How to get 250 Nm on that Ball Joint Nut?

[euro911sc]

Ok so the biggest torque wrench I have only goes to ~200 Nm... Do I need to go out and buy another torque wrench that goes to 500 Nm so I can torque that damned castle nut to 250 Nm with some accuracy? Or should I just torque it to ~200 Nm and then hit it with the impact wrench a few times?

-Michael

[Flieger]

How much do you weigh?

[yelcab1]

250Nm is about ..150lb?

Get a bathroom scale with old fashion rotating needles. Get a 2 foot long pipe and slip it over your 1/2 ratchet so that you can apply force at 2 feet from the pivot point.

stand on the bath room scale, apply force to the wrench where it is horizontal to the ground. When your bathroon scale read 75 lks LESS than your weight, then you have applied 150lbs to the wrench. Stop.

Or get a bigger wrench.

[Flieger]

It is about 168 ft-lbs. If you weigh that much, stand on the very end of a 1 foot bar with the bar horizontal. If you weigh more, decrease the lever arm or use a bathroom scale. Or an english unit torque wrench.

[aigel]

You can only use your body weight if your direction of force is going vertical. Unfortunately, if the A-arm is on the car, that won't be of much help.

I would set the torque wrench to 200 and go above the scale as much as you can towards 250. Either leave it at that or blast it a couple of times with the impact after that. I just fastened mine with the impact set at half blast - I have a lot of experience with my impact and know it will be about 250 at that.

HTH,

George

[NoLift911]

A-arm off the car on the floor on it's side with another person holding the arm upright in place - so that most of the force is pushing on the floor - makes it pretty easy with a long torque wrench

[Dixie]

I tightened mine with out a torque wrench. I used a pipe-wrench, a short cheater bar, and estimated brute force. I did this Mostly because I had trouble keeping the torque wrench and tool engaged on the ball joint.

[JeremyD]

Use a jack to hold it and apply upward pressure - you might check with your local Advance Auto Parts - I rented a torque wrench from them a few years ago before I bought one with a gift card for Lowes (Kobalt 100-300 was around $100)

Got the castle nut torqued


Yes, that's the Ford Bronco tool.

[NoLift911]

It might also be worth mentioning that with the right tool (the one sold here on pelican) this works much, much easier.

I know some folks use the 4X4 tool which kinda fits and works and others use other things that "kinda" work but the point is if you are going to the trouble to torque the nut properly and not guess - get the right tool, it works with zero effort and you can torque it properly.

[euro911sc]

Yeah the a-arms are on the car so there is that challenge. I like the jack idea! Very trick and I'll be using that. I do have the real tool, not the ford one, but both are tricky to keep on the nut when pushing hard.

I may end up using the scale and math. Buying a $100 wrench for 2 nuts just seems like a bad financial decision. The only other nut to use it on would be the big trans nut and axle nuts I suppose and I'm not there very often. I'll look into renting.

-Michael

[Zeke]

It's not impossible to pull the car off the jack stands, so give that some thought.

Frankly, if you know what 100 ft lbs. "feels" like, you can get close by the feel methods since you won't be standing on the wrench. One way to do this is to "feel" the 100 lb mark on your lug nuts, then add the appropriate length of cheater bar and give it the same force.

No, I wouldn't "hit it a few times with the impact."

[tobluforu]

Use the jack method like above, pull jack handle off floor jack and place over wrench. Now, put some umph into it and call it a day. If you can't get a good bite, do what most will consider the worst method and that is the old pipe wrench method-works every time.

[vash]

Originally Posted by P-Dawger

It might also be worth mentioning that with the right tool (the one sold here on pelican) this works much, much easier.

I know some folks use the 4X4 tool which kinda fits and works and others use other things that "kinda" work but the point is if you are going to the trouble to torque the nut properly and not guess - get the right tool, it works with zero effort and you can torque it properly.

sorry, but the official socket sucks. especially for removing that thing. i used a 4x4impact socket on the air tool and rattled that thing off.

the official socket strips very easily.

[euro911sc]

Originally Posted by milt

It's not impossible to pull the car off the jack stands, so give that some thought.

humfh... never considered that. Thanks for the heads up!

I may just sport for the Kobalt or Harbor Freight wrench after all... I'll see how the cheater bar/pipe/scale method works 1st.

And yes... the factory tool does suck, but its better than anything else :|

-Michael

[JeremyD]

This is about technique as much as anything. I've seen people kludge the factory tool too. (and as others have said, it ain't that great)

Keep a 90 degree angle as much as possible.

Take your time.

FYI - The Lowes Kobalt Tools are made by Danhauer - same folks that make Matco, Gearwrench and Craftsman. I would steer clear of a HF torque wrench.

[AlfonsoR]

For your safety....Make sure the car is supported properly. If you look at post #8 by Jeremy, those jacks have a small base, which would make me have second thoughts about applying 170 ft-lbs if the car is being supported by 4 of those type jacks...

I'm not picking on Jeremy, he may have had the car supported in another way or had a secondary support system in case the jacks fail, that was not shown in his picture.

Just saying, be careful. Don't get so focused on installing a nut that you do something unsafe.

[JeremyD]

No problem - Can't be too safe - and this is coming from someone that's actually pulled a car of jackstands before.

I put wheels under my car on jackstands - and typically the jack too in an extended position.

[gtc]

With the jack raised under the ball joint, the car really wants to come off the jack stands. I had to brace the car with my feet on the a-arm and pull on the breaker bar... it was kind of like a rowing position.

[euro911sc]

Well Pelicanites rule. I borrowed a snap-on torque wrench from fellow Pelican Bill Jones and he also had this nifty digital torque meter that I'll use to check my other torque wrenches just to see if they are still in spec. Not a true calibration, but good to just check stuff!

I currently have the car up on 4 stands with 2 wheels and the cycle jack under it. If it falls it wont go far. I plan on torquing it while bracing my self against the car so I don't move it off the stands. Wish me luck!!

Obligatory BLING picture



-Michael