Ditto's to the above.That's what I did after I mistakenly sold my 1st one at our moving sale not thinking about using it.I was torquing my lugnuts at a park in Texas and had a guy come over and tell me in all his years RVing I was the 1st guy he ever saw actually check mine.A good quality socket of the correct size is also important as the cheapies will tend to round off the lug nuts.(ask me how I know)


-- Edited by Racerguy on Thursday 5th of August 2010 04:53:32 PM

Luvglass wrote:

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I don't understand what the difference is between a car and a trailer that requires me to regularly check my trailer wheels with a torque wrench, when I've driven a car for 55 years and never had to check them. Definitely, my car was driven more recklessly than I've ever driven my trailer. And why are we told to check the trailer but not the truck???

I don't own a torque wrench and have been driving my trailer for almost 5 years now and have never checked them. So far all is well.

Terry, you were an over the road driver, did you regularly check the wheels?

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 Fred,

Yes, I was an 18-wheeler operator for about 5 years and a bob-tail driver for even longer than that.  In all cases, it was always a 4-way wrench, an impact wrench, or a geared tightener for Budd wheel lugs.

However, as I mentioned in the original post, apparently with disk brakes it is different than drum brakes.  Sadly, over the years my cars and pickups haven't been checked that much on a regular basis.  And even then, it was a quick pull on each one with a 4-way.

One commenter on another forum spoke of being used to the 4-way wrench, but the last time he tried to remove a Mobile Suites wheel, he couldn't do it.  It required an impact wrench to remove.  Also, a number commented that over-tightening, regardless of which method was used to put them on, could lead to weakening the stud bolts.

Thus, the questions above because with such an expensive rig, I don't want to take chances.  I have lost a wheel once on an interstate.  It ain't fun.  Fortunately, it was a rear wheel, and that is a story for around a campfire sometime.  It's too long otherwise.

Terry

53 Merc wrote:

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Terry, just go to Sears and get a Craftsman 24 inch 1/2 inch drive torque wrench.  Warranted for life, what is wrong with that?  Try to avoid getting a wrench with a gauge you have to watch.  The clicker is just fine.

Calibration for our purposes is not required.  All you are looking at is approx 110 ft/lbs of torque for your wheels, right?  Anywhere between 100 and 120 is adequate.

Be careful if you need to use an extension between the wrench and the socket.  Some of them are not good enough to "not twist" when applying the required torque.

Other than that check wheel lugs often, and be sure you stop when it "clicks". 

---

Ken,

I didn't even really relate to the Craftsman, but you are right about the warranties with their stuff.  Now, as a follow-up question that can be asked of all, will a standard socket work, or should one get a heavy-duty, impact type socket instead?

While I have a 1/2 inch socket set, going up to 1 1/4" on the socket size, it is an old Montgomery Ward set.  They were good enough to use on the farm and the truck driving parts of my life, so I guess they would be heavy enough.  However, I still like to get other folks advice.

It is a sad state of affairs that I am known as the "King of Overkill".  I've set nuts and bolts with a socket extension and a piece of pipe over the handle to add leverage.  So, I suspect that the 24" torque wrench would help me avoid the overkill aspect.

Thanks for the ideas.

Terry

PS:  Relating back to another thread where I picked on the Texas folks, and you in particular, I guess I should mention that a horrible thing happened to me.  Should anyone repeat what I say here, I will adamantly deny everything.

My mother decided to go from the Oklahoma Panhandle town of Keyes back in 1946 to go shopping in Amarillo, Texas.  Sadly, that is when I decided it was time to be born.  I am still trying to live down the shame. 

An Okie at heart and mind, but born in Texas.

Yeesh!!!

 

Terry, I have had expensive Torq wrenches and cheap ones. I now have a Walmart Torq wrench. As for torqing the wheels I about once a month pull off three caps and check the Torq. Now if you remove a Aluminum wheel be sure and check the tork within the first 50 miles then at a 150 then you should be fine.

As for the disk brakes, my personal opinion is because if you use a impact wrench when replacing the wheel you can damage the rotor. I would never use my impact wrench when replacing a wheel. Professional will always use a torq wrench when replacing a wheel.

I'm also a X-Truck driver and also know when you see rust coming from a lug nut on a steel wheel it needs to be re-torked. Just a suggestion on a wrench to remove the caps on the MS, check Camping World they carry the small wrench for removing the Caps. My Freightliner requires the large wrench to remove the caps.

The reason I think a Aluminum wheel needs re-torking is the twisting of the suspension when towing the 5th wheel for sure when backing into RV sites. Cars and Trucks doesn't put so much pressure on the suspension when turning and backing up distance between axles. Take a look at you suspension when backing up. Lots of pressure on the tires and wheel. The above is just my Opinion............ GBY....

