here here gary i dread to think how many nuts i torque average 5x 20 a day may be a few more and our standard set to uss to lace on our invoice is 30 miles or 12 hours which i find strange but that is what we are told as do kwik rip etc to cover our selves we also have a part on our invoice for cars to be signed for after retorqued and i can tell you right here and now in 7 years on my own how many have returned NONE!!!! and also how many wheels have come off NONE so i agree gary set em and leave em alone if its dirty clean before refitting, 1 thing though i do many van tyres for customers and i have never actually had the van in my place allways just loose wheels and when i balance them many times i get looked at stupid and the comment is there only on a trailer!!!
Having worked in engineering for 10 years I realise just how important torquing to the correct amount is.
I have seen the damage that can be done in large engines when components come loose.
There is an optimum stretch in bolts and set screws so as not to cause damage to threads and so that vibration will not loosen them, so it's not just about tightness.
But to answer the question, I have just bought a torque wrench this year, because then I don't have to think too much when tightening my nuts!
Ps, Iv'e just had 2 new tyres fitted and on the invoice it recommends re checking the wheel nut torque settings after 50 miles!
Post last edited on 28/05/2009 15:26:06
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"If I let go of what I am, I can become what I might be".
every time i have new tyres fitted the fitter always tells me to check the nuts after 3o miles,
they also have large sign telling people to do this or return to the garage and they will do it for you.
Ironic isn't it? We hear lots of people complaining about some mysterious "Health and Safety" malaise telling us what to do, and everyone complaing that it's gone mad, yet at the other extreme we have lots of caravanners saying"what rubbish - I never check my wheel nuts and they've never come loose!" Well whoop-de-do. If you don't wish to check them, don't. Having lost a wheel from a caravan, (although not due to loose wheel nuts), and with a friend who also lost a wheel because of loose wheel nuts, I choose to check mine periodically, for my own piece of mind, just like I check tyre pressures etc periodically for the same reason.
Once a wheel comes off, it's too late to think that maybe I was wrong and should have checked. The damage is done then. But if another caravanner doesn't think it's necessary, then don't bother. It's a free country. As long as you don't hit me if you do have an incident!
Please yourselves. Just don't get too smug towards those who take the trouble!
Car wheels are fitted to a hub centre flange to hold them central and are kept there by the 4 or 5 studs or nuts, most van wheels are held centrally by only the studs or nuts and do not have the centre flange. Al-Ko sell Nut Locks quite cheap to buy which are intendeed to stop nuts or studs loosening, check out there website. These nutlocks cannot be used with alloy wheels.
"what rubbish - I never check my wheel nuts and they've never come loose!"
If you bothered to actually read the comments and take them in context, you might find a bit of difficulty finding anyone who actually said this. My comments (and I suspect others) were relevant to the suggestion of torquing all the wheel nuts to within 0.1Nm (!!!!) EVERY time you set off and then stop after 30 miles on EVERY trip and torque them up again.
Do you do this??
Of course I (and I suspect everyone else) check that the nuts aren't coming loose, the same as we check the pressure in the tyres etc etc.
As far as health and safety is concerned, we must individually judge the chances of something happening and the consequences of it happening.
In my view, if you check the tightness regularly, the chances of it happening are so small that the risk is also small, despite the potential consequences of it happening.
If your view is different, I'm quite relaxed about it.
At a guess, I would think most people overtorque to be on the safe side. The main advantage of using a torque wrench is that it torques them up enough to be safe, but doesn't overstretch the bolts and the nuts are not too hard to remove at the roadside. Tyre fitters are doing it all the time and know by feel how tight the nuts should be.
tykey - wind your head back in - I did "bother to actually read the comments". My comment was paraphrasing some people's general attitude towards doing it, not quoting anyone in particular, which I felt was obvious.
However I agree with you that it is uneccesary to torque wheel nuts to "within 0.1Nm (!!!!) EVERY time you set off and then stop after 30 miles on EVERY trip and torque them up again." I check mine regularly, but not to such a close tolerance, just within reason.
Ignore whichever comments you wish to, smug or otherwise. I'm equally relaxed about that.
I don't check wheel nuts before a journey but, I do check them after a wheel has been removed. If I have wheels off a lorry for anything, they're always re-torqued after a few miles. I call into the tyre supplier for this as they have the proper torque wrench for the job.
If I have a wheel off the caravan, I always carry a small torque wrench in my toolbox to check the wheel nuts. It's an Halfords one & I've had it years.
I also always check wheels on axles with the handbrake off so nothing is holding the drum to give false readings.
As Gary advises, after a wheel has settled & been run in place for a while, any signs of a stud slackening off should be addressed by loosening the studs before torqueing them up. I've never had to do this with a car or caravan though.
There was a very long thread on this subject some years ago and it appeared that those paranoid enough to keep checking the torque were the ones that had wheels coming adrift.
Probably (I suspect) because they didn't slacken them off before re-torqueing.
i agree with Gary
Do it once but Do it properly.
If you're not experienced with d-i-y car/caravan maintenance get a torque wrench or have it checked a.s.a.p. (assuming this is for caravanners who will only perform this task in event of a puncture).
I've just had a check the wheels nuts are very tight. Also the wheel brace provided with the van stands absolutely no chance of getting those nuts off. Fortunately the thing which came with the mover has a large lever on it and fits so i'll have to use that. Will price a torque wrench from Halfords to put em on with.
Do all caravan manufacturers supply such puny wheel braces?
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Topic: do you torque your nuts??
