nab:
The only way a driver can check a wheel nut visually is to look for rust marks leading from the nut
Yes, but as I pointed out above, those rings can be moved by a lazy driver. The rust tell-tale was the easy way to spot a duff wheelnut back in the days before those markers were invented. It simply involves looking a little bit closer, that’s all.
Or do as i do as an owner driver,check an axle a day,it takes 10 mins,ive never lost a wheel or had a loose nut ( touch wood )
By which I presume you mean actually giving them a nip with the torque wrench rather than just a visual check which should be done every day anyway?
Not criticising BTW mate (it’s a good routine to get into) just trying to clarify what you meant.
Yeh mate i check them with a normal wheelwrench,i check them all every month with a proper torque wrench at home aswell,but as i said its my own truck and i would rather take the time to check them than be standing at the roadside waiting for a breakdown truck to come and help me find a lost wheel,and off course the other damage it causes to the wheel hubs and axle,
i wouldnt expect an employed driver to do it my way,but i would expect him/her to look around the truck at least once a day and tighten loose wheelnuts or report defects,
hitch:
I’ve said this before and been derided but eh ho
clean threads and lightly oil helps.
the lost wheel mystery is sheared studs due to
over tightening.
on the contrary, oil will help to clean the thread from rust and debris, allowing the nut to settle correctly, after all you will be torquing it to the correct setting and not hoping that dirt on the thread will keep the nut from coming loose?
if I get a new trailer, I usually get the equipment out to check the tightness while weekended, until then I keep an eye on things every time I take a leak at least, have caught a few things that would’ve become lots of trouble (like a loose rear bumper on a trailer that had been serviced in volvo three days earlier ) in good time
on the contrary, oil will help to clean the thread from rust and debris, allowing the nut to settle correctly, after all you will be torquing it to the correct setting and not hoping that dirt on the thread will keep the nut from coming loose?
If you torque an oiled thread you will get a totally different force applied compared to a dry thread. Plus to be strictly corrrect (and unlikely to happen in the real world) just placing a torque wrench on the nut and pulling on it will only tell you that it is tight, it needs to be marked against the wheel, loosened off at least half a turn and then retorqued, the mark will (if the wrench is set correctly) be in a different place to where it was before, normally tighter. Also of course the wrench should be wound back to zero after every use otherwise it eventually becomes as accurate as a wheel bar… The ex fitter in me coming out now
Oil is a lubricant, a lubricant keeps things moving. But you don’t want to keep wheel nuts moving you want to keep them exactly where they are, so I don’t know how oil is a good idea?
I’ve had a few tyres changed over the years and I’ve never seen any fitter use any oil on the nuts.
In the old days you used to put a brace on the nut with an extended pipe on the end and jump on them until they clicked, the trick was to make sure it did not slip off and cause you to fall on your arse. These days I always feel they are not tight enough with a torque wrench, even though they actually are.
I still carry a brace today but that’s because I’m old school.
I had to laugh at the guys on here that reckon it’s beyond the remit of the driver to check w.nuts and it should be down to the maintenance men too many steerers in the job today and a lack of drivers. I wonder how these guys would manage to change a wheel on the hard shoulder, especially in the ■■■■■■■ rain on the o/side which we all HAD to do a few years ago, after saying that I don’t miss that.
Er, no where did I state that when I was an LGV driver I did not check wheels nuts and neither did I state I personally didn’t know how to do one up. I also did not state drivers should not have to check them at all.
My point being the aims and motives of prevention for DVSA which is the reason for penalties. If you can’t discuss progressive reasoning behind prevention the job will be stuck in the stone age. I think the attitudes you encounter in road transport regulation do keep it lagging behind other forms.
robroy:
In the old days you used to put a brace on the nut with an extended pipe on the end and jump on them until they clicked, the trick was to make sure it did not slip off and cause you to fall on your arse. These days I always feel they are not tight enough with a torque wrench, even though they actually are.
I still carry a brace today but that’s because I’m old school.
I had to laugh at the guys on here that reckon it’s beyond the remit of the driver to check w.nuts and it should be down to the maintenance men too many steerers in the job today and a lack of drivers. I wonder how these guys would manage to change a wheel on the hard shoulder, especially in the ■■■■■■■ rain on the o/side which we all HAD to do a few years ago, after saying that I don’t miss that.
