Hey guys,

I have a 2004 4.0 4x4 with 100k on the odometer. I love this truck, let me count the ways...But thats besides the point. I took my wheels off today to refinish them, used some duplicolor stain black wheel paint, turned out really good. The problem came when loosening the lug nuts. The lug nuts were on there so tight that, it took all my strength and body weight to loosen each one with a tire iron. I'm pretty strong for my size, and I ended up actually moving the truck almost two inches when it was in park (level surface)
I had just had my local Ford dealer rotate my tires two days ago and I thought wow this s*** is on there really good! Now when I remount them, I 'm using a torque wrench, (the needle kind) brand new craftsman out of the package. When I tighten it to the recommended 100 ft/lbs it seems like its not nearly as tight as it was when i took them off. So, did the guys at Ford torque the crap out of my wheels, or am I doing something wrong???

Thanks for the help

 

Yep, it's very common to have them over-torqued. You're lucky a stud didn't snap off.

I stand there and make them actually torque them while I watch.

If they won't do that, I buy my tires elsewhere.

I rotate my own when I do every other oil change.


Blame it on the flat-rate mechanic pay system.
They can't make any money when they take the time to do it correctly.

 

Yes sounds like they were WAY over-torqued!

 

Yeah they go crazy with those impact wrenches sometimes.

 

I had to replace two studs on my front right because of discount tire's impact wrenches.

 

Ok thanks everybody! I'll trust my torque wrench then. As I type this I can feel the soreness in my arms from yanking those things off. I could actually see the wheel stud bending before the lug nut finally broke loose. This is the first truck I've worked on, so I just wanted to make sure the wheel didn't pop off on the freeway. Fyi, I highly recommend the black duplicolor wheel paint if your rims are fubar. These things look brand new, hope the paint holds up well.

 

haha i gotta get me a torque wrench. i usually just bird-dog mine on and i broke 2 studs last time i put rims on my rig

 

that is one reason why i insist on hand tools only when im having new tires mounted. discount tire effed up two of my brand new rims when they put them on the truck with the impact gun. impact guns are not meant to install wheels. 100 foot pounds is plenty to hold your wheels on.