gracec16•1mo agoProlific Poster

Had a moment last month where I realized I'd been torquing lug nuts wrong for years

I've been a mechanic for about 12 years now, mostly doing fleet work out of a shop near Nashville. Last month an old timer who subs for us on heavy trucks watched me zip down some nuts on a F-250 and asked why I wasn't using a torque stick or even counting turns. He showed me how I was overtorquing by at least 30 ft-lbs every time because I just went by feel and a quick ugga dugga. Now I'm wondering how many rotors I've warped over the years without realizing it. Anybody else have a basic thing they did wrong forever until someone called them out?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_taylor1mo ago

Torque sticks have a bad reputation with some old school guys but honestly they're one of those tools that keeps you from having to guess. Your story reminds me how many shops still skip using a torque wrench on aluminum wheels even though the mfgs explicitly say to do it. The rotor warping you mentioned is probably less of an issue than the cracked wheels I've seen from overtorque.

ninaowens1mo ago

My buddy swears by torque sticks on his aluminum wheels, says he hasn't had a single issue in 5 years. I mean, I get the old school hate but I feel like a cracked wheel is way harder to fix than a warped rotor, especially if you're just trying to be safe on a daily driver.

elizabethmason1mo ago

Yeah but warped rotors aren't really caused by torque sticks, that's more of a heat thing from hard braking or old pads. @the_taylor is right that shops skip the torque wrench too often, but I think the bigger issue is people not reading their wheel specs. Some aluminum wheels need a specific pattern or even a retorque after 50 miles. I've seen way more cracked wheels from someone just gunning it on with an impact driver than from torque sticks being off by a few foot pounds. If your buddy's method works and he checks periodically, more power to him.