How often do you check wheel lugs?

pablopwnage · 05-07-2021, 08:26 AM

I’ve noticed a sticker near the triple axle on my Raptor 429 that says you should check tightness on the lugs after a few conditions:

1. Immediately after first 50 miles driving
2. After one month
3. After every trip out with the trailer

A few frustrating missing pieces of information:

1. Does anyone know the recommended torque specs for the lugs on Raptor wheels?
2. Is there a recommended distance between checks after the initial break in period?

Also, any recommendations on lug wrench to use for this? I imagine these bolts need a significant amount of torque...

travelin texans · 05-07-2021, 08:57 AM

I'm guessing with Raptor you have 8 lugs so most likely somewhere between 110-140 ft lbs.
Personally I've used a Harbor Freight torque wrench for the past 25 years with good results, yes you can spend more but I chose not to.
Again personally I torque mine after wheels have been removed then a couple hundred miles or the 1st stop after removal once they've cooled from travel & not again til the wheels are removed the next time. Whether this is the correct procedure I don't know, but I've been doing it this way for well over 40 years on every trailer I've owned & haven't lost a wheel yet. I know a couple fellow rvers that think every time they get out of the truck they should grab the torque wrench & start twisting.
Look online as there will be several showing the proper sequence for torquing 5,6 & 8 lug wheels.

Javi · 05-07-2021, 09:12 AM

Short answer... before every trip

**JRTJH** · 05-07-2021, 09:28 AM

As far as I know, none of the "current model Keystone trailers" use the 9/16" lugs. All are 1/2" size. The last Keystone trailers to use the larger lugs were, I believe, the Cambridge line. Since production was stopped on that brand, all have been half inch lugs.

So, the torque, if done the recommended "3 step process" is to torque the lug nuts to 20-30 ftlb, then to 55-60 ftlb, then to 110-120 ftlb. All three steps should be torqued "in the alternating, star pattern.

Then, "according to the manual" stop at 10 miles to retorque, again at 25 miles to retorque and finally at 50 miles to retorque a third time....

In reality, I've never known anyone who follows that recommendation and have never heard anyone talk about ever meeting anyone who does that.... So, I won't suggest to ignore the manual, but I will say that I don't know anyone or have ever heard of anyone who follows the manual....

That said, I torque my wheels following "fairly close to the manual sequential steps" ending with the "star pattern with my torque wrench set at 115 ftlb. Then, after pulling the first trip, the next morning I retorque the lugs. Then, they get checked visually (not with a torque wrench) primarily to make sure they're still present. If anything "looks odd or out of the norm" then I address that issue "on the spot, before moving to the next wheel".

When I remove a wheel, I follow the above sequence on all wheels. Why not just the one wheel I removed? Personal preference as there shouldn't be any change in the "non-removed wheels"... I also don't repack wheel bearings on one wheel. If I do one, I do them all. Whether it's buying new tires, changing brakes, repacking bearings or even balancing the tires... I do them all or none... (again, personal preference)....

In summary, the torque should be 110-120 ftlb. Recheck after the first tow (when the wheels are cooled down) and they should be good to go with just a visual inspection daily when you do the pressure check before towing. If you see something wrong, then follow up to fix the concern...

I always say, "If you have a concern, don't ignore your "gut instinct"... If you think there's a problem or are unsure of an issue, then fix it before getting back in the seat." There are no "dumb questions" and there are no "gut feelings that should be ignored"...

This is the torque wrench I use: https://www.harborfreight.com/12-in-...nch-63882.html I'll freely admit, there are $300 wrenches that "might be more accurate" and there are other opinions that shouldn't be completely discounted, but for me, this isn't an "O-ring support bracket" that if not precise, will cause a space shuttle to crash... So, since it's not rocket science, the "bailing wire approach" is close enough... YMMV.

**sourdough** · 05-07-2021, 11:04 AM

Harbor Freight torque wrenches here as well. Have worked fine for years.

I will add; depending on the truck you should check those lugs as well. I put a fairly heavy bumper pull on a 1/2 ton and those rear tires would loosen up, albeit slightly, almost daily. Moved to an HD truck and it stopped. My takeaway was that when those wheels get close to their max it must stress them a bit.

Camping family · 05-07-2021, 05:44 PM

I check mine before each trip. Along with the air pressure.

Ken / Claudia · 05-07-2021, 05:57 PM

Last month when I did the tire rotation, I discovered my HF torque wrench would not click on any lbs set. I took it back to get another of the same. They checked it out and agreed it was broken and handed me a new 1. It was about 6 years old. I was willing to buy a new one, but was told it's a life time warranty.
I cannot explain why it broke, it stayed in the plastic box unless using it. I released the setting and returned it to zero after each use.

dutchmensport · 05-07-2021, 06:05 PM

I've never retorqued mine, never. First, I do not have a torque wrench. Second, I've never had a problem... ever on any trailer I've ever owned, including utility trailers.

