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Mechanics Rant
armilite
Member Posts: 35,483 ✭✭✭
Why do garages torque down lug nuts to like 1000 lbs of torque. Wife had a flat tire the other day. Loaded up the Exploder with what I thought of all, that I'd need to change a freaken flat tire. Made five trips back to the house for stuff I didn't have. It took a 6 ft. steel antenna mast on a 3 foot Snap-On breaker bar to get the damm lug nuts off. Broke 2, 7/8 deep sockets in half. Luckily I found a 7/8 impact socket. Then took about 6 whacks with a 12 lb. sledge to get the tire & wheel off. Sure glad she was only 6 blocks from the house and not 20 miles away on the freeway. Freaken tire goons.
Comments
I took 2 broken lug wrenches and a bent cheater bar to the tire shop and made them pay me for them .
A little never seize helps a lot to keep them from seizing to the studs. I never torque lug nuts on nothing of mine so tight that I cant get them off with a 24" 3/8 breaker bar.
Why do garages torque down lug nuts to like 1000 lbs of torque. Wife had a flat tire the other day. Loaded up the Exploder with what I thought of all, that I'd need to change a freaken flat tire. Made five trips back to the house for stuff I didn't have. It took a 6 ft. steel antenna mast on a 3 foot Snap-On breaker bar to get the damm lug nuts off. Broke 2, 7/8 deep sockets in half. Luckily I found a 7/8 impact socket. Then took about 6 whacks with a 12 lb. sledge to get the tire & wheel off. Sure glad she was only 6 blocks from the house and not 20 miles away on the freeway. Freaken tire goons.
See my comments on over torque-
http://forums.gunbroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=515785
Never trust a tire shop that tightens the lugs with an impact wrench. The clueless operators just dial the torque up to max. A proper tire shop will remove the nuts with an impact, but will replace them and torque them with a torque wrench. If they don't, they are usually just hacks.
Don't forget torque sticks. If using just a torque wrench, or breaker bar and finish with a torque wrench, there's a chance that the lug nuts won't seat properly. The "proper" way is to use the correct torque stick, then check it with a torque wrench. Problem comes with aftermarket lug nuts.
Advanced Member
USA
14361 Posts
Posted - 04/30/2011 : 7:29:51 PM Show Profile Email Poster Reply with Quote
Hope it wasn't a front tire on disk brakes. Probably warped the rotor. I watch to see if they use a torque wrench.
And yes it was the right front tire.
I bought a Snap-On breaker bar over 30 years ago for just this application lug nuts only. I've never had to add any leverage to get a lug nut off of any car with that wrench until now. Its pretty sad when you have to add a 6 foot piece of steel pipe to that to get them off, and shear off two more sockets on top of that.
Coltpax your electric impact wrench would have had no effect on getting those lugs off.
I have a set of Torque Sticks make the shop use to install any wheels . They pull wheels during State mandated inspection . If the shop does not agree to use these toque stick I take my business somewhere else. When I pull out the box and explain how they work . "YOU CAN STILL USE AIR IMPACT " it just flexes the stick but does not over tighten nut on the stud. The shop then knows I am also watching all phases of their work.I get great service. No you need wiper blades ,front end alignment ETC.[^][:)]
I do the same thing
Perry Shooter, them torque sticks are awesome but I have seen one shatter. Not a good sight, luckily the guy wasn't holding the shaft with his hand, so nobody got hurt. He did leave to change his britches though.[:D]
A jack handle off a regular floor jack works nice as an extension, just remember to use it to break 'em loose before the vehicle is up on the jack, you know what happens when you take the handle off then.[:)]
I had an old Celica that I had to replace rotors on several times because of tire shops impacting the lug nuts on. One place kept telling me not to worry because they used torque sticks, but that didn't matter. Once one lug was smacked down to any degree the rotor was warped.
quote:Originally posted by dheffley
Never trust a tire shop that tightens the lugs with an impact wrench. The clueless operators just dial the torque up to max. A proper tire shop will remove the nuts with an impact, but will replace them and torque them with a torque wrench. If they don't, they are usually just hacks.
Don't forget torque sticks. If using just a torque wrench, or breaker bar and finish with a torque wrench, there's a chance that the lug nuts won't seat properly. The "proper" way is to use the correct torque stick, then check it with a torque wrench. Problem comes with aftermarket lug nuts.
Yep, The same thing to me, just one id used with an impact driver, the other by hand. I guess i should have said "If they drive them on using a direct drive impact, they are just hacks."[;)]
quote:Originally posted by coltpax
quote:Originally posted by dheffley
Never trust a tire shop that tightens the lugs with an impact wrench. The clueless operators just dial the torque up to max. A proper tire shop will remove the nuts with an impact, but will replace them and torque them with a torque wrench. If they don't, they are usually just hacks.
