[VAC] lug nuts

[Jim Dunmyer <jdunmyer@toltbbs.com>]

Jerry,
 I forgot to comment on one of your comments:

You mentioned that the torque setting might be different on those lug
nuts once you've lubricated them. Note this:

Torque values given in "the book" are almost always for CLEAN, LIGHTLY
LUBRICATED threads. If a bolt/nut is rusty, you have no idea how 'tight'
it really is. Yeah, you strain your butt off, tugging on the wrench, but
you've not really tightened the bolt. The idea behind "proper" torque is
to cause the bolt to stretch slightly so as to put it under tension,
securely clamping the parts that it's holding. 

Picture this: snug the nut by hand, then weld it to the stud. You can
pull on the wrench until you're blue in the face and it won't turn. But,
is it "tight"? NO, it's not, and you'll find that out when you've gone
down the road for a while and everything is rattling.

A properly-tightened bolt will nearly never come loose, even if it has
no lockwashers, cotter pins, or whatever. If you don't have the
experience to 'feel' when a bolt is tight, you should get and use a
torque wrench. Many careful mechanics use a torque wrench on lug bolts
on cars with disk brakes so as to not warp the rotors by overtightening.
Much stuff doesn't need to be nearly as tight as you might think (and as
tight as a lot of dummies make it!), other stuff needs to have the bolts
tightened until 'just before they break'. Experience with a lot of
different equipment, over many years, will give you the proper feel.
That, and RTFM'ing, of course. If you don't have a book that gives
torque values, you can find general guidelines in a number of places.

                             <<Jim, who has torque wrenches up to 600
ft.-lbs>>

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