As far as aluminum wheels go, the lug nots need to be retorqued after so many miles on cars and trucks too. I have aluminum wheels on my truck, and the tire shop told me to come back after so many miles (I think it was 50) and they retorqued the lugs. They said it's because the aluminum is softer than the steel wheels, and the actual driving actually flexes the wheels, thus possibly loosening them. I'm certainly no expert, just passing along what I was told.

The biggest reason you should use a torque wrench on disc brakes is the fact you can warp a disc brake rotor with improper tightening and torque.Not so on a drum brake setup.Most impacts at tire stores are set to a predetermined setting.Many people get by only doing minimum preventitive maintenance and never have a problem.If I buy used from someone I will choose to buy from the guy that did perform proper maintenance.

-- Edited by Racerguy on Sunday 8th of August 2010 12:17:57 PM

You guys have been great. We were near Sears today so we drove over to see what they had in the way of torque wrenches.

Now, because of that, I have a follow up question. I'm certainly not interested in the "bending beam" or "visible dial" style. But, I also didn't see any like that anyway.

What I did see that somewhat interested me was two different ones. There was a $80 one that had a rotating dial on the shank for setting the target setting. Then there was a $120 one that had a digital readout for setting the target setting.

So, while I don't REALLY want to spend the extra $40 (if I went with Sears), would the digital one really be better? I would think with a digital readout, the dang thing probably has to have a battery to operate that. It would just be my luck the battery would go dead just when I needed to use the wrench.

While I like the idea of the Craftsman because of their warranties on tools, I plan on looking at a few other places.  However, I did buy a 6-point socket and about a 6" extension at Sears.  I know that those two items need to be quality.

Thanks again for your help.

Terry

Racerguy wrote:

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Terry,I would get the "clicker" style.You just adjust the setting on the handle and listen for the click.That way you don't have to eyeball it,just tighten until it clicks.

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 George,

Both that I looked at were "clicker" styles.  The difference (that I could see) was that the higher priced one was digital with a digital readout showing the selected "target setting", while the $80 one had a dial that "twisted" around the handle to set the target setting.

The one difference that I saw was that the $119 (digital) one goes up to 250 lbs, and the $79 one goes up to 150 lbs.  I had read on one of the forums when I initially posted this question that someone mentioned that the "center of the pounds range" was the most accurate of the wrench.  Thus, if one needed to torque 150 ft lbs, you would be at the max for the one, but only half way through the digital's range.

While I haven't checked for sure, the Mobile Suites with 17.5" wheels calls for around 140-150.

Here is a link to the digital one:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00944597000P?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1


And, here is a link to "dial" one:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00944595000P?prdNo=3&blockNo=3&blockType=G3

-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Wednesday 1st of September 2010 08:34:42 PM

I recently purchased a Sears torque wrench and found the warranty is now one year.  They no longer warrant them for life.  The salesman said something about abuse with extensions on the handles.

“I don't understand what the difference is between a car and a trailer that requires me to regularly check my trailer wheels with a torque wrench, when I've driven a car for 55 years and never had to check them. Definitely, my car was driven more recklessly than I've ever driven my trailer. And why are we told to check the trailer but not the truck???

I don't own a torque wrench and have been driving my trailer for almost 5 years now and have never checked them. So far all is well.”

-----------------------

Fred, I had the same question and now I know “why” it is very important to torque trailer wheels and not the same for "cars."

Trailer tires (wheels) have a lot more flexing, especially with tandems axles.  (I.e. two axles.)  The wheels are actually rocked on the bolts much more because there is no differential like there is in a car / truck rear end.  Therefore they get loose just like you might loosen something that is screwed on by rocking it.

Now, the reason to have a torque wrench is to tighten the lugs to a specific tightness that, if you repeat the tightening process a few times after traveling, will finally “seat” the nuts into the wheels and they won’t come loose.

You can’t do this by just tightening the lugs “as tight as you can.”  They will work loose if you do that not to mention potentially damaging the lugs.

From personal experience I can tell you, with some 38,000 miles with this trailer alone, if you torque the lugs to the proper value (probably 110-120 foot lbs in most cases with the 5/8” lugs most larger 5’er’s have) and check them regularly; then re-torque them as you travel (only takes 3 minutes – really!) they will finally snug up and won’t move.

There really is a reason - a good one – to do this correctly.

If anyone is interested, Mark Bruss has a very good and accurate discussion on this subject.  I recommend it – a bit technical, but anyone can follow it and maybe save themselves a lot of damage – or worse – with just a “Sears Torque Wrench” and 3 minutes while the co-pilot is in the rig doing you know what at the rest stop. That's what I do.

http://www.dmbruss.com/zFullTimeLifeStyle/FTLS_Tires_LugNutTorque.htm

Safe travels

Bill