Lug nut reminder

[The Evil Twin]

Ironic to see this thread pop up. I just checked all my lug nuts at 20 hours. All tight. Checked all the loader fasteners also. They were good too.
Side note- checked the front axle oil and it was a quart low. About 1/4 inch from the overflow hole. Not a big deal but I topped it up anyway. Judging from the paint it was never done at PDI. Unless they painted it.

 

[dirtydeed]

doesn't anyone else just use a paint marking pen on studs/nuts? pretty simple...

 

[fried1765]

This is excellent advice. Would certainly be wise to follow it.

BUT I can say that in almost five decades of buying replacement tires for my vehicles, I never once saw a torque wrench used when putting the wheels back on.

No matter where I bought tires, it was only the impact wrench that was used. I am guilty of doing the same, except when I installed wheel spacers on the BX, I did use a torque wrench because the bolts/nuts that attach the spacers are hidden behind the wheels. Also used blue locktite on those bolts/nuts.

Before the pandemic, after I retired my wife and I used to visit her home town in Japan twice a year for a month. A friend used to pick us up at the airport. One time he had a flat, and called the Japanese version of AAA. Truck arrives and the service guy either fixed the flat or put the spare on, I don't remember which, but he did have a pretty well equipped service vehicle.

The thing that impressed me was when he put the tire on, he actually did use a torque wrench to torque the lug nuts correctly. My thought was: Never saw anyone do that in the USA!

The Japanese are masters at paying attention to detail.
Toyotas, Hondas, and Kubotas are a testament to that!

 

[Henro]

The Japanese are masters at paying attention to detail.
Toyotas, Hondas, and Kubotas are a testament to that!

No argument there. Just before Covid appeared we visited Japan and our friend who picked us up at the hotel at the airport the day after arrival had a flat right when he arrived.

I was impressed by the automobile service (Japanese version of our AAA) guy’s attention to detail, including torquing the wheel nuts properly with a torque wrench.

 

[Captain13]

I do use a torque wrench for the final tighten. I use the impact for removal and when I replace, I use the #1 setting (lowest) to snug them and finish the job with the torque wrench. I’ve used the paint pen before but actually prefer to go through the full start to finish torque process. With the red mud here, the paint pen can become almost invisible. For instance, I use the paint pen to mark my tire pressures. I usually have to knock of the red mud to see it.

 

[rc51stierhoff]

Great thread and reminder and comments from all. Just as FYI, most automotive and at least one of the manufacturers mentioned above by Fried, have torque wrench / checker with the paint marker is inside the socket fitting so that the paint is applied / engages when torqued. You can take that to the bank. That being said a lot of the items on the tractor are most likely dealer set up depending on how the machines are crated (not the manufacturer) and in the case of this thread, the wheels and lugs are set up at dealer in many cases. If wheel spaces out by dealer again ideally they should torque them…but I believe lug nuts are considered customer maintenance items by OEM manufacturer as well as the deal dealer and the responsibility is left on customer. Check with your dealer to be sure, the. Check them either way yourself and mark appropriately so you know and have a visible mark At a glance should they move, Or don’t.

 

[The Evil Twin]

Great thread and reminder and comments from all. Just as FYI, most automotive and at least one of the manufacturers mentioned above by Fried, have torque wrench / checker with the paint marker is inside the socket fitting so that the paint is applied / engages when torqued. You can take that to the bank. That being said a lot of the items on the tractor are most likely dealer set up depending on how the machines are crated (not the manufacturer) and in the case of this thread, the wheels and lugs are set up at dealer in many cases. If wheel spaces out by dealer again ideally they should torque them…but I believe lug nuts are considered customer maintenance items by OEM manufacturer as well as the deal dealer and the responsibility is left on customer. Check with your dealer to be sure, the. Check them either way yourself and mark appropriately so you know and have a visible mark At a glance should they move, Or don’t.

Yessir. Both my Fords, the VW, Hyundai and Yamahas have said paint marks on many fasteners.

 

[RCW]

This thread reminded me to check mine.

I had just checked the lugs on my wife’s car after getting new tires.

I admit I didn’t use a torque wrench for the tractor, but did have a couple that were obviously loose. Snugged them all back up.

 

[SAR Tracker]

Use some “Torque-Seal” to mark your lug nuts after you torque them so as to detect movement. (or use a common felt-tip marker)

Amazon.com

Red nail polish works well also. Actually any color but clear. It's a lacquer based product and dries hard, so if the lug nut moves, it'll shatter the polish or sealer.

 

[DustyRusty]

The Japanese are masters at paying attention to detail.
Toyotas, Hondas, and Kubotas are a testament to that!

It is their dealers that screw up on a regular basis by using untrained and inexperienced employees to do the initial maintenance.

 

[GeoHorn]

It is their dealers that screw up on a regular basis by using untrained and inexperienced employees to do the initial maintenance.

Is it perhaps the difference in the workforce?

