stainless clad lug nuts

[Learjet]

In the O/M on my 3500 it says to place 2 drops oil on the lug nuts. I've always applied anti-seize to lug studs. Torque is torque regardless of whats on the threads. There would be more damage when trying to remove a seized lug nut. In all the years on vehicles and trailers have I had a lug nut come loose after applying anti-seize on the studs and always need considerable amount of effort to remove! Will check the remove torque on next time wheels need to be removed. I anti-seize the hub and studs on front and studs, hub and between wheels on the rear. Don't want to be on the side of the road having to fight changing a tire! Each their own. I'd like to see the auto industry start using lock wire retention like used in aerospace. It sure could reduce a lot of issues of things coming loose!

you might want to read the manual again...2 drops between the washer and the nut....NOT the studs...

From the manual...

"Dual wheels are flat mounted, center piloted. The
lug nuts are a two-piece assembly. When the tires are being
rotated or replaced, clean these lug nuts and add two drops
of oil at the interface between the lug nut/bolt and the
washer. Do not oil wheel studs."

 

[Cummins12V98]

Learjet, good info!!! Mine spin freely but I can see this would be a good thing for those that get their truck really muddy, unlike my Pavement Princess.

 

[Learjet]

Learjet, good info!!! Mine spin freely but I can see this would be a good thing for those that get their truck really muddy, unlike my Pavement Princess.

My truck is garage kept and a pavement princess too...except for the muddy Texas RenFest...so I don't oil it every time.

Really important if you live up north (rusty belt) with the winter ice issues and rust.

 

[06 Dodge]

When I first moved to IA the tire shop when installing on my winter tires & rims used a dab of some white type grease on every lug nut, asked why they said in IA road salt is spread at tons per mile and that white stuff helps the lug nut not seize on the studs & tearing up the threads thus making it easier for lug nut to come off for the spring change over, so every fall they would put a dab of white grease on ever stud, they never had a lug nut seize or threads wore off on my truck in the 10 years I used that shop until I moved to OR..

 

[crispyboy]

I saw this perusing the internet. This seems like a possible solution to the properly cleaning up wheel studs to get the correct torque. There are several types of tools like this online. Opinion?

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/SER16

 

[brucejohnson]

I saw this perusing the internet. This seems like a possible solution to the properly cleaning up wheel studs to get the correct torque. There are several types of tools like this online. Opinion?

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/SER16

Nice, and heavy duty, too. Something to consider, especially in a high-volume commercial application.
Opinion: It seems a spritz from a can of carb or brake cleaner and a small stiff bristled brush should work just as good for a lesser cost in a limited use home setting.

 

[Topzide]

Just some info.

 

[BarryG]

I have always used dry or lubed torque values as specified by the fastener/application. I have also seen charts like Topzide provided above. I never tried to do the conversion before as I don't mix and match lubed vs dry. Obviously it depends on what you use for lube but a common one in someone's garage would be motor oil. So according to the chart Topzide referenced above and using motor oil as a lube that is a 45% reduction in torque. 120ft lbs X.55 =66ft lbs of torque. That is a very substantial decrease. Even Ozy's idea of using WD40 is a 20% reduction from 120ft lbs to 96ft lbs and is still a substantial reduction. So looking at it from the other direction that 120ft lbs dry and 120 ft lbs lubed with motor oil is the equivalent of 174 ft lbs dry or with wd 40 as a lube equates to 144ft lbs dry.

I knew there was a difference but didn't realize how different (assuming I am reading and doing my calc correctly and I may not be).

Torque values of bolts certainly have a safety factor built into them, how much I have no idea, if it is low of say 25% then you would certainly be well past the safety zone with many of the lubes listed in the chart. If it is substantially higher than that, while tightened more than it should be could/would still be safe. I do know there are different things that go into torque management such as the obvious one of tensile strength of the bolt but there is also internal and external thread shear that comes into play as well as length of thread engagement. Gets way to complicated for me so I just use the value listed for the fastener/application and let it go at that unless the bolt or nut look bad then I replace it and continue on as normal. I am no mechanical engineer nor did I sleep in a Holiday Inn last night. I dont wrench on my vehicles nearly as much as I used too but it is not supposed to be an exercise in trig, calc, quadratic equations, or whatever is required to figure out the proper torque to use to tighten a bolt or nut (at least for me).