Well I learned a valuable lesson today, always make sure to check your lug nuts after you get new tires.:doah: About a week ago I had a new set of 15/35 Tsl's put on my k10. I put them on myself with a impact wrench and thought that would be good enough, WRONG. I was pulling in the driveway to the farm and could feel a clunk clunk under the truck. About the time I hit the brake and clutch wondering what in the hell was going on, the rearend come up in the air and then crash down. I lost the left rear tire. I have only been down the road a few miles from the house a few times since I put them on. Lesson boys and girls, always check your wheels after a few miles. I would hated for this to have happen to me if I was driving the dodge, because I would have been going alot further and faster.
Glad to hear nothing too bad happened cuz of it... I lost a tire on a project Pinto Wagon I had a few years ago going 40. Hit the brakes at a light and the tire kept going... rear end dropped to the ground when I finally got it stopped, but the tire bounced up a curb and hit one of those mailbox dropoff box thingees... left a pretty good dent in it...
Speakin of which... what's a good "clicker" type wheel wrench? I've got a great Mac bar style torque wrench, but I want one I can be a little more rugged with...
How wide are your rims? I've got 16.5x14's on my K5 and always made sure I tightened the crap 'outa them after removing them. 14's love to work on lug nuts.
I too learned a lesson like this I was out splashing around in the mud after I got the new Swampers on my old 79 and I heard a clunking from underneath the front, got out and looked and 3 lug nuts were missing the other 3 had sheared off and the wheel was just resting on the hub. Had I went 10 feet further foward the tire would have went rolling on its own Luckily there was no damage and nobody got hurt, but that still was a very good lesson :doah:
I've got 16.5x9.75 rims on it, I've always used a impact wrench on them and its always been enough. My 1/2 impact will put them as tight as I can with a 2 foot pull handle. The other 3 wheels were all still tight, so I don't know. I know from now on I will always double check the lugs after a few miles.
I've got a Husky 1/2" drive one from Home Depot (about $60) as well as my Snap On 3/8" drive one. I use the 1/2" one for the lug nuts (14B FF torque spec was 130 lbs for the 9/16" stud) and I *assume* our Dodge would be similar. Personal preference for me is a torque wrench for equal tightness and stretch. Impact is a good way to start them but torque wrench is the right way to go, especially if you have aluminum wheels.
Yeah, I think my impact has some way to adjust the torque settings on it, but I don't trust it farther than I can throw it... I still end up going back around mine and checking them all by hand with a lug wrench... They opened a new Home Depot here a couple days ago, maybe I can get lucky and get some sorta Grand Opening deal on one... heh... I've had a lucky day already--found a $10 bill out in the alley. Gotta love days like this... nice weather, hard work after being trapped in the house for a week, and gettin paid to do something I'd usually have to do for free.
I've never torqued a lugnut in my life, always just use a good high powered air gun. I know it's tight enough.
I always run them on with a impact on a lower setting (depends on your model and pressure) to start. But I always hand tighten. Years ago I to take off a impact installed wheel on the side of the road, never again. That and the fact that most people don't have a clue what the impact is actually torquing to on a given setting makes use of the air impact for final tightening a problem Now if you have some of those torque sticks the tire shop use, and you get the right baseline input torque within spec for the sticks, to me, that would be the right solution if you don't want to finish by hand.
all i know is my 1/2" IR titanium at 150 psi puts out about 510lbs of torque when ussed wit ha 1/2" 1 5/16" socket at full hammer till it stops acording to the torque wrench i put on and tested with. now i just use that to buzz on all my semi tires. turn my gun all the way up and just let it hammer till it stops, but those are supposed to be between 450-500lbs. aint no way im torquing 3 axles with a torque wrench and bar!
On your aluminum wheels on your beautiful K5 you've just 'cranked it up'? Doesn't sound like you Robby............
I always use a torque wrench on mine. Not only do I not want them coming off, I also don't want warped disc brake rotors, either. Rusty
As bad dog said earlier I will run the lugs up with an impact but do the final tightening by hand. I hate having to try and break loose the lug nuts that are just way to tight on the side of the road. I have most of the tire work on my dually done at costco. They have a really good policy for making sure the lugs a tourqued properly. They run them up with an air gun then torque them with a torque wrench and then one of the managers has to go back over every lug nut before it goes out the door.
my old Z71 was the worst about that, but it did have 37's and 15x10 wheels on it. so in hindsight, thats probably why, but non the less its annoying and scary. ryan
I always squeak my lugnuts, something my pappy ingrained into me. I'll tighten them with the impact wrench, but then I take 2' breaker bar and go over each nut tightening it till the nut squeaks (obviously not a good idea with alloy rims though). Even with the impact wrench I still get a squeak from 9-10 nuts.
You've always gotta re-check the lugs on aluminum wheels no matter how tight you've got them on the first install. Steel wheels are a different story.
You can crank a lugnut on an alloy wheel till the cows come home and you won't get a squeak, you'll just goober up the rims. Best to use a torque wrench on those. If ya can afford the bling of alloy wheels ya can afford a torque wrench to tighten them. Me on the other hand, I'm cheap and will prolly only ever run steel wheels =o)
