattle gun. After post assembly inspection and road test, the nuts were slackened off and retorqued by hand with a torque wrench. Over-tightening wheel nuts on spider wheels was a source of rim distortion and cyclic rough ride syndrome hence the care taken in tightening to correct torque only.

Truckies would take delivery of a new truck and say to us "Don't you guys tighten wheel nuts? I checked them at (here insert name of town) and I put a quarter turn on them and 100 k's later put some more on." Their method of tightening was usually to stand on a long bar until nothing moved. No amount of explaining the engineering reasons behind tightening to given torque only would sink in. "If they are not done up tight they will loosen and lose a wheel" they would say. Not so.

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Yes for sure, and having worked in a workshop on trucks and driven with truckies I know what they are like! But more so than losing a tyre assembly their biggest fear it seems is spinning a rim on the spider and tearing the valve stem out! Which I have seen happen. so they tighten 10.8 turns past TIGHT! just to be certian:D The number of weirdly worn tyres I've seen resulting from their tightening antics is something to behold :D. But in all the time Ive had my primemover I have never spun a rim and Ive had some fair loads on at times! :)