Idiots and rattle guns

Guys
In my shop wheels have to be torqued by hand.
Yes we use a 3/8th air tool to spin the nuts down, but the torque wrench comes out to secure the wheels. That is shop policy!

Maybe I am a bit more conscious of this and its consequences than many!
For 14 years I was a zone rep and service engineer for Leyland trucks. At one stage my job was to support truckers running from the UK to Iran and beyond. My patch was Leibniz to Tabriz in Iran.

Back in the 70's the wheel of choice was the 10 stud cup 'n cone type nut/wheel. If you didn't keep an eye on it as a trucker it would come apart and totally wreck the hub and studs/wheel etc.

I can remember a "delightful exercise" putting a UK trucker back on the road in Bucharest after he lost his wheels. Since I had no studs/nuts nor wheel for a Scammell Crusader I scrounged a Mercedes truck wheel, filed the studs to fit the Leyland axle with a BFH and got it to Istanbul where we did a "propah job!

If I have the inclination I have an entertaining story of losing a front wheel on a Pinzgauer;, after the owner had driven it some 300 miles mentioning a slight noise. I get in it to test and the bloody wheel shot of at 50 mph on test.
My luck
Cheers Dennis
zedcars

Wheel brace that came with my LR which I think is genuine issue.. it folds in half, you can undo at full length but only do up at half. Theres a clue right there. I trust the amount of leverage LR provided - as tight as i can be bothered with my arms and then stand on it to finish. No need for a torque wrench or rattle guns.

I must remember to check em whenever back from the garage, if I was stranded with locked on wheels - I would go NUTS! ( :cool: yeah i said it )

All this and no mention or acknowledgement of torque tubes.
Despite the urban myth that every Tyre fitter in the country is a retard and uses a rattle gun to destroy our cars things are not always as they seem.
In the Tyre shops that I have been associated with the use of color graded torque tubes prevents what you are all talking about.
That said some fool with the wrong color tube will do exactly what you are saying.
The worst experience I had was when they didn't do the nuts up.

Torque tubes were fashionable and still are to a certain extent.

But up 'n over here the torque wrench seems to be the norm these days in the multistate chain tyre shops. Like Discount Tires & Big O Tires, the J/C or W/O print out often states the wheel nut torque etc, and the foreman goes around and writes in the box provided on the W/O the torque he set the wheel nuts before handing over the car to the customer.

The very litigious nature of the US car repair business almost dictates it especially in California.
Dennis
zedcars

What defines a torque tube?

I once had a fitter tell me that the anodised color coded tubular sockets with the plastic to stop it scratching your bling that are now fashionable were torque sockets and when they stopped it was tight. I agreed but he couldn't tell me how tight.

they are basically an extension bar or long socket that has a slip clutch in them that lets go at a predetermined torque limit.

Here you are:-
For your continued rattle or windy gun pleasure accessory list!:D
http://www.torquestick.com/images/torque_chart.pdf
Dennis
zedcars

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zedcars

Here you are:-
For your continued rattle or windy gun pleasure accessory list!:D
http://www.torquestick.com/images/torque_chart.pdf
Dennis
zedcars

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these are a great idea, but nothing beats the feel of hand tools for final torque.

jc

Hi everyone

Funny reading this as just had nrma out to remove my lock nut as had a flat tyre... huge amount of effort due to rattle gun madness at the tyre fitters.

Do they not get the request do lock nuts up by hand not a rattle gun?????? I will throw my lock nuts away anyway.... key is damaged and so are nuts from over tightening...