I did purchase a breaker bar because I needed to move 2 of my Lippert electric jacks on the rear of the trailer and those 3/4 inch bolts were horribly tight. After I got done with the project, I just randomly tried the 3/4 inch socket on the lug nuts of the wheels. It fit! I was delighted. So, I thought, .... what the hey! I gave the breaker bar a good, heave-ho! I tried tightening first. Um.... I about broke my back doing that. So then I thought, well, what's a few more broken back bones. I gave it a good "heave-ho" in the other direction and this time, the breaker bar slipped out of my hands and I plummeted to the ground!

Well, the lug nut never moved a speck, and it didn't break either. I guess I'm just too danged old to do this type of stuff any more. So I figure, the nut is good and tight. Maybe I'll check the wheel lugs again in my next lifetime!

So, the bottom line is, If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Mine are tight, that's all that matters.

**JRTJH** · 05-07-2021, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dutchmensport

I've never retorqued mine, never. ...
So, the bottom line is, If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Mine are tight, that's all that matters.

They may be "too tight"... We were in Buffalo Wyoming, holed up for the night before going over the pass on US14 (over the Big Horn Mountains) into Burgess. It was a Saturday afternoon and I found one of my lug nuts missing and the lug was twisted off, at the hub surface. I have no idea why that happened, but I'd suspect that the lug nut had been "over-torqued" several times and it finally suffered from enough metal fatigue to just snap, somewhere between Nebraska City and Buffalo. Anyway, if you've never tried to find a "Lippert lug" on a Saturday afternoon in Buffalo, WY, I'll give you a hint.... Don't waste your time.... The closest place to find trailer parts is in Cody, WY 180 miles ahead or Sturgis, SD, 180 back the way we had come....

I elected to "risk it with 5 lug nuts and just watch it until we got to Cody. The rest of the trip was uneventful, but when we got to Cody, the RV parts store had 5 lugs. I bought all 5 and still have 4 "just in case"... I also bought 5 lug nuts, they don't match the rest as well as I'd like, so I went back and bought 7 more. Now all the lug nuts on that side of the trailer match.... Yeah, I know, but that's the kind of stuff that catches my attention every time I walk up to the trailer door and look down at the wheels, and there's that "funny looking odd lug nut"... So, I have a "bag full of lug nuts" and 4 spare lugs in my tool bag in the passthrough.... I consider it insurance against ever having another lost lug nut or broken lug.....

Anyway, as for "tightening them until they won't break loose"... I hope you don't have the same "situation" that happened to me in "the middle of NOWHERE" .....

travelin texans · 05-07-2021, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JRTJH

They may be "too tight"... We were in Buffalo Wyoming, holed up for the night before going over the pass on US14 (over the Big Horn Mountains) into Burgess. It was a Saturday afternoon and I found one of my lug nuts missing and the lug was twisted off, at the hub surface. I have no idea why that happened, but I'd suspect that the lug nut had been "over-torqued" several times and it finally suffered from enough metal fatigue to just snap, somewhere between Nebraska City and Buffalo. Anyway, if you've never tried to find a "Lippert lug" on a Saturday afternoon in Buffalo, WY, I'll give you a hint.... Don't waste your time.... The closest place to find trailer parts is in Cody, WY 180 miles ahead or Sturgis, SD, 180 back the way we had come....

I elected to "risk it with 5 lug nuts and just watch it until we got to Cody. The rest of the trip was uneventful, but when we got to Cody, the RV parts store had 5 lugs. I bought all 5 and still have 4 "just in case"... I also bought 5 lug nuts, they don't match the rest as well as I'd like, so I went back and bought 7 more. Now all the lug nuts on that side of the trailer match.... Yeah, I know, but that's the kind of stuff that catches my attention every time I walk up to the trailer door and look down at the wheels, and there's that "funny looking odd lug nut"... So, I have a "bag full of lug nuts" and 4 spare lugs in my tool bag in the passthrough.... I consider it insurance against ever having another lost lug nut or broken lug.....

Anyway, as for "tightening them until they won't break loose"... I hope you don't have the same "situation" that happened to me in "the middle of NOWHERE" .....

As John mentioned you can eventually twist the lug off or eventually crush the beveled hole in aluminum wheels to the point the nut will break through the wheel by constantly giving the torque wrench a couple clicks every time you stop.

**JRTJH** · 05-07-2021, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelin texans

As John mentioned you can eventually twist the lug off or eventually crush the beveled hole in aluminum wheels to the point the nut will break through the wheel by constantly giving the torque wrench a couple clicks every time you stop.

YEP, Loosen each lug (one at a time) and then retorque to the specified value. If you loosen all of them and then retorque all of them, the wheel can 'shift on the lugs' and then it's the same as "starting over at square one"...

Lee · 05-08-2021, 05:52 AM

Before every trip..... and I have never found where one had backed off but,... I still check every trip.

