Checking Lug Nut Torque

Gunning lug nuts down until the wrench chatters is just useless. Everything has a torque value and beyond that all you're going to do is ruin the fastener or the stud.
Sometimes our drivers have to change a tire by hand by the side of the road or in the woods. Our tire shop uses a cut-out pressure gauge on the air gun. The lugs are still plenty tight enough to be safe and a guy working with hand tools...a Budd wrench and a winch bar... can still get them off.

 

LOL my friend. A mechanic yes, these are tire jockeys.

Ya all know that a wheel coming loose will make a ton of noise if you listen to you vehicle. I can't count how many times over the years I would get a noise complaint from a customer only to find some butthole didn't tighten a wheel. Usually sounds like rocks in a hubcap at low speeds.

 

How bout being quiet when the grown-ups are talking?

 

As a mechanic, do I run lug nuts down with a wrench... Yes all the time and almost every time. They make a product called torque sticks. They flex at a certain ft lb not allowing to be over tightened. I own a set of these, they are not cheap. I believe the set I bought 15 years ago were over $500 from snap-on. Its a torque wrench on a gun and they are incredibly accurate.

I can take a pic of one if you all want to see what they look like.

 

oh, so minimum wage ex-burger flippers?

lol

 

i had those as well, but for cars and light trucks, not big rigs

 

Yup they makem for big trucks too

Torque Master Torque Sticks & Extensions : Individual Heavy-Duty Truck Torque Extensions

 

must be rather new like in the past 30 years...lol

the only ones that were made way back then, were for cars.

 

You can't. Without a torque wrench you can only tell ig the nuts are more than finger tight. If you put a wrench on them you have an idea if they are at least approximately 20 ft-lbs tight.

It's like asking how heavy s boulder is without a scale. Any rock too big for you to lift could be 200 or 2 million pounds. It's just a guess.

 

Ok.