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Thread: I bought a torque wrench

  1. #1
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    I bought a torque wrench

    Last weekend I was checking the wheel nuts and 2 on the front right had failed. The heads were just attached to the threads and came off in my hand. The threads I wound out with the tip of my finger. The other 3 were tight and I know all were tight after I replaced the wheel.

    So all I could think was that they were too tight. That’s where the torque wrench comes in.
    So on Saturday I bought a 1/2” torque wrench and re-torqued the wheel nuts. I could not believe how “loose”140nM is.

    If someone handed me a wheel brace and asked me to check if the wheel nuts were tight enough, I would have said it was nowhere near.

    140nM? I must been tightening to 250nM. I have one of those extendable tyre spanners with all that extra leverage which just makes it worse. I was getting at least another quarter turn after the 140nM setting. That quarter makes a BIG difference.

    For anyone tightening by feel I would urge you to at least see If you can borrow a torque wrench to see what 140nM actually is.

    Before knowing what I know now, I would have sworn at 140nM the wheels would have fallen off.

    I have a 1/4” and 3/8” torque wrench on order. My days of tightening critical components by feel are over.

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  2. #2
    BradC is offline Super Moderator
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    Good investment. I've got a good set (1/4, 3/8 & 1/2), and a metric torque spanner set.
    I figure a manufacturer gives torque values for a reason.

  3. #3
    DAMINK Guest
    I just jump on mine with a breaker bar.
    Never had them loosen on me.

  4. #4
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    I was tightening my wheel nuts with a 3ft breaker bar to what I thought was well near the correct torque. One day I put the torque wrench on and found out I could go another half turn almost. That is with steel wheels.
    It's a tool worth having, proper torque is like micro alignment.

    Cheers Jim

  5. #5
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    Classic Range Rover wheel braces were designed well, from memory the handle folded in half when tightening the wheel nuts and folded out twice as long for undoing (giving you more leverage)

    Not sure what type of but the disco uses but on the defer with tapered nuts I just lean on them when doing them, this ensures the bride can undo them given it’s her daily drive....never had a nut come loose.

    Your wheel nuts were probably done up with a rattle gun....probably stretching the studs in the process.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by weeds View Post

    Not sure what type of but the disco uses
    The brace was designed to strip the poxy alloy nut cap and make you buy more $100 nuts.

    Nah they work alright but I needed to hammer my brace on to get a good fit after 20yrs the nuts go to poo from useless greasemonkeys changing tyres.

    Steel wheels are the same as Def nuts

  7. #7
    DAMINK Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by LRJim View Post
    I was tightening my wheel nuts with a 3ft breaker bar to what I thought was well near the correct torque. One day I put the torque wrench on and found out I could go another half turn almost. That is with steel wheels.
    It's a tool worth having, proper torque is like micro alignment.

    Cheers Jim
    Yea i have several torque wrenches just wheel nuts are not something i have ever thought required correct torque. Sure they are listed as X torque but so are many bolts that clearly dont need to be set to a specific torque.
    Even the boys at the tyre shop normally rattle them on then double check them with a breaker bar.
    Never seen them use a torque wrench however they would likely get the wrong settings and do them wrong anyway.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by DAMINK View Post
    Yea i have several torque wrenches just wheel nuts are not something i have ever thought required correct torque. Sure they are listed as X torque but so are many bolts that clearly dont need to be set to a specific torque.
    Even the boys at the tyre shop normally rattle them on then double check them with a breaker bar.
    Never seen them use a torque wrench however they would likely get the wrong settings and do them wrong anyway.
    Look they probably don't really need torqueing, I know every time I've done a wheel nut up without the wrench I know it ain't coming off. I've checked it once or twice just to see how tight they are "meant" to be.
    But if your a 7ft tall and 3ft wide giant I would use a torque wrench to make sure I'm not gonna over tighten it and rip the stud out hahah

  9. #9
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    When I was in a rally team, all wheel nuts were tightened by torque wrench. The risk of over tightening or under wasn’t acceptable. This wasn’t F1 so we had time to do it right.
    I use a cheap torque wrench on my wheels. It’s close enough IMO
    2010 TDV6 3.0L Discovery 4 HSE
    2007 Audi RS4 (B7)

  10. #10
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    A long time ago I worked as a race car mechanic for a number of years.
    All bolts, including wheel nuts were always correctly tensioned.
    I still use a tension wrench on all my wheel nuts, just habit.

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