Back in my military days,.... we would torque the lugs on our Duce-an-a-halfs, then take a black magic marker and scribe a line on the side of each nut and the wheel. This made of a quick visual if the nut had loosened up.

There was nothing as entertaining as watching a new Troop trying to change a tire (on the drivers side), struggling with the giant 4-way wrench to loosen the lugs..... after a 1/2 hr struggle I would then remind them that the lugs are left-hand pitch on the drivers side!!!!!!

Ken / Claudia · 05-08-2021, 06:29 AM

Although a person may never have had a lug loosen up, they likely always have done a good job. I think many do not. If you worked on the freeways for years you would have seen crashes caused by wheel lug nuts coming off and many more without causing a crash. I check the torque because it is recommended and seen what happens to ones not checked enough or not properly torqued.

I (we) were trained to check and recheck lug nuts on all the police boat trailers when possible. The goal was monthly. A log is kept on each boat. Once and awhile a loose nut was found and once a 24fter lost a wheel/tire on the freeway. The boat Log showed no one had checked them for about 6 months.
I have found loose nuts on my personal boat trailers, none that I recall on any RV so far.

travelin texans · 05-08-2021, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JRTJH

YEP, Loosen each lug (one at a time) and then retorque to the specified value. If you loosen all of them and then retorque all of them, the wheel can 'shift on the lugs' and then it's the same as "starting over at square one"...

That's the way I was taught to retorque lugs.
To just starting clicking away at every stop or before/during/after every trip you're doing more harm than good.
Do you torque your truck lug nuts at every stop or before every time you drive it?

travelin texans · 05-08-2021, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lee

Before every trip..... and I have never found where one had backed off but,... I still check every trip.

Back in my military days,.... we would torque the lugs on our Duce-an-a-halfs, then take a black magic marker and scribe a line on the side of each nut and the wheel. This made of a quick visual if the nut had loosened up.

There was nothing as entertaining as watching a new Troop trying to change a tire (on the drivers side), struggling with the giant 4-way wrench to loosen the lugs..... after a 1/2 hr struggle I would then remind them that the lugs are left-hand pitch on the drivers side!!!!!!

If you used the black marker before every trip then after about a week it should be solid black around each nut??

**flybouy** · 05-08-2021, 08:10 AM

The first car I owned with aluminum wheels I lost 4 lug nuits on one wheel. It was snowing and cold when it happened and it was in the 60's the day before. I had to take a lug nut from each of the other 3 wheels and place on that one. The lessoned learned for me was that the aluminumwheels back then (now they aremore sophisticated alloys) would expand and contract at a more drastic rate than the steel ones.

After that incident I checked the lug nuts every month and kept a spare set in the truck.

**JRTJH** · 05-08-2021, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flybouy

The first car I owned with aluminum wheels I lost 4 lug nuits on one wheel. It was snowing and cold when it happened and it was in the 60's the day before. I had to take a lug nut from each of the other 3 wheels and place on that one. The lessoned learned for me was that the aluminumwheels back then (now they aremore sophisticated alloys) would expand and contract at a more drastic rate than the steel ones.

After that incident I checked the lug nuts every month and kept a spare set in the truck.

Even now, 50 years after finding all the lug nuts loose, I check my truck and car "aluminum wheels" every winter when we get the first cold snap. What was "tight at 70F" may well be "loose as a goose" at 20F.

I don't however, subscribe to the "summer/winter air changeout" for the tires... I just add "winter air when it gets cold and leave the summer air in the tires, so in the spring, I don't have to completely change it out again.....

**flybouy** · 05-08-2021, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JRTJH

Even now, 50 years after finding all the lug nuts loose, I check my truck and car "aluminum wheels" every winter when we get the first cold snap. What was "tight at 70F" may well be "loose as a goose" at 20F.

I don't however, subscribe to the "summer/winter air changeout" for the tires... I just add "winter air when it gets cold and leave the summer air in the tires, so in the spring, I don't have to completely change it out again.....

I haven't found that winter air/summer air switch on my compressor yet.

Lee · 05-08-2021, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelin texans

If you used the black marker before every trip then after about a week it should be solid black around each nut??

Nope,.... only torqued lugs on first day of convoy,.... and only convoyed x3 a year.

**JRTJH** · 05-08-2021, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flybouy

I haven't found that winter air/summer air switch on my compressor yet.

My compressor has an "auto climate control" turn it on when it's cold, it pumps winter air. Turn it on when it's hot, it automatically switches to pumping summer air... If you bought a HF compressor, I don't think they have that option yet.... That's the "fallacy" of the HF "compared to charts"... For their compressors, they compare them to Husky but Husky has the "auto climate switch"...

It's like Ford advertising "best in class" and then defining the class as "4 door trucks with 3 wheels with a GVWR between 7600 and 7625 pounds"....

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