aluminum lug nut torque specs

[NiceT]

I have the wheels off to do a little sping cleaning in the fender wells of a 73T (yes I'm a real ARP) and want to make sure I don't ruin these nice aluminum lug nuts by over doing it when tightening. What is a safe setting in ft/lbs for my torque wrench?
Thanks in advance, Daron

[Chuck Miller]

Daron,

When putting my wheels back on I first snug'm up by hand, then set the wrench at 60 lbs, go all around... then set the wrench at 95 lbs. and finish'm off.

The tightening sequence on a 5 bolt wheel is easy... just keep doing the opposite lug then the one you just did...

Hope this helps

Cheers,

[pwd72s]

Daron, a smidgeon of never-seeze or even grease on the round face of your lug nuts is advisable...this prevents them from galling onto the wheel. I use a touch of never-seeze on the threads of the lugs as well. (edit) I'm in 100% agreement with Chuck on the torque & tightening pattern procedure...

[Chuck Miller]

Paul's right,

Some never-seeze is a good idea ...

A little of that stuff goes a long way

I take my wheels on and off allot (changing to my racing set, cleaning in the wells) and I use the never-seeze about once a year...

Cheers,

[NiceT]

Just as I trusted, excellent advice from all. It didn't occur to use the never-seeze even though I keep some in the tool box. I had this bad feeling that the aluminum lug nuts could be easily over tightened and this is not an area to have one of those "Oh $hit" bad experiences. Prefer to learn my lessons the easy way!
Sorry about the double post of the question, must have been impatient and hit the button twice.
Thanks, Daron

[larry47us]

When we were taking the wheels off of Kermit for the alignment, it looked like some of the lug nuts had been crossthreaded at sometime in the past. On closer examination, it became obvious that a few of the studs had the first threads damaged, which was screwing up the lug nuts. They didn't go on by hand, needed to use a wrench on a few all the way down. What a pain!!! Has anyone used a die of the proper size to "refresh" the threads on the studs? And if so, what is the proper size?

I imagine that it is easier and cheaper to buy a die of the right size and recut the threads than it is to replace the studs!!!!!

I also need to get new lug nuts, since mine are barely black anymore. The anodizing is gone. But before I do that, I want to get the studs threaded correctly.

larry

[pwd72s]

Larry, since "you picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel" is a song nobody enjoys singing, I'd suggest replacing both the studs and the nuts..
Stud replacement isn't that big a job for a proper shop...

[larry47us]

Paul:

I understand the concept, (nice song, BTW) but it seems to be a lot cheaper to just rethread the studs that need it, and buy new lug nuts. Since I have got to be budget minded here, to keep peace in the tribe, I would think that just recutting the threads on the bad studs would be as good an answer as re-studding.

Am I missing something here? There are only one or two studs that are thread-challenged.

larry

[pwd72s]

Larry, the studs are a very high grade steel. Cutting new threads may weaken them. It's just a risk I wouldn't take myself...

[73911guy]

Stoddard has the studs priced at $8.30 each, although I'm assuming that you can find them elsewhere for less. They are a 904 part number though, so there is some history behind the parts!

But seriously, I would replace the damaged studs. I've even questioned whether or not they should be called a "wear item" after 30 years. The repeated stresses of installing and removing them over the years have got to be high - I've heard stories of what happened "after the wheel departed my vehicle while I was going down the highway" and none of them are less costly than new studs. If you re-dress the threads, you also run the chance of messing up new lug nuts and have to buy them again.

Never cut costs when its an item like this.

Jim