over-torqued lug nuts??

[Nana's Camper]

Well, I'm afraid I may have over-torqued several of my lugs nuts on my new 22 ft. Premier by 2 clicks instead of one. My ignorance and a newbie at that. Is it safe to pull, am I a danger on the road, what should I do?

[notanlines]

I don't believe you are in any danger, but if it were mine I would, one at a time, loosen each and every one and retighten and torque them. Head on down the road and don't fret the small stuff. I might add that I also would check the lug nuts (re-torque) every trip, however short, at least for five or six trips and then however often you usually do. Lesson learned.
On our big RV's I re-torque lug nuts about every 5-600 miles. They never seem to be loose, but I do it anyway.

[Nana's Camper]

Thanks Jim, I was making a short trip (150 miles rt) tomorrow. When I return, I will do as you suggested! Makes me feel better, but fear I may have done some damage.

Sylvia

[gearhead]

So, are you saying you set the torque wrench to the specified torque, tightened the lug nuts until it clicked, then tightened it some more until it clicked again??
OMG

LOL You didn't hurt anything. Maybe increased the torque by 5 pounds.
I had a coworker that needed to torque something to, oh say, 400 pounds. His torque wrench only went to 200#. He said he would "just click it twice". He was known forever after as "2 clicks Merle". RIP

[chuckster57]

Gearhead: you mean I cant set my torque wrench to 55 so it easy to pull. And then just do it two times?

I do know it doesn’t work that way LOL. OP: I wouldn’t sweat it if you ran the wrench twice, set at lug torque.

[gearhead]

Sure do it however you like. But inspector gearhead will be along shortly and hit your nuts with his little hammer and he can tell it didn't ding like 110#. You get to do it again.
So if you want to homestead this job, go ahead.
You can work through lunch and go home at regular time. You been hitting the gate early all week anyway.

[sourdough]

OK guys. We need to get this clear. I went down and bought me a 3/4 " drive torque wrench that would torque 300 lbs. Big, long, heavy handle. But, I found that 300 lbs. required a lot of pulling to get there. I pulled it down to 100 ft. lbs. and clicked it 3 times.....are we saying I didn't get the 300 ft lbs? Would that explain the looseness of the ball? Here I am, wandering in the dark hoping for guidance......

[chuckster57]

Since gearhead isn’t logged in (on the clock) like I am, redoing all the lugs on the entire lot
I say your good to go...escape while you can

[gearhead]

You gotta get a torque multiplier. Lean into it.
How big a boy are ya anyway?
I'm a little skinny butt boy and can pull a 3/4" drive torque wrench, a little.
Don't tell my neurosurgeon. LOL
To the original poster...you're good to go. Drive it like ya stole it.......

Edit add...old Merle passed away in his sleep in the camphouse at the deer hunting club. He was famous for a lot.
Some of which can be repeated.

[Nana's Camper]

Ha! That's exactly what I did...110#...2 clicks. Just returned from a short 3-day trip and the wheels didn't fall off and doesn't seem to be any damage I can see but...I'm no mechanic.

Thanks for the reassurance!!

Would like to have known ole Merle.

[gearhead]

Nana you actually came pretty close to doing it correct. When you are torqueing something critical, it should be done in increments. Say your lug nuts...torque to about 50 ft. lbs., take a break, then take them all to 90, then 110. Very few folks do it though.
Another tip...torque values are listed as "dry". No grease on the threads.
Yeah old Merle was a hoot.

[Jonas]

Before every trip, I click the torque wrench twice and then check all of the lugnuts twice again for a total of 3 passes and a ridiculous amount of clicks.