Thread: What's 133NM feel like?

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.

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.

Originally Posted by 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.

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.

Originally Posted by 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.

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 ...

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?