Re: re-torquing lug nuts

["Jay Mackro" <jmackro@domain.elided>]

Ron Horowitz <RonHorowitz@domain.elided> wrote:

> One of the things I _may_ be doing differently, though, is that usually
> after I've torqued everything down, I'll drive around a little and
> re-torque things just in case things have seated in or moved around or
> whatever. Don't know if that's really what's making the difference,
though.
>
I think that Ron is onto something here.  When I bought my dual axle,
flatbed trailer many years back, the dealer who sold it to me advised
me to check the tightness of the lug nuts every time I was going to use
it.  I thought "sheesh - seems like overkill", but I was trailering one of
my precious Alfas from California to the midwest, and didn't want to
take any chances.  So each morning of the 3-1/2 day trip, I took out
the old 4-way lug wrench, and gave each nut a calibrated twist
(like Ron, I believe I can come pretty close to the correct torque
using "mechanics' feel").  Sure enough, for the first few mornings, a
number of the nuts would tighten down a bit more.  My suspicion is
that the wheel sort of beds into place as the trailer - or car - rolls
down the road.  Kind of the way a cylinder head & gasket will
nestle down onto the block, requiring you to re-torque the head
nuts every so often.

Jay Mackro
San Juan Capistrano, Calif.

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