One of the things I noticed right-away working in a refinery… the union workers knew their jobs.…They’d been thru an apprentice program, knew the building codes, had the right tools… the guys off the street were dangerous. You could tell where the different contractors sourced their workforce.

 

[lynnmor]

Is it perhaps the difference in the workforce?

One of the things I noticed right-away working in a refinery… the union workers knew their jobs.…They’d been thru an apprentice program, knew the building codes, had the right tools… the guys off the street were dangerous. You could tell where the different contractors sourced their workforce.

Whenever I visited a union shop to deliver or install things that I made, the "workers" were the laziest and most useless people on the planet. I dealt with some big name manufacturers and now believe that they need to leave this country in order to survive.

 

[emac]

I have had a few lugs come loose over the years. Good thing to check them often!

 

[GeoHorn]

Whenever I visited a union shop to deliver or install things that I made, the "workers" were the laziest and most useless people on the planet. I dealt with some big name manufacturers and now believe that they need to leave this country in order to survive.

With the supply-chain situation we have today…. How’d that work out for ya’..??

Mfr’d goods of wonderful quality...eh? … and inexpensive… right…?

There’s a REASON “Made in the U.S.A.” is a good thing.

 

[D2Cat]

With the supply-chain situation we have today…. How’d that work out for ya’..??

Mfr’d goods of wonderful quality...eh? … and inexpensive… right…?

There’s a REASON “Made in the U.S.A.” is a good thing.

One of the benefits of competition is eventually products get better. Remember how optics after WW2 improved greatly by the Germans? Watches, autos and virtually everything made in Japan was belittled for years and now they kick our butt!

In the mid '80"s USA auto dealers began selling foreign cars. They had to to stay in business. At the same time if you pulled into an auto mfg plant, like GM or Ford, with a foreign made auto the (union) workers would "key" the vehicle or gather a team and roll it on it's side. There were signs at the entrance, "Do not part foreign cars here".

I know guys who worked at the Delco battery plant. They openly bragged about their income and how little work they did. Even told how they hid from work, where to take naps, how they wouldn't help anyone along the road with trouble that was in a foreign car.

Union members didn't do themselves any favors by their comments of high pay and avoid work.

 

[lynnmor]

With the supply-chain situation we have today…. How’d that work out for ya’..??

Mfr’d goods of wonderful quality...eh? … and inexpensive… right…?

There’s a REASON “Made in the U.S.A.” is a good thing.

Perhaps you missed the video about Ford having thousands of Super Duty trucks baking in the sun while waiting on Chinese chips?

 

[The Evil Twin]

Lazy people will be lazy. Union or not. I know a lot of Steamfitters that pull twice the weight of the office princesses. There will always be those that put more effort into avoiding work than they would have to put forth just doing the work.

 

[BX1880Dude]

Quick story, I recently bought a brand new BX1880, it has 11.2 hours on it. At 11 hours, the front left wheel lost 3 out of the 4 lug nuts and ruined the wheel. The dealership ordered me a new wheel, new lug nuts, and changed my tire for me. I got the torque specs from the dealer and grabbed my torque wrench, and tightened the new wheel to specs.

I then checked all other lug nuts. Every single lug nut on the 3 other wheels were loose, some almost hand loose. I had to re-torque every single lug nut. I checked the owners manual and it says the first interval to check lug nuts was at 50 hours.

I'm not sure what the process really is, but I will be checking them every 10 hours from now on. I understand the wheels are under a lot of load, but all lug nuts loose? I mean every single one of them? Maybe Kubota needs to change the interval in the book to 5 hours after a new purchase because I almost lost all 4 wheels.

 

[GeoHorn]

Quick story, I recently bought a brand new BX1880, it has 11.2 hours on it. At 11 hours, the front left wheel lost 3 out of the 4 lug nuts and ruined the wheel. The dealership ordered me a new wheel, new lug nuts, and changed my tire for me. I got the torque specs from the dealer and grabbed my torque wrench, and tightened the new wheel to specs.

I then checked all other lug nuts. Every single lug nut on the 3 other wheels were loose, some almost hand loose. I had to re-torque every single lug nut. I checked the owners manual and it says the first interval to check lug nuts was at 50 hours.

I'm not sure what the process really is, but I will be checking them every 10 hours from now on. I understand the wheels are under a lot of load, but all lug nuts loose? I mean every single one of them? Maybe Kubota needs to change the interval in the book to 5 hours after a new purchase because I almost lost all 4 wheels.

Maybe it was 5 o’clock on Friday when the worker put the wheels on …and the whistle blew…. they may have never been properly torqued.
Take a Pilot-Point or other marker and made index marks on the nut/wheel..(so-called “witness” marks.)

 

[lynnmor]

I'm not sure what the process really is, but I will be checking them every 10 hours from now on. I understand the wheels are under a lot of load, but all lug nuts loose? I mean every single one of them? Maybe Kubota needs to change the interval in the book to 5 hours after a new purchase because I almost lost all 4 wheels.

Maybe Kubota needs to suspend that dealer till they have qualified people. You need to check every nut and bolt that was monkeyed with before using the tractor again.