Torquing u-bolts?

cheesemaker · Sep 19, 2007

I got new u-bolts for the rear of my toyota, and the FSM says to torque them to 90#'s. At Les Schwab we just used the air gun and ran them down until they quit turning. I was torquing them to 90 last nite and I tightened them for like 20 minutes and I got one side to at least 50#'s and the other side wasn't there yet!

Do I keep on torquing until they get to 90#'s? While I'm torquing I can see the plate under the axle flexing. Is this normal and I should keep torquing? Or do I just go to 50# and check them monthly? My torque wrench is not of high quality, and I plan on double nutting the u-bolts.

Or am I worrying about it too much?

GRNTACO · Sep 19, 2007

I got some garbage aftermarket U-bolts that I couldn't torque them down either. I was stripping the threads trying to get to 90 ft/lbs.

CrustyJeep · Sep 19, 2007

Keep torquing. Make sure you do this while the springs are at ride height.

Avanteone · Sep 19, 2007

What size are the u-bolts? WHen you buy new ones from like Gitt's Spring, they give torque specs. I think the 1/2" were like 75lb and the 9/16" were like 90lbs.

J

GRNTACO · Sep 19, 2007

Avanteone said:
What size are the u-bolts? WHen you buy new ones from like Gitt's Spring, they give torque specs. I think the 1/2" were like 75lb and the 9/16" were like 90lbs.

J

That's what I replaced my aftermarket garbage with and they said 90-116 ft/lbs.:awesomework:

Real washers and nuts too.

CHOP SHOP · Sep 19, 2007

i tried to torque a sami to 90 once and it started crushing the housing!

tommy gun · Sep 19, 2007

At Les Schwab they use the air gun to torque everything:looser:

brokenparts · Sep 19, 2007

Mine seemed like that too... Took me a while to get to 90#s.

CrustyJeep · Sep 19, 2007

brokenparts said:
Mine seemed like that too... Took me a while to get to 90#s.

Probly because they're whimpy and stretch. Get some 9/16" or 5/8" u-bolts, they torque quite nicely

darius · Sep 19, 2007

tommy gun said:
At Les Schwab they use the air gun to torque everything:looser:

After my year's of wrenching I am totally comfortable with impact torquing, the only time I use a torque wrench is on engine's and diff part's. torquing lug nut's and u bolts is for people that are just a little too anal.

BTW at les schwab it is company policy to have two people torque each nut, that said I never torqued a damn thing in my year with them, and I was the only person to not have a tire fall off.

no excuses · Sep 19, 2007

darius said:
, and I was the only person to not have a tire fall off.

so you want a cookie now :redneck:

darius · Sep 19, 2007

no excuses said:
so you want a cookie now :redneck:

please.:cheer:

buster · Sep 20, 2007

cheesemaker said:
I got new u-bolts for the rear of my toyota, and the FSM says to torque them to 90#'s. At Les Schwab we just used the air gun and ran them down until they quit turning. I was torquing them to 90 last nite and I tightened them for like 20 minutes and I got one side to at least 50#'s and the other side wasn't there yet!

Do I keep on torquing until they get to 90#'s? While I'm torquing I can see the plate under the axle flexing. Is this normal and I should keep torquing? Or do I just go to 50# and check them monthly? My torque wrench is not of high quality, and I plan on double nutting the u-bolts.

Or am I worrying about it too much?

Are you tourqing one nut to 90 and then moving on to the next one? You should run one down 20 to 40 and then move on to the next one on the caddy corner to it. You should tighten the plate down evenly or you will run into problems like you discribe.

And yes you should recheck torque every so often, unless you like spitting out your axle on the trail!

aircrawler · Sep 21, 2007

I agree withthat darius guy. when you are torqin them u bolts down manually they heat up while they are tightening and you keep bulilding that heat wich acts like a lube when torquing . it simulates that ya see. If you were to torque it to 50 then come out in the morning or the next day you would get a different reading. Impact does not give the time to heat up progresively. and its always good to cylce them in a short trail run and retorque..Them ubolts from the factory are an 8, the ones you have should be and the nuts case hardened..Just an idea!!