Don't forget torque sticks. If using just a torque wrench, or breaker bar and finish with a torque wrench, there's a chance that the lug nuts won't seat properly. The "proper" way is to use the correct torque stick, then check it with a torque wrench. Problem comes with aftermarket lug nuts.
Yep, The same thing to me, just one id used with an impact driver, the other by hand. I guess i should have said "If they drive them on using a direct drive impact, they are just hacks."[;)]
So now you want to be specifical...[:D]
quote:Originally posted by dheffley
quote:Originally posted by coltpax
quote:Originally posted by dheffley
Never trust a tire shop that tightens the lugs with an impact wrench. The clueless operators just dial the torque up to max. A proper tire shop will remove the nuts with an impact, but will replace them and torque them with a torque wrench. If they don't, they are usually just hacks.
Don't forget torque sticks. If using just a torque wrench, or breaker bar and finish with a torque wrench, there's a chance that the lug nuts won't seat properly. The "proper" way is to use the correct torque stick, then check it with a torque wrench. Problem comes with aftermarket lug nuts.
Yep, The same thing to me, just one id used with an impact driver, the other by hand. I guess i should have said "If they drive them on using a direct drive impact, they are just hacks."[;)]
So now you want to be specifical...[:D]
What can I say. Lots of expert "HACKS" working at the tire shops around here![}:)]
I have a set of Torque Sticks make the shop use to install any wheels . They pull wheels during State mandated inspection . If the shop does not agree to use these toque stick I take my business somewhere else. When I pull out the box and explain how they work . "YOU CAN STILL USE AIR IMPACT " it just flexes the stick but does not over tighten nut on the stud. The shop then knows I am also watching all phases of their work.I get great service. No you need wiper blades ,front end alignment ETC.[^][:)]
Those are not the end all for torque reading. What those things put out varies with with what you put in(more grunt on the in, more grunt on the out). If you show up at my shop and want me to use YOUR tools for tightening wheels, YOU will sign a waiver releasing me from any liability from improperly torqued wheels.
My guys in the shop HAVE to use a torque wrench.
That's the only proper way to do it, just check with any vehicle manufacturer.
You can see some stuff that's ni***r rigged like crazy. But, we professionals don't use the N word, we prefer "presidential decision".
I see all you complaining about your cars, but I think the wrenchers in here will agree with me, it's real fun when you fix the hackjobs on other peoples' cars. But I gotta love them hacks, they keep cash in my pocket.[:D]
You can see some stuff that's ni***r rigged like crazy. But, we professionals don't use the N word, we prefer "presidential decision".
I'm totally stealing that one!
Although personally I prefer Okie-rigged, a.k.a. Agro-Engineering.
Some of those Butchers over tighten the Nut thinking that will solve the problem of coming loose so You don't come back and cost Them time and Money.
My wife wrote a nice letter to the funeral director but we never got the name of the tow truck driver. I told my wife that when I die to have the services there as they seemed like really good people.
If you want to have fun removing wheels the MRAPs I work on the wheels torque to 450ftlbs. The one variant we work on the torque rods on the suspension go to 1200ftlbs. If you have never used a torque multiplier with a 600ftlbs wrench you are missing alot of aggravating fun, once you crack them at 600 it takes another 30-45 minutes and two people to get them to 1200 [:D]
Never trust a tire shop that tightens the lugs with an impact wrench. The clueless operators just dial the torque up to max. A proper tire shop will remove the nuts with an impact, but will replace them and torque them with a torque wrench. If they don't, they are usually just hacks.
Exactly!
Insist they torque to manufacturer's spec.
This old car guy never heard of a torque stick. What is it? I use ant size on wheel studs and around the inside of the hubs on aluminum wheels. Keeps everything from sticking. This is one reason I usually rotate my own tires.
A torque stick is a metal stick with a 1/2" drive hole on one end and a hole on the other for lug nuts. You use it on an impact when tightening to get it in the ball park. Google probably explains better than me.
quote:Originally posted by slumlord44
This old car guy never heard of a torque stick. What is it? I use ant size on wheel studs and around the inside of the hubs on aluminum wheels. Keeps everything from sticking. This is one reason I usually rotate my own tires.
A torque stick is a metal stick with a 1/2" drive hole on one end and a hole on the other for lug nuts. You use it on an impact when tightening to get it in the ball park. Google probably explains better than me.
Color coded for the guys at Wal-Mart.
[:D]
Allen
This old car guy never heard of a torque stick. What is it? I use ant size on wheel studs and around the inside of the hubs on aluminum wheels. Keeps everything from sticking. This is one reason I usually rotate my own tires.
This is the first mention of anti-seize in this thread. A1015's shop might be at fault however he does live in the rust belt.
I've had a hard time getting off wheels on cars and trucks I've anti-seized and installed with a torque wrench in the past (Range Rover seem to always be a problem) but because of road salt they can still seize.
Torque wrench is all and my co-workers use for installing wheels.
Your milage my vary..........
SxS