Debbie,

This is a big gripe I have with tire businessses. Women are nearly
always unable to remove the impact-wrench tightened lug nuts, and often
we men have the same problem.

I was out in  the country one day and had a flat. Fought hard to get the
lug nuts off but finally got all but one. That one would not budge. A
fellow came across from a house near there, offered some help. We put a
cheater bar on it and it still wold not budge. We tried a coal chisel
and the chisel would not cut the nut.  Turns out the back ring on it is
case hardened steel. He finally went and got a battery powered grinder
and we ground the thing off. Of course it destroyed the lug bolt. But I
still had 4 to hold the wheel so limped home on that. That whole episode
killed four hours, messing with it.

Nowadays, as a matter of course, I carry in my vehicle tool box a 150 lb
torque wrench, and I insist that it be used when a tire is changed. It
doesn't matter to me what the manager thinks, I'm the one who changes
the tire on the road when I have a flat.

A tiny bit of antisieze compound applied one time is all you will ever
need if the lug nuts are tightened properly. A a matter of good
mechanical practice, the the torque values on bolts and nuts are
established with no lubricants, and when a lubricant is added, it
changes the parameters of the established torque for the part. So
lubricants SHOULD NOT be added except where specified by the
manufacturer. I  make an exception on the lug nuts, hoever, for my own
purposes. But one applied, I then wipe them off well, so the amount is
minimal. That seems sufficient for my purposes.

You might, as a matter of good maintenance practice on your vehicle,
periodically check you lug nut torque, in the same manner as you would
periodically check your CV bolt torque. The latter is especially
recommended since they do have a propensity to loosen over time. When I
have an axle out for any reason, by whomever - including myself - after
reinstallation and running it for a while, I always go back and recheck
the torque on those bolts. Three times in my career as a VW Bus/Vanagon
driver, I have had bolts come loose. Twice after installation by shops,
and once. Lesson learned. There isn't much more miserable than having to
deal with loose CV bolts while on a road trip. With me it's usually
night in a pouring rain!!!

Regards,

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

Regards,
Debbie Walters wrote:

>Wow, nice to see I'm not the only one that can't get the lug nuts loosened!
>I am going on a trip and went to Tire Kingdom yesterday to ask them to
>loosen the lug nuts and hand tighten them, and the manager looked up the
>required torque and said that VW requires them to tighten to a torque of 123
>lbs., which is even tighter than his big truck.  Thing is, they usually
>tighten the bolt for the spare that much too, and at that angle, I can't get
>any leverage to loosen it.  At least with the  main tires I can jump up and
>down on the lug wrench, but weighing in at 122 lbs., that doesn't do me much
>good either.
>
>deb
>'85 Westy "Gypsy"
>Look for me on the road between Orlando and Winston-Salem
>
>
>
>>From: Automatic digest processor <LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>>Reply-To: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
>>Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2003 00:00:08 -0400
>>To: Recipients of vanagon digests <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>>Subject: vanagon Digest - 5 Aug 2003 (#2003-796)
>>
>>For those times when some jerk has used an air impact wrench to overtighten
>>the lug bolts, I have your setup (1/2 inch drive, of course), plus a 4 foot
>>hollow steel pipe for extra leverage.
>>
>>
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