Wheel Torque Procedures

[Gary A]

Hello All

 

Can you tell me what your procedures of verifying proper wheel torque in your shop?

 

What do you require your techs to do to prevent forgetting to torque them once the car hits the ground?

 

Also where do you get the torque specs from?

 

I am looking for either a book that just has wheel torque or some type of wall chart so that techs can access this information quickly. I have a chart that came with the torque sticks but it is outdated and looking it up in Mitchell takes too much time.

 

Thanks

 

Gary

[CARMandP]

We use a torque wrench on very wheel that comes off. I have a wall poster that we got from one of the parts suppliers that has 98% of all the torque specs. I am not in front of it to tell you who it was printed by but its handing in plain view for all my guys to read. When I was working at the dealership I would chalk mark each tire at the valve stem when I torqued the wheel. Almost 20 yrs later, I have only ever left two loose and they were both not marked.

[Joe Marconi]

We have a wall poster too, plus the techs and advisors will also check with Mitchell and Alldata. We have a system which is part of the techs work sheet that requires the tech to ID any and all wheels removed. The tires that are put back on must be torqued and observed by a fellow tech or a service advisor. The observer must indicate on the techs work sheet that the wheels were torqued. The tech will chalk each tire he torques; we call it "Torque and Chalk" method.

[ATLAuto]

We follow this procedure:

1. Thread the nuts / bolts a few turns by hand.
2. Run them down with a 55 ft lb impact torque stick.
3. Lower the vehicle to just barely touching.
4. Find the torque specs printed on the Work Order (a lot of shop software will do this automatically, otherwise the service advisers can add it manually).
5. Finish torquing with a calibrated torque wrench.
6. Chalk.
7. Sign the blank in the PO where it says that the wheels were torqued.

This is the procedure that all Firestone shops in the world follow. I liked it when I saw it.

[IntegrityAutoCare]

I'm a one man shop, but my procedure is to lower the car down and then go get the torque wrench and set it in the driver's seat (before looking up specs or doing anything else) in order to make sure I don't forget. So far I haven't forgotten any.

[Superman]

Chalk the tire? You dont get any customer complaints doing this?

[Jeff]

I use torque sticks closest to the low side of spec. Then when on the ground complete with torque wrench. On heavy trucks and the such I will road test and re-torque.

[Gary A]

I never had any problems until we started torquing them. I guess it is easy to get sidetracked and forget without a procedure in place. I had 2 come back loose over the years and now one where the wheel came off. Procedure will be in place now. Thanks for your responses.