Check those lug nuts

[Essness]

I'll gladly accept the "anal" title. 1/2 hour in the driveway or hours on the side of the road......... seems to be easy math

[Ken / Claudia]

A friend and co worker never used a torque wrench, he followed the pattern on tighting with a star wrench, as I did. He removed the wheels at home. Next trip he got about 300 miles and lost a rear wheel/tire on the highway. Best thing no one was hit by it. Cost with towing, repairs to the hub etc was about 4800. He told me the story that week and I went and finally got a torque wrench.

[kguess]

A friend told me years ago, "take your time, the fastest way to do things is SLOW" . Take the time and check things, it's always worth it.

[Koladog]

Question, if you check you tire pressure at the campsite and find it is low what do you do? Should we all be carrying 12v compressors to pump up the tire(s) when and wherever required? What other essentials should you be carrying? Just wondering.

[86GT2r]

I bring a small Craftsman 120v air compressor with for adding air if needed. It also works great to fill balls & other assorted kids gear.

[gearhead]

I keep a 120 volt air compressor in the storage bay. I usually check air pressures in the mornings while the tires are cool and I have the campground electricity. Also carry a Harbor Freight torque wrench. I have 1\2 inch wheel studs and torque them to 115 ft lbs. Remember to back the torque wrench off to zero when you store it.

[JRTJH]

Harbor Freight often sells their torque wrenches for $9.99 with coupon. For that price, it's a "no brainer" to have the right tool.

Also, they have a 110VAC pancake compressor with a max of 100 PSI on sale for $39.99 with coupon almost every month. It's not very big, fits into the front bay easily and with the $4.99 yellow plastic air hose/accessory kit, it'll air tires, inflate swim toys and even blow sand out of the truck carpet.

Are these the "best quality" tools? Certainly not, but for the occasional use in an RV, mine have held up well and the "knowledge that I have them onboard" easily outweighs the small investment.

[tech740]

I have a booster pack that has an aircompressor in it. Its not as fast as a pancake compressor but it is a little more versatile when I can jump the truck or blow things up wih the same tool.

[concours]

I spent 7 years driving trucks from London UK to Turkey in eastern Europe you quickly learn to become super anal

[AM1958]

Originally Posted by Essness

I'll gladly accept the "anal" title. 1/2 hour in the driveway or hours on the side of the road......... seems to be easy math

Yep... That's valuable beer time being wasted on the side of the road...

[kellydog98]

I'm also in the anal club. One thing I check that I havn't read yet is all of the above-plus-put my hands on each hub looking for heat-via-break issues.

[GMcKenzie]

Originally Posted by kellydog98

I'm also in the anal club. One thing I check that I havn't read yet is all of the above-plus-put my hands on each hub looking for heat-via-break issues.

Grab a IR temp sensor. Better than the hand method.

[UsTwo]

Wow,, So i just went and bought a Torque Wrench from harbor frt.. after reading about you all.. I had always checked the lugs with a star wrench and made sure tires were of correct pressure coming and going..But i will centainly check torque on those lugs from now on.. i carry a 120 V compresser with us and have a bigger one mounted to the garage wall at home...checking tire pressure is easy...

[dirt33]

I bought a torque wrench from Harbor Freight on Saturday as well. The 1/2" drive unit was only $10 (odd that the 3/8" drive was like $25... Same brand, specs, etc). Grabbed a 13/16" deep well socket for an additional $4. I was pretty happy to get out the door spending ~$15 or so. I must say, when I opened the case once home, this torque wrench is nicer than I expected.

I had a torque wrench here previously that only went to 80 ft/lbs (interesting that I paid well more for it at a parts store, and it is not as good of quality as the HF unit). On our last trip, I used it and then snugged the lugs a bit more with a breaker bar. Last night I went out to use the new torque wrench set on 115. Wow, those lugs tightened up more than I figured they would. None of them were incredibly "loose", but they certainly weren't torqued to 115 ft/lbs. The trips we have taken so far in this TT have been pretty close to home. This weekend we will be setting out a little further. It provides much better piece of mind now having this wrench in the tool box. (Harbor Freight is a good bit of a drive away from me is the only reason I didn't have this tool immediately. No way was I going to go to Auto Zone here locally and pay 3-4 times the price (or more).

[GmaPaTime]

Just a note of caution on the use of a torque wrench. Don't leave them set at the torque level you need. Back them down to the lowest reading or they will not function correctly after a while.

[dirt33]

Originally Posted by GmaPaTime

Just a note of caution on the use of a torque wrench. Don't leave them set at the torque level you need. Back them down to the lowest reading or they will not function correctly after a while.

Thanks for the heads up. I did in fact leave my other torque wrench on "whatever" setting it was last used at. Luckily, I have seen it mentioned enough times on here that I won't do that with this new piece. I have learned alot on this forum in the last couple of months. Using any kind of RV sure puts alot on a guys' mind. I have read/learned some things on here in the last couple months that I kinda "used" to know, or at least be familiar with. But, there are so many different things to work with, I guess some of them just drift out of my mind over time. And then of course there are the things that I never knew at all, or never would have thought of.

[gearhead]

May as well get one of these too! Increase your confidence!
http://www.joesracing.com/index.php?...roduct_id=1160

[dirt33]

Originally Posted by gearhead

May as well get one of these too! Increase your confidence!
http://www.joesracing.com/index.php?...roduct_id=1160

I had plans of getting a digital gauge, but instead bought two cheapo gauges at Harbor Freight for a few bucks each. Used them each to compare against each other, and found that they both give the same reading. So, the digital gauge will have to remain on my list of things I will hope to get "someday". Right now, it is a long ways down the $$$ list. One of the few racing items I sold when I quit racing that I wish I would have held on to....