3 ms·

A problem with many torque wrenches is that they click (or beep) when the set torque is reached, but they do not prevent tightening beyond that, nor do they hav

A problem with many torque wrenches is that they click (or beep) when the set torque is reached, but they do not prevent tightening beyond that, nor do they have any way to indicate how much overtightened the fastener might be. It seems to me that these bolts have the same issue. Ever wonder why the tire shop has tightened your wheel lug nuts so tight that you can't get them off with the hand wrench when you need to change a tire? They spin them on with a pneumatic impact wrench, and then "check" the torque with a torque wrench. Of course it clicks, because the nuts are already way too tight.

bumby 5y ago
Slipper torque wrenches prevent over tightening
Thlom 5y ago
That explains a lot. Had a tire shop tighten the bolts on my old car so extremely tight that the threading on the bolts were broken. Every time I changed the tires after that I had to use a wrench with a looong bar attached to loosen the bolts (In Norwegian we call this a “latmannsarm which directly translates to lazy man arm, not sure what the English word would be). No matter how much grease or how much care I took to not tighten too hard the bolts were stuck next season. Glad the car is sold and not my problem anymore. (I could of course have bought new bolts, but I always forgot about it after spending 2 hours changing the tires …)
- enragedcacti 5y ago
  in English we call that a Cheater bar, so it seems like that has carried across pretty well :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheater_bar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheater_bar
  - alangibson 5y ago
    AKA Cheater Pipe in Texas.
  - gkop 5y ago
    Not mentioned on that page, but you can make one out of two ordinary wrenches, which is both practical and may impress your friends! All I found online describing this was a video: https://youtu.be/5DShRItYxLA https://youtu.be/5DShRItYxLA
- repiret 5y ago
  A cheater bar or breaker bar.
KennyBlanken 5y ago
Powered torque wrenches like Milwaulkee's (designed for electricians) and assembly line fastener drivers absolutely stop at the proper torque. If you think dealership/tire shop/corner shop garage techs touch a torque wrench for lug nuts, you're dreaming. They blast each nut on with the gun and walk away. Techs never are incentivized to get everything done as fast as possible because they're paid by book rate, and there's zero disincentive for not doing it properly. Torque sticks were an attempt to address the problem but most techs can't even be bothered with those. Proper torque for lug nuts is multi-step anyway. Star pattern partial tightening, with the wheel placed correctly on the hub if it doesn't have a concentric ring - then full tightening, then re-checking after the vehicle has been driven for a few minutes, because of fretting between the wheel, rotor, and hub surfaces...even if you've carefully prepped the surfaces, which again, no automotive tech does.

bumby 5y ago

Slipper torque wrenches prevent over tightening

Thlom 5y ago

That explains a lot. Had a tire shop tighten the bolts on my old car so extremely tight that the threading on the bolts were broken. Every time I changed the tires after that I had to use a wrench with a looong bar attached to loosen the bolts (In Norwegian we call this a “latmannsarm which directly translates to lazy man arm, not sure what the English word would be). No matter how much grease or how much care I took to not tighten too hard the bolts were stuck next season. Glad the car is sold and not my problem anymore. (I could of course have bought new bolts, but I always forgot about it after spending 2 hours changing the tires …)

enragedcacti 5y ago
in English we call that a Cheater bar, so it seems like that has carried across pretty well :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheater_bar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheater_bar
- alangibson 5y ago
  AKA Cheater Pipe in Texas.
- gkop 5y ago
  Not mentioned on that page, but you can make one out of two ordinary wrenches, which is both practical and may impress your friends! All I found online describing this was a video: https://youtu.be/5DShRItYxLA https://youtu.be/5DShRItYxLA
repiret 5y ago
A cheater bar or breaker bar.

KennyBlanken 5y ago

Powered torque wrenches like Milwaulkee's (designed for electricians) and assembly line fastener drivers absolutely stop at the proper torque. If you think dealership/tire shop/corner shop garage techs touch a torque wrench for lug nuts, you're dreaming. They blast each nut on with the gun and walk away. Techs never are incentivized to get everything done as fast as possible because they're paid by book rate, and there's zero disincentive for not doing it properly. Torque sticks were an attempt to address the problem but most techs can't even be bothered with those. Proper torque for lug nuts is multi-step anyway. Star pattern partial tightening, with the wheel placed correctly on the hub if it doesn't have a concentric ring - then full tightening, then re-checking after the vehicle has been driven for a few minutes, because of fretting between the wheel, rotor, and hub surfaces...even if you've carefully prepped the surfaces, which again, no automotive tech does.