Morris Minor Owners Club

Andrew, if that is what you are/were being taught then you aren't to know any different.

And that's what's worrying me most of all - -that a one size fits all is being taught! But - I sincerely doubt that it is. Andrew advised Minor owners to torque their wheel nuts to MORE THAN twice the correct figure! The only saving grace is - that at that high a figure I suspect the nuts would strip and/or the studs would snap right away - and not ten miles down the road when they may cause a major accident. Even more worrying is that Andrew still doesn't seem to appreciate the danger in over torquing (to TWICE the correct setting!) these safety critical items.
Andrew - if you have torqued the wheel nuts on your own car to this 110 N m figure - I urge you - for your safety and ours - to fit new studs and nuts all round before you take the car on the highway.
Will cost you ~ £45 - but that's cheap compared to the accident!

i havent torqued the wheel nuts up on my moggy as i dont have one just use a wheel brace
and i do appreciate the dangers of diffrent stresses and stranes on diffrent components of the car.
and everyone dont torque your wheel nuts on your moggy to 110n/m unless its a modern car!!!! arguement sorted

No arguement Andrew - I can't let wildly incorrect information about Safety Critical parts go un-corrected!

Anyway back to the original post.

They have been done up with one of those air powered things in my 1 year of ownership.

I will use my torque wrench to do them up to torque specified in my manual not 110NM

In future if i take bluey to a fast fit tyre place i will request they torque the nuts to the correct torque.

Jamie

It was 110 NM - not 110 ft lbf that was suggested - don't make it worse than it is!
I was going to ask if Andrew had tightened your nuts!
The correct figure is 37/39 ft lbf - or approx 50 Nm. And yes - don't let the air guns anywhere near it ! I have seen them tighten up nuts with gun - and then 'check' with a torque wrench - which of course just clicks off - because the nuts have been tightened way beyond the torque wrench setting.

And yes - don't let the air guns anywhere near it !

Have to agree with that Roy, that's why many older cars (not sure about moderns) had different size wheel braces so they couldnt be overtightnend.
As an asside I checked on my 4 x 4 spec and it said from 80-120NM which is quite a range and my local tyre place always refer to a chart before using the torque wrench, sounds like they are a rarerity.

None of these mechanics at tyre fitting places will have ever done anything with a Morris Minor before and are possibly unaware of the risk.

where i go they allways torque with a wrench on classic cars

The standard Morris wheelbrace is that short for a good reason. You can't easily wreck your studs by overtightening because you can't apply enough torque to shear/strip the nuts or studs. One foot long bar and a 40 lb boot pushed down on it equals about 40ftlbs

For anyone interested, Carroll Smith writes fantastic books on nut/bolt technology. I spent 6 years as an aero fitter and it was required reading. Once you've read it (yawn) you start to realise just how little you knew. The technology involved is fascinating once you get into it.

Your starter for 10...
http://www.surebolt.com/Bolt-Tutorial-BS.htm

Obviously Dennis -the lads in your local place missed out on the fabulous 'two year tridant college mechanics course in lemington' -are you sure they will know what they are doing?

they know all right

they have a chart for most of the classics

bmc im a 16 year old against god nows how old you are so i think its an unfar conparison
and obviously i wont have the knowledge and experiance of someone like you
ive been corrected end of story
and im shure you would jump at the chance to take the course at 14
and the funnist thing is in theory your paying for it through tax payers money. £2,500 per person.

I think this argument needs to stop i feel moderators should take action. I have resolved my issue now thankyou to the people who have made worthwhile contribution

Iam sitting on the fence on this one iam not taking any side at all.

Iam purely saying visitors to this site may be put off by arguments like this and the club may lose members or put off new members alike this is my oppinion not the club or moderators oppinion.

Jamie

i agree
he needs to know when to quit as ive told him several times but he keeps using my name and the (trident college) course in context.
this is not argueing its dam right bullying bmc so give it a rest.

It was just a wee joke - calm down.
Enjoy the course - i'm not paying for it - I don't pay that much tax! Hopefully from all this you will have learned something - and not just barge in using one-size-fits-all. As stated a few times already by others - the answer is to consult a chart or documents to get the correct torque for anything you are tightening - and then use that figure.

i sort of took it the wrong way
but anyway all sorted

HOORAY!!

RobThomas, thanks for the link to the fixing tutorial- I'm sure most of us could learn a few things reading that. Only thing is, that sort of information depth tends to scare the hell out of me, I get convinced that everything is about to fall to bits around me (which may be correct.... )

I think this argument needs to stop i feel moderators should take action.

I've not been on here for most of the day but the matter does seem to have been resolved now. The problem with 'cyberspace' is that sometimes something written with the best of intentions can be misinterpreted or taken out of context. Obviously it is right to correct dangerous or incorrect information, and there will always be clashes of opinion and personality from time to time, but let's keep it polite please.

Hopefully visitors to the site will be comforted by the fact that there is a wealth of information available here from site members and any incorrect or dangerous information posted will be corrected quickly.

i have been told a 110 newton meters like andrew.searston by my local garage but i have now realised not to talk the wheels to that setting most garages talk them up to 110 n/m