Is Impact Wrench Proper Tool?

On 3 Jan 2005 17:21:38 -0800, wrote:

>I spent nine years selling wheels, studs and nuts, and other related
>hardware. We sold a lot of this stuff to shops that didn't use torque
>wrenches, and their customers had more "loose" nuts and departed
>wheels.

So what's your take on greasing studs? I always put grease on mine,
but I've seen vociferous newsgroup battles over whether that's good or
bad. I've seen studs break because the lugnuts were so corroded they
couldn't be backed off, and I've heard many a lugnut make a gawdawful
grrriiiinch for the first half turn as it was undone because it was
nearly seized.

John Ings wrote:
> On 3 Jan 2005 17:21:38 -0800, wrote:
>
> >I spent nine years selling wheels, studs and nuts, and other related
> >hardware. We sold a lot of this stuff to shops that didn't use
torque
> >wrenches, and their customers had more "loose" nuts and departed
> >wheels.
>
> So what's your take on greasing studs? I always put grease on mine,
> but I've seen vociferous newsgroup battles over whether that's good
or
> bad. I've seen studs break because the lugnuts were so corroded they
> couldn't be backed off, and I've heard many a lugnut make a gawdawful
> grrriiiinch for the first half turn as it was undone because it was
> nearly seized.

A small bit of anti-seize paste (Never-Seize or Copper-Coat) on
the threads should be OK. Grease will dry out over time, and the oil in
it will mix with water and form acids and cause worse corrosion if left
long enough. Best to keep the paste off the tapered nut face; you don't
want to encourage relative movement between the wheel and nut.
Dan

I use anti-sieze on lug nuts, even if the instructions might say not to. I
like to be at least pretty sure that I will be able to change a tire on the
side of the road if I have to! You can make an educated decision about what
torque to use when you do up the lug nuts to be sure that you aren't over
tightening them. Yes, I do use a torque wrench to make sure that the lugs
are up to where I want them. Running a race team for 15 years makes that
second nature. My cars don't go on the track unless every lug has gotten a
click!

One thing occurs to me: If you don't use some kind of lube on the lugs, how
do you know if a lug is actually tight or just rusted solid? You should
back off the lug before you re-tighten it, NOT just go for a click on the
wrench if you aren't very sure that your lugs are free on the studs.

For the OP's application, I would get a cheap 3/4" drive torque wrench from
Harbour Freight or equivalent and keep it in the truck for just this use.
Plus or minus 5% won't make a bit of difference, but I know that I can't
easily tell the difference between 125 foot pounds and 150 foot pounds.

I have, in a long ago life, experienced a lot of lost lugs due to over
tightening. (I was driving the trucks, not installing the wheels, and a
Private in the Army doesn't get to express a lot of opinions even if I knew
what I was talking about then, which I didn't. I just checked the lugs
every two hours, and called for a wrecker when I lost them.)

Brian


"John Ings" > wrote in message
...
> On 3 Jan 2005 17:21:38 -0800, wrote:
>
>>I spent nine years selling wheels, studs and nuts, and other related
>>hardware. We sold a lot of this stuff to shops that didn't use torque
>>wrenches, and their customers had more "loose" nuts and departed
>>wheels.
>
> So what's your take on greasing studs? I always put grease on mine,
> but I've seen vociferous newsgroup battles over whether that's good or
> bad. I've seen studs break because the lugnuts were so corroded they
> couldn't be backed off, and I've heard many a lugnut make a gawdawful
> grrriiiinch for the first half turn as it was undone because it was
> nearly seized.
>
>

A colleague of mine here had new tires fitted, and while driving home
had one of the wheels come off as all the studs *snapped* from being
over-tightened with an impact wrench. Well I guess first one of them
snapped and the others gave up the ghost in sympathy . The tire place
ended up replacing all the studs on his car. There's a long and
acrimonious thread called "No lube on auto fasteners?" just up the
screen a ways, where the term "standard procedure" gets thrown around a
lot. Unfortunately "standard procedure" for some people at tire shops
seems to be
1: Pick up nut.
2: Insert nut in socket on impact wrench (flat side or tapered side
first, either one is good).
3: Apply nut to end of stud (looking closely at it and turning the
socket by hand to get the thread started is optional and only for sissies).
4: Drive nut on, ignoring any screeching that might indicate you've
cross-threaded it.
5: Repeat until you can't see any more nuts on the floor (even though
you actually kicked one across the floor five minutes ago so the
customer will be leaving the shop with one missing from this particular
wheel).

When it's my car, there's a step 2a: Customer marches across shop floor,
gets right up behind "technician" and yells in a really loud voice
"STOP!", followed by pedantically delivered, but perfectly reasonable,
request to put the nuts on the studs by hand.