New FJ's, Check Your Lug Nuts! They may be too loose or too tight.

[hifi]

I recently had my stock tires replaced with 33s. After mounting up new tires and wheels we noticed that 3 of the lug nuts on drivers front, and 2 on passenger rear would not torque to 90 lbs., 1 on drivers front broke. We replaced 3 on drivers front and now another one is doing same thing. All the work is being done at my brother-in laws shop. He is the most anal mechanic I know. He is using Snap On recently calibrated. Plus he has had no problems with any of the other cars he has been working on. Anyone else having this problem?

[RubiconSS]

Sad thing is, once over-torqued to that degree (200lb/ft) the damage is often already done by causing warping and ending up with brake vibration that can't be fixed.
God I hate sloppy/idiot Mechanics.

[RockLobster]

There are cases poping up all over of soft or bad lug nuts on FJCs.

I went to retorque my lugs last night (on my FJC). Set a good quality torque wrench to 85ftlbs and went at it. I do lugs carefully and gently with even twist. I spun two front ones, and broke one on the front right. It spun right off while tightening under the specified torque.

I started reading today and found at least 10 separate cases on the internet of the same thing. Lugs breaking at less than spec torque. Even the dealer said they already had another case. (Though they are not as of now replacing them under waranty.)

I am obsessive and experienced at ensuring proper lug nut torque because i do track stuff with my RX-7 and bad lug torque can at best ruin a wheel or rotor when the brakes start to glow under hard braking. At worst can cause a wheel or rotor to come apart at 120mph...

I smell an impending recal or TSB....

[Razor J]

Agree with Jerricho. Took my Landcruiser to a dealer in a few years back, drove 3 miles and got it up to 65 on the freeway before the front end started shaking due to a tire that was comming off! Don't trust the low wage tire monkey with your life! My wheels O.K. but due for a rotation so will follow up. I tend to be trusting that others are doing their job
gt

[hero]

Thanks for the post! Checked mine this morning and the majority of them required a good bit of tightening, some had less than 50ft/lbs on them.

[Natalie]

:runningoutthedoortocheckmylugs:

[oldskoolboarder]

Dumb question, what's the recommended torque?

[Sandi_k]

85 foot-lbs

Sandi

[ljm]

Yes that a very good thing to check...seems I should have done that already ...especially since I had a problem like yours once. I drove my 4wd to the mountains right from the dealership to test the 4wd in the snow. Drove as far as I could and then had to reverse...I was on a old loging trail that had a very steep drop off on one side. Since I couldn't turn around, I put it in reverse, rolled down the window and stuck my head out to monitor my progress. I was in deep snow and luck would have it, I just happend to look down and there in the snow was two lugnuts. Bet you can't guess where they came from...yep, my front left wheel was two lugnuts shy of a full set. To make matters worse, there were three more that had turned nearly off allowing he wheel to wobble. I don't want to think of the hike I would have had if I would have lost them. How many of us carry extra?

Check em for sure!

ljm

[Landrover]

I've said it in other threads, I bring a set of these with and tell my guy at the tire shop to hand torque. Won't help the weak lugs, but will protect your expensive wheels.



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