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  #31  
Old 03-25-2011, 09:09 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lutzTD View Post
definitely needs to be in the air, if you can move a tire with the vehicle weight on it you need to lay off the steroids
It takes little presure to locate a sloppy wheel bearing for example with the wheel on the ground sometimes. Especially the lighter rear end of a car. Generally speaking it is better with the tire off the ground I agree.

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  #32  
Old 03-26-2011, 04:38 PM
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And the trouble is. . . .






Loose lug bolts. Apparently I did not tighten the front left lug bolts completely after bleeding the front brakes. Whew. No big money or time spent! Thanks everyone!
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  #33  
Old 03-26-2011, 04:52 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by imagesinthewind View Post
Loose lug bolts. Apparently I did not tighten the front left lug bolts completely after bleeding the front brakes. Whew. No big money or time spent! Thanks everyone!
Glad it turned out to be something simple. Gotta love an easy fix.
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  #34  
Old 03-26-2011, 06:32 PM
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Simple yes.. but very dangerous....
I had a guy working on weekends helping me fix some of the cars in our family in the late 1970's.... nothing hi tech... He had fixed cars for our Credit Union for a long time..
Our 1964 Chev farm pickup truck got new brakes... by me... and I went to something else while he put all the tires back on.
When my parents were driving back in from the farm the next weekend the left front wheel came off... right in the right hand sweep from 290 to 183 in the old days in Austin.....
They were very lucky not to have been hurt... I don't remember if that pickup even had seat belts... certainly not shoulder harnesses...
The lug bolts had not been tightened well.. and had worn all the holes out of the steel rim... so the whole thing left the vehicle... very scary. I did not employ him again of course...
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  #35  
Old 03-27-2011, 10:09 PM
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Funny thing is, I did this same thing a couple years ago, left rear wheel in the 82 300SD. I was driving and suddenly the rear wheel came off and rolled past my car! I managed to slow and make a turn on a road that was on my right and stop the car. I went back to the road and found three of the lugs bolts.

A passing mercedes stopped and let me borrow his 17mm wrench. I stole a lug off another wheel and put four lugs on the rear wheel. You'd think that situation would have stuck in my mind, but I thought I'd done all the lugs after the bleed.

Glad I caught it!
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  #36  
Old 03-27-2011, 10:35 PM
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ya know, three times is the charm right?
best you use a torque wrench every time on the wheels now!
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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

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  #37  
Old 03-27-2011, 11:02 PM
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Leave the lug wrench on the lugs until they are tight, then if you forget, the wrench whizzing by the window will remind you
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  #38  
Old 03-28-2011, 01:55 PM
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Originally Posted by cmbdiesel View Post
Leave the lug wrench on the lugs until they are tight, then if you forget, the wrench whizzing by the window will remind you
Gonna get new front tires this week, will have them torque the beejesus in the wheels. Won't happen again! LOL!
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  #39  
Old 03-28-2011, 02:35 PM
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Over-torquing the lugs on alloy wheels can be just as bad as under-torquing them! Cranking down on the nuts until they squeak is not the right solution to your problem. It can damage the lug nut seats on the wheels, which may encourage the nuts to loosen up in the future.

You should torque them to spec and then check them after a week or so of driving. A good tire shop will always use a torque wrench to tighten the lugs on alloy wheels. If they just buzz the nuts on with an impact wrench you need to go somewhere else.
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  #40  
Old 03-28-2011, 03:08 PM
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80 ft/lbs is the torque spec.
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  #41  
Old 03-28-2011, 03:49 PM
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Ok... lets talk about getting the wheels on the car properly...
The wheels need to be off the ground completely when placed on the axle.
No touching at the ground.
Then you rotate the wheels with one hand shaking the whole tire as you turn it....and turn in the lug bolts in a star pattern BY YOUR FINGERS until all play is gone on all the bolts...
If your car does not have an inner rim for the wheel to sorta sit on .. then you put a couple or three lug bolt in and then start the process... turning by hand and tightening by finger until there is no play in any direction whatsoever.
THEN you get out the torque wrench and go in a star pattern starting at 10 ft lb increments until you have gone around all the lug nuts or lug bolts several times...
Then you can go up on the increments to about half the final number needed...then finish off at the correct torque reading..
A wheel chock will help keeping the wheel from turning..
but you do not want to put the tires against the ground as this may interfere with the correct placement of the wheel on the axle or brake drum.
If it is not correctly placed... you can warp , bend , crack it.. or wind up thinking you have your wheel tight when it is not... and that will show up after you are out driving...
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  #42  
Old 03-28-2011, 04:19 PM
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wow, great description! well done!
an impact wrench make this a bit quicker, but it can seriously damage lugs, wheels, and result in an unsafe condition. lots of experience is needed to use an impact wrench to install lugs.
I like to treat lugs with a SUPER THIN layer of copper antisieze to prevent corrosion and galling from damaging the threads, but it can interfere with proper torque.

it's rare nowadays to find a wheel that does not ride on the center hub, so that part is pretty easy, but it's very important to use your fingers to thread in EVERY LUG!
the reason to spin them in by hand is to keep the wheel against the hub during tightening. if the wheel gets cocked at an angle, the lugs will not seat properly, and the tire WILL come off.
I usually only tighten a few this way, but torque them all properly.
the star pattern is actually to protect the wheel.
if you tighten one side before the opposite side, the wheel can stretch and warp.
it's important to torque them evenly in a pattern of opposite side bolts all the way around the rim.
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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!
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  #43  
Old 03-28-2011, 04:44 PM
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nicely done!

Rewrite that in a different thread and sticky it.

As for me, I do the start pattern with my fingers, spinning the wheel to do so. My mom taught me that. Then I use my 17mm and my HUGE ratchet and tighten with that. Put the wheel down and do it again but step on it with my 160 pounds until it won't move. Don't know what torque that is. . .
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  #44  
Old 03-28-2011, 05:28 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by imagesinthewind View Post
As for me, I do the start pattern with my fingers, spinning the wheel to do so. My mom taught me that. Then I use my 17mm and my HUGE ratchet and tighten with that. Put the wheel down and do it again but step on it with my 160 pounds until it won't move. Don't know what torque that is. . .
Well, that sounds all well and good... and I hate to sound like I am being hard on you.. but you have already admitted to TWO wheels having not been tightened properly... you are really lucky not to have had serious damage to your car , family , or someone else on the road..
So you really need to figure out where your procedure has let you down.
Greg
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  #45  
Old 03-28-2011, 06:45 PM
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Originally Posted by leathermang View Post
Well, that sounds all well and good... and I hate to sound like I am being hard on you.. but you have already admitted to TWO wheels having not been tightened properly... you are really lucky not to have had serious damage to your car , family , or someone else on the road..
So you really need to figure out where your procedure has let you down.
Greg
Agreed. I didn't get a chance to do the foot thing on those lugs for some reason. I think it was checking on the pedal travel before tightening and then something caught my attention and dragged me away.

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