Torque multiplier lug nut wrench

Have had alot of wheel problems where i am. I believe they have finally accepted that they have been over torquing. One truck has spoke wheels and never could keep wheels tight. They were crushing the spacer. Rotated wheels on truck i drive (hub piloted) and two days later had a set of duals come loose. He was ramming wheels on with a 1" gun.... The list goes on....
After long enough, i guess they learned? Sometimes it is fun to watch the "experts" in action....

 

700 is what Petro was starting to do a few years ago for the typical hub/wheel set ups on OTR trucks, don't know if they still do that or not. From what the local manager was telling me, (A good guy who's been there for several years) I guess they got sued pretty good after a truck lost it's wheel shortly after being serviced at a Petro so for awhile (don't know if they still do it) the driver would have to watch and sign off that the mechanic torqued the lug nuts to 700ftlbs. After being sued, I'm assuming Petro did their homework and I'm guessing 700 was the magic number between making sure the lug nuts wouldn't work loose, but not over torqueing the studs. Personaly I always thought that was kinda high since I remember seeing 400-500 stamped on some wheels depending if you lubed the nuts or not. However, since Petro has so much to loose by being wrong and since I have never seen any definitive charts, I just went by what they did. 450 is probably fine if the wheel isn't rusty, however I noticed no ill affects on my truck when they were torqued to 700. Studs never broke, threads didn't show any signs of stretching nor any change in resistance when spinning on the lug nuts, drums never warped, and the seals/bearings never leaked or showed signs of premature wear. I don't know if that policy has changed since it's been a few years. I'm not saying what is right or wrong, I'm just relaying what my experience was.

 

I use a 1 inch drive snap on torque wrench on all types with about a 3 foot pipe. 450 is very easy to get 600 makes me grunt a little. The torque spects I use come from two different places. One is a large tire shop where I get tires. Their technitions are required to sign off on the work order that they properly torqued the lug nuts. I have watched them do it every time I was their and asked about it. They told me 450 on dayton spoke type hubs and 600 on hub piloted. The other was actually stamped on a steel wheel ( hub piloted ) 550 to 600LBS. torque. Before I started useing these spects I had lots of wheel trouble. The other tire shops would just blast the nut on with a 1 inch gun and all I had at the time was a 3/4 gun. With the 1incher I could hardly get the nuts off. I had a 6 foot pipe to go over the breaker bar and sometimes that wouldn't work. With the 3/4 gun things would losten up breaking studs and the center out of the wheels. I never broke anything at these spects but I have seen a 3/4 gun pull a stud right out of the hub on a dayton wheel so yes you can over tighten a dayton. Not sure how much torque that actually was though. Just a tip on hub pilots. Clean them very well on the mounting surfaces. With aluminum a wire wheel on a drill works well. On steel it also works but if their is a lot of rust a hammer to chip off scale and a larger wire wheel on an angle grinder works better. The dirt and rust scale can crush when reinstaling your wheels and a few miles later things losten up even though you tighten your lug nuts properly. I know by expensive experance!

 

daytons are 250

 

I seen that. Someone posted a link.

I have 2 1" guns. one is stronger than the other but I just hammer them on for my hub pilot wheels. I don't hit it so hard on the ball and seat type. Haven't had any come loose.

Have any of you noticed when you get your paperwork from these truckstop shops that it states you have to re-torque the nuts withing 50 miles? Thats how they get out of paying for their stupidity!

 

Actually, that 50 miles thing is with any aluminum wheel, even on a car, and not with steel wheels. I don't know why but they claim the aluminum wheels make the nuts come loose in 50 miles.....

But yeah, whos gonna stop a truck in 50 miles?

 

I've never had any come lose as long as they was tightened properly.

 

Hi, I bought a really good torque multiplier outfit from a seller on ebay. They go by the handle uncle-grub. It works like nothing I've ever seen and their price is reasonable - $175.00. Even better, the tool comes with four 1" drive sockets that fit most trucks. I used to use the 4-ways and the lug wrench stands, but this is better. They even have a video at youtube to show you how it works. I was thinking about buying a X-12 Plus multiplier for $719.00, but for the money, uncle-grub's works great!

They shipped it to me fedex, and it came to my home in only 3 days.

 

Because of the corrosion at the wheel and hub mating surface. If the wheel and hub are cleaned its not an issue. That stuff can be hard as a rock but you start working it as in going down the highway it turns to powder. Then you have a loose wheel.

 

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