Thanks for the feed back as I am sure it will help others.
Now to go look if mine is set to 0 or below (hope not) 0

Who uses a torque wrench to undo bolts / nuts???
Now that brings up something, what if you need to torque left hand lug nuts? will it hurt the wrench?
Dave ----

 

Yes you can use a click type torque wrench on left hand thread fasteners. You should not use it to break free fasteners the shock of them breaking free can damage the wrench...

 

Couple things, the wrench we were discussing has a minimum torque of 50 foot lbs. That is the setting for storage.

If you need to torque left hand nuts you will need a torque wrench that works both left and right hand nuts. Most click type only do right hand. I think if I need to do a left hand nut I will get one of those inexpensive bar types that does both. That was my first torque wrench and it was converted to a breaker bar too.

Yep precision instrument...only for careful right hand torquing.

BB2

 

I agree. I see a lot of theory here, but I have been lubricating my wheel studs for years on many different vehicles. I have seen a lot of other people have broken wheel studs, but I have never had a broken one that I have lubricated.

 

You have torqued your nuts but without a torque wrench you don't know how much torque and with anti-seize removing the friction you may have over-tightened your lugs. Going beyond yield stress will permanently damage your studs. Going too low on the torque you risk loosing a nut. Using a lubricant would make it easier for a nut to vibrate off. Play it safe and turn over a new leaf a get yourself a torque wrench and go dry.

I don't use air tools either. When getting new tires I coach the folks not to use air but more often I deliver the rims and have the tires mounted and balanced and then pick them up and take them home for installing. I have 9 tires and rims so it's easy to drop them off and pick them up when ready.

We all have to change a tire roadside once in a while without a torque wrench. But if you keep in mind the torque required and use the principles of pounds force times feet of lever arm you can get close enough to get you home.

BB2

 

When I was in high school I had a Ford Falcon as my daily driver. One morning on the way to school while initiating a right hand corner I watched my left rear tire come loose and pass me up as I'm slowing to turn. That made making the corner hard to do as it was tipping the vehicle!...I had the right of way to continue straight...chasing my tire! I got the car stopped safely. Ran down the road and collected up my tire and rim. Just so happened I was parked across the street from the Ford dealer. I ran over to the parts counter and bought 4 lug nuts. Reinstalled the wheel and made it on time to class.

Since then I have had a lot of respect for lug nut torque. Maybe that is why I started this thread?

BB2

 

I am not discounting anything in this thread and calling it untrue. But I and probably others have real world experiences that show there are other failure modes. I personally have never had a stud pull in two, though I am sure it happens.

More than once I have encountered lug nuts that when you go to remove them, one or more will not back out. It has been tighten so much it has stripped the threads off the stud or the nut or both. It just sits there and spins, and you have to come up with some creative way to get it off so you can repair it. I have also encountered lug nuts that when I went to back them off, they locked up. The lug nut was over tightened the threads of the lug nut started climbing over top the threads on on the stud, and it galls and locks up on the stud, and you usually twist the stud off trying to get the nut off.

Right or wrong, that is why I lubricate the threads, and probably why some people use anti-seize on the threads. The threads seem more prone to failure than the stud itself.

 

I never owned a torque wrench after I left my Papa’s house until I had no choice to buy one due to some engine work. The last thing I would have used the T-wrench for was my lug nuts…. And that never happened.

So, how did I learn how to torque lugs? Well, Papa would say “tighter”, and when he stopped repeating that, then it was torqued. Eventually you learned how that feels and sounds, like when it makes that screech at the end. (not newfoundland screech)

For most of my life, I never thought to torque a lug any other way than what Papa taught me, tons of WD-40 got sprayed on the rusty ****e…. hundreds of studs later and never a one came loose, stripped or broke off. Lucky….

I wonder if the lad in the video could calculate the torque using WD-40 ? (for you young lads, that is a water displacement chemical composition, I think ye uses a PB something)

So, for example, the 1985 F-Series owner’s manual, F-150, Bolt size 1/2-20, under 8.500 lbs. GVWR; 85-115 lb. lug torque. I think this is where the 100ft lb. rule came from. (Oh, for you young lads, that's 15 over and 15 under)

Then here comes Bill, (Bill the Tire Guy) old Army buddy turned tire guy, torques every lug with a torque wrench, from lessons he learned early in the 30 years he’s been into it, not business liability, at the time.