+1,agree with everything youve said “robroy”,i still change my own punctured tyres ,saves a few bob and its good excercise
I’ve been putting wheels on well over 20 years and have always wire brushed the studs and sloshed engine oil on them and also on the nuts I had never used a torque wrench and have never lost any wheels or had loose nuts with both cone and spigot ,tightened in the right sequence 2 cracks with a standard brase no extra bar needed even at 10 stone ,and with the spigot nuts up with the air gun and check with the bar ,I also paint the faces of wheels too ,stiff nuts/ studs usually happen when someone uses copper grease which is made of clay which bakes in the heat .
Part of my job and to bump up my wage a bit each week is a small amount of maintenance on each wagon. I’ll grease the grease points to do with the mixer drum/tipper mechanicals so only about 5 on each one. Check levels, jet wash underneath and check the wheel torque.
A few weeks back we had a problem with one wheel. It had been changed so I re torqued it after a couple of jobs. It tightened again so I kept my eye on it for a few days. It needed doing again. Eventually it was the wheel which was at fault with ovaled holes. In the end I’d guess after 150 km after torquing them it would of worked loose enough to lose a wheel! Point being check your nuts!
The gaffer wanted me to check nuts twice a week after that. I refused as a 5 foot torque wrench is hard enough to use on 8 wagons once a week never mind twice and agreed I’d knock em with a toffee hammer when I get 5. Now its something I always check on every walk around.
Tell me about!!! in the twenty three years between the late seventies and the ninties I had wheels fall off a few times. Full details
of these and other funny instances can be read in my book THERE AND BACK, A JOURNEY AROUND MY LIFE.
Have a good laugh lads CHRIS NICHOLLS
So what it says after a bit of reading is “To lubricate studs with fine engine oil unless manufacturer says not to oil” …so it would seem we have our own reasons to or not…
thats going to cost the hauliers some money to put a torque wrench in every truck at £200 a shot. plus
its a good 40 mins to go round checking every wheel nut before you start work…your not aloud to change
a bulb but now they’re letting drivers loose with a torque wrench. what else will they come up with to
stop lorries operating in the UK.
3300John:
thats going to cost the hauliers some money to put a torque wrench in every truck at £200 a shot. plus
its a good 40 mins to go round checking every wheel nut before you start work…your not aloud to change
a bulb but now they’re letting drivers loose with a torque wrench. what else will they come up with to
stop lorries operating in the UK.
Please show me where anything above suggests that all lorries should be equipped with a torque wrench?
cliffystephens:
So what it says after a bit of reading is “To lubricate studs with fine engine oil unless manufacturer says not to oil” …so it would seem we have our own reasons to or not…
I believe it is best to learn something new and be happy about it, not try and dig your way out of the hole you are already in
Hi all.We have punctures and exploding tyres on a daily basis due to the nature of the work,we run at 50-60ton gross all the time.I don’t think there is more than a couple of torque wrenches in the whole mine and these are used for LKAB’s 120 ton trucks not the subbies.We change wheels and put oil on the threads as a matter of course.We tighten nuts with an air or Electric gun then finish by hand.During the shift we tighten 2 more times by hand and we never have had problems.The only time problems occur is when lazy drivers overtighten nuts using the mechanical aids instead of tightening by hand,then the studs stretch and eventually break or the splines in the hus strip .
)
The ex fitter in me coming out now 
too many steerers in the job today and a lack of drivers. I wonder how these guys would manage to change a wheel on the hard shoulder, especially in the ■■■■■■■ rain on the o/side which we all HAD to do a few years ago, after saying that I don’t miss that. 
Hi all.We have punctures and exploding tyres on a daily basis due to the nature of the work,we run at 50-60ton gross all the time.I don’t think there is more than a couple of torque wrenches in the whole mine and these are used for LKAB’s 120 ton trucks not the subbies.We change wheels and put oil on the threads as a matter of course.We tighten nuts with an air or Electric gun then finish by hand.During the shift we tighten 2 more times by hand and we never have had problems.The only time problems occur is when lazy drivers overtighten nuts using the mechanical aids instead of tightening by hand,then the studs stretch and eventually break or the splines in the hus strip .