Wheel Torques

[chas]

Had two new tyres fitted to the front of my Boxer a couple of years ago and thought the torque should be around 160n for the 15 inch wheels, however the fitter checked up and said it was 140n and went ahead and fitted them.

Tried to remove one of the wheels recently and even with a 2ft long wheel bar with correct sized socket could not even loosen one nut, and I am no lightweight.

So my recommendation is you may well be carrying around your jack and wheel spanner, (the one supplied is hopeless) check to see if you can loosen the bolts in case of a puncture,if not whats the point in carrying all the jack up gear, and call the breakdown service. :'(

[Derek Uzzell]

Good advice - this forum thread may interest/amuse you

 

https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Fiat-Ducato-X290-wheel-bolt-torque/38394/

[Alanb]

On my x244 Ducato with M14 wheel bolts, I use 160 Nm. I have not encountered problems wi removing the wheels for inspection or maintenance.

 

It may be appropriate to relate an incident that I witnessed many years ago when a seized lorry wheel nut was proving obdurate. The technique employed was to "shock" the nut off by striking the socket sharply with a hammer while a considerable torque was applied to the nut. It worked for that nut and several others.

 

This technique may be possible with steel wheels in an emergency, but I doubt that it is applicable to the recessed bolts on alloy wheels.

 

I wonder would a 12V impact wrench be up to the task?

 

Alan

[colin]

Not just the wheel nuts, t'other week got a puncture, dropped the spare but the locking nut holding it to carrier proved impossible to remove, two days soaked in penetrating oil lever off the plastic handle and remove with a 3/4 socket.

[Derek Uzzell]

I split a normal (good quality) chrome-vanadium socket while tightening the wheel nuts of my previous Ford Transit-based motorhome (200Nm torque setting). Since then I’ve used the much sturdier sockets intended fori impact wrenches.

 

Historically it was accepted practiice to employ a scaffold pole to help undo recalcitrant wheel nuts

 

http://www.trucknetuk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=579778

 

Alloy wheels can corrode to the hub and this proved to be the case when my late-neighbour’s Vauxhall Astra had to have a puncture fixed. The mechanic eventually managed to remove the wheel by whacking it judiciously with a large soft-head hammer, but I recall an “Autocar” reporter saying that, when a car on test had a puncture and the alloy wheel was found to be stuck to the hub, every non-damaging technique failed and the wheel finallly had to be cut apart to get it off.

[ColinM50]

Not had a puncture in years, now that's tempting fate, but see the problem with undoing nuts could be almost insurmountable. Would it be good practice to wipe a small amount of copper grease on the bolts/nuts before tightening them to stop them rusting on?

[Derek Uzzell]

This USA link refers

 

https://mechanics.stackexchange.com/questions/30450/grease-on-wheel-bolts-or-not

 

In my posting of 20 July 2018 7:40 AM here

 

https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/fuel-leak-Ducato-2-3-M-Jet/49789/31/

 

I said that I lubricate the threads of wheel-bolts/studs (with ceramic gease) and also the wheel-to-hub mating surfaces - but as you’ll see from Wasn’t Me’s posting of 20 July 2018 7:40 AM there’s expert opposition to doing this.