So, I see him and the lads using torque wrenches on every lug, every rig. He told me a few stories, I have a few stories and since that day, I have a torque wrench in everything I drive or ride, just for the lugs. But, I still spray a dab of the WD when needed....

I think Papa taught me 100ft lb. of feel & sound, just from the experience of he being an aviation engine mechanic for 20 years, reciprocal and turbine.


BigBlue stared this thread, and according to Bill, the Tire Guy, BigBlue is correct on all counts.

 

And on that not so fateful day I traveled about 10 miles. From my house to the Ford dealer was about 9 miles. One more mile to school.

I traveled on 50 mph country roads winding through the hills for about the first half of the trip. Then freeway for the second half of the trip and the last few miles in town.

All four lug nuts left the vehicle along the way...at least the last of them left, because I didn't do a walk around every morning. And you would have thought that with lugs coming off you would feel something, a vibration, a waiver, a tail swag...nope nothing felt any different. Drove straight and true and smooth as ever. Believe me, when I saw my tire passing me up I was wondering where the heck it came from! I didn't realize it was mine until I started to turn right and the left rear went down. Then I knew instantly that the dang tire was mine!

I do the walk around more often now and yes sometimes I kick the tires.

Be safe out there brothers and sisters!

BB2

 

Those are all good reasons for using a torque wrench on your lugs. You don't over or under torque your lugs. The problems of getting a tight nut off or stripped threads goes away. I have 400K miles on my truck, original studs...I change rims twice a year, still perfect because they have been installed with a torque wrench.

I do it and recommend it highly!

Good Luck
BB2

 

I dont use a torque wrench but past experience torquing main rod and head bolts I would venture that no lug nut in my driveway is over 60-70 ft lb. two trailers, Bronco, F350, F150, Mustang, import....and I dont use any air its all by hand

and wrong or right I put a dab of used motor oil on the threads

 

Your ok, using dirty, gritty used oil adds friction...... it's the fresh oil you have to worry about...

 

If you lubricate your studs, even with dirty oil, you will reduce the friction on the nut. You will need to use less torque than the dry torque spec. The video shows that using the same amount of torque on dry or wet studs you get 30 percent more clamping force or tension in the stud. Problem with that is that the studs are designed not to exceed 60 percent of yield and you get about that amount of stress using the dry torque spec. With lubrication it's easier to strip threads or stretch your studs beyond the elastic limit or yield stress. So if you use lubrication you will definitely need to use less torque to get the same clamping force.

With dry studs and nuts you'll have less chance of a lug backing off on you as well. Engineers spec dry torque for that reason and it's much easier to be reproduced correctly over and over to get the proper clamping force. With lubrication you are tossing in more variability and if you use dry torque spec on a lubed nut you will likely damage the stud, nut or both. By the way...a torque wrench is a hand tool.

Once the lug is secured and torqued dry you can protect the threads with a lubricating product. When changing rims wash the wheels with soap and water to get any lubrication or anti corrosion products off. I like to use a little bit of Fluid Film to protect against corrosion. Then make sure the studs and nuts are dry and clean before reassembly.

BB2

 

What would be interesting? If someone tested the torque of lugs after someone used antisieze like I do and used a short 4-way and tightened them down let's say a quarter of a turn passed snug, you know that point where you start to feel all that friction kicking in.

Any volunteers? I don't have a torque wrench big enough, mines a little fella, and a put the gorilla paw on everything. I'm also guilty of putting a dab of anti size on the rotor between the lugs where the wheel contacts. Been doing that routine since I got ahold of one stuck so bad a ten pound Sledge and all of my violence wouldn't free it.

 

I think what you are describing is the turn of the nut method of tension. I think there is a formula for that involving the pitch of the threads, the number of turns and the area of the bolt and Youngs modulus of elasticity, Which is the slope of the stress strain curve over the linear elastic portion. Thus relating the elongation of the stud in inches, due to the turn of the nut, to the stress on the stud. You're on to something there. Google turn of the nut method for tensioning. You're gonna find some info on it.

A friend of mine had a simplified version for nut tightening. "tight like hell plus half a turn". I'm going to stick with my dry torque values and the torque wrench. it's easy peasy.

BB2