Wheel nuts come loose

Hey,

I had a problem with my wheel nuts on one of my front wheel came loose, which caused the wheel to wobble and ended up shearing a stud.

I totally suspect I didn't put the wheel flush on the hub and it worked itself loose, but I've been told my 2 mech's that it could be a fault with something. 1 said he had someone with a D22 in recently that sheared off 2 studs on 1 side and 3 on the other. The other mech said that on the new model, nissan increase the torque specs for nuts.

Anyone else heard of any of this?

Cheers

I hadn't realised mechanics paid a lot of attention to the recommended torque for wheelnuts. Every one that I've seen just rattle guns the life out of the nuts, resulting in a torque of +/-50Nm either side of the specified torque.

Do you religiously tighten all the nuts, then drive a few metres forward, and go around and retighten them all? Not doing that is by far the most common cause of loose wheel nuts.

Pro-Nav2.7TDi said:

I hadn't realised mechanics paid a lot of attention to the recommended torque for wheelnuts. Every one that I've seen just rattle guns the life out of the nuts, resulting in a torque of +/-50Nm either side of the specified torque.

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The ulta tune I go to is usually up with these things, but if they follow them thats a different story.

Pro-Nav2.7TDi said:

Do you religiously tighten all the nuts, then drive a few metres forward, and go around and retighten them all? Not doing that is by far the most common cause of loose wheel nuts.

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Nope. I sure it was me. I normally tighten while jacked up, drop down and check again. I think I need to be more vigilant.

I agree with ProNav, never seen a tyre place do wheel nuts with anything other than a rattle gun. Air pressure can obviously be limited but considering the different makes of cars they get I can't image it's the same for all of them yet they just whack em on and walk away.

First thing I do when I get home from getting new tyres is loosen off the wheel nuts and re-tighten them with my own bar. Nothing worse than being on the side of the road and finding out that you can't undo the nuts because they were done up by someone with a rattle gun that made them too tight. It's all ok when you're in your own shed and have different tools at your disposal but on the side of the road with one bar can be the difference between fixing a flat tyre and calling for someone to help.

I don't really use any sort of torque gauge but try to use equal pressure on the bar for each nut, that way I know the wheel wont come off and I know if need be with my bar I can always get them off no matter where I am.

KraftyPg said:

I agree with ProNav, never seen a tyre place do wheel nuts with anything other than a rattle gun. Air pressure can obviously be limited but considering the different makes of cars they get I can't image it's the same for all of them yet they just whack em on and walk away.

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People who work on rattle guns day in day out (ie. assembly line workers) somehow quickly get a feel for the torque they're applying and can be stunningly accurate. The trouble with mechanics and tyre shops is that they usually don't give a toss and whatever the gun is capable of is what the torque ends up being.

Pro-Nav2.7TDi said:

. The trouble with mechanics and tyre shops is that they usually don't give a toss and whatever the gun is capable of is what the torque ends up being.

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Hence my reasoning behind making sure I know how tight they are whenever these sort of people have done work on my cars. I know my tyre bloke and used to talk to him while he did the tyres on the truck but I still would always check them when I got back to the depot. I haven't put new tyres on a car for quite a while though my last 4 cars were traded before the first set of tyres was worn but I still check after the car's had anything done to it where the wheels might have been removed.

here they made it mandatory to use torque wrench. there was a big problem as lots of wheels where falling off because the rattle guns where worn and often didn't tighten enough.
one day i went in with a flat, they went to swap the tires over and couldn't get the nuts off with the rattle gun. i had only used the stock bar nothing more.

the other thing is to grease the stud threads. makes it easy to go on (dosn't bind up on a bit of rust/dirt) and easy to get off even if a gorilla does them up.

i've had one come loose before (my fault) and it vibrates like hell well before it comes off or breaks anything. theres to many idiots who ignore that vibration then winge that the tire fell off.

As a lover of macadamias I thought there might have been a lisp in the title, but still ... I think I'm going to invest in a torque wrench (as opposed to a "talk wench", I can do without).

My travels are sometimes extensive and I don't want them to be marred by something I could have easily prevented.

I've seen them for about $90 or so. Is that cheap junk, or is that an expected price for a good one?

These girls should assist in tightening your nuts.





Sorry couldn't resist


Edit: interesting to note the difference and specs from the same year of model isn't it? Mesmerising

Yeah i lost one on the Front Right.......Lost two more today. I'll replace with new studs tomorrow. Got two from Nizzbits a few weeks ago.

Only 3 nuts holding the front wheel on now. Dont know what happened. I was the last person to tighten them. Rotated tyres 6000k's ago.

Shit job not looking forward to doing it........

I went in to get a puncture done a few weeks ago and the bloke at the tyre shop fitted with a rattle gun till he thought it was enough, but then hit every nut with the torque wrench until it was at their specified torque. I was quite impressed with this.

Mitch

First thing I do when I get home from the tyre joint or anywhere that may have had my tyres off is check the nuts with the removal tool I carry in the car. I don't really worry about exact torque etc, if I can't undo them on the side of the road with the bar I carry torque means bugger all.

Its possible that they are too tight. They only need 100 to 120 pounds (or NMs) but I'm not infront of my wrench so I don't know.
Either way, they are too tight, they don't need the bejesus smashed out of them.
When the wheel flexes, it puts more strain on the studs, that's prob why your losing them, I rekon you've tighted them up after one came off, when you have done the opposite to what you actually needed to do.

Also make sure you do them up in the right 6 nut sequence and evenly tighten them all. Not just torque up one nut at a time.

Slowly tighten them in sequence and the wheel will centre itself around the hub.

BENNYSTRUCK said:

Yeah i lost one on the Front Right.......Lost two more today. I'll replace with new studs tomorrow. Got two from Nizzbits a few weeks ago.

Only 3 nuts holding the front wheel on now. Dont know what happened. I was the last person to tighten them. Rotated tyres 6000k's ago.

Shit job not looking forward to doing it........

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is this with alloys?
if so check the inserts are not loose.

the common traps is dirty/rusty studs and hub/rim face. if you get dirt between rim and hub it will come loose. dirt/rust on studs will mean wheel isn't on as tight as you think. grease the studs, easier to get correct torque and much easier to get them off.

+1 on tightening the nuts after you've driven on the wheel a short time. Recently reminded of this on the box trailer(had dropped the rim-tyre to check the hub bearings) and a few days later kicked the tyre and OhFART.

+1 on checking you can get the rim off if needed.

+1 on lightly greasing the thread. saves 3' of water pipe leverage..

Around 30-60% of the torque input into tightening a fastener is consumed by friction between the threads and between the head of the fastener and the joint surface. By lubricating the threads you are reducing that friction coeff. considerably, making it easy to overtighten the fastener if aiming for a specific torque.

how many people are strong enough to over tighten with the stock bar?
the worse risk is under tightening and having the wheel come off. not to mention not being able to get wheel off due to nut rusted on.

As a side note, i also carry an old wheel brace of ours, one of the ones thats shaped like a cross with the four different sizes on each corner. i find these heaps better then the standard ones for getting to wheel nuts.

Mitch

Aido said:

These girls should assist in tightening your nuts.

Sorry couldn't resist


Edit: interesting to note the difference and specs from the same year of model isn't it? Mesmerising

Click to expand...

It is hard to believe they are all the same year isn't it ...... still mesmerising