It should not be this hard

"Wagon Guy drives a Boostang" (gimmeboost)
02/02/2018 at 19:44 • Filed to: None

With an autocross event on Sunday (just be jealous all of you northerners) and a club tech day tomorrow, I figured that I would thrown on my new track tires this afternoon to scrub them in a little tomorrow before the event. The last time I swapped the tires in the driveway it wan’t too bad. Though the car is low, and I need to put something under the front tires in order to get a jack underneath, that’s not all that challenging.

That was the plan.

So I put the car on the flattest spot in the driveway, up on some two-by-fours, got my low profile jack out, and set about loosening lug nuts before throwing it in the air. Sounds good so far.

I got the first tire off and put the replacement in its place, but then as I was trying to torque down the lugs... My socket got stuck. No amount of hammering on it has yet been able to separate the socket from that lug nut. Fine. I pulled that one and put one of the “tuner lugs” in it’s place.

The 2nd and 3rd wheel went well enough, but I wasn’t able to torque the lugs down since the socket was still stuck on that one lug. No worries, I would run by Home Depot and pick up another and get it done once I has hand torqued things down with the t-bar wrench.

And then I hit the 4th wheel.

No amount of force I was able to exert was able to separate three of the lugs from their seat in the wheel. I was able to get two of them off, but those other three would not budge. I tried my one little breaker bar, stood on the t-bar and was completely unable to move them. So I tightened those two loose ones back down and drove over to Home Depot.

A new deep socket later, along with a 4 foot pipe and a cordless impact later and I was finally able to finish the job. Two. Hours. Later.

Fuck I’m out of shape.

At least I now have the right tools to do this at the track without taking all day or injuring myself.

DISCUSSION (18)

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang
02/02/2018 at 20:10

You see, while you have an Autocross on Sunday I have Ice Racing tomorrow. Us Northerners get year round racing too. Sucks to be in the middle though.

Urambo Tauro > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang
02/02/2018 at 20:21

Do your lug nuts have those thin chrome caps on them? Those things can be trouble sometimes.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Urambo Tauro
02/02/2018 at 20:26

I remember reading something at one point about swollen lug nuts being a rather common thing with Fords.

Urambo Tauro > TheTurbochargedSquirrel
02/02/2018 at 20:33

It is, but it seems that other brands have issues with them too. Apparently it’s so common that there are 18.5mm and 19.5mm sockets available to help deal with these things. Sometimes having an assortment of SAE and metric sizes just isn’t enough, I guess.

Cash Rewards > TheTurbochargedSquirrel
02/02/2018 at 21:05

Yeah, like here in Virginia.

-looks at the 4 year old and 2 year olds bedrooms, remembers he currently without an autocross worthy car...

Yeah, Virginia is the issue I’m not autocrossing this weekend...

Wagon Guy drives a Boostang > Urambo Tauro
02/02/2018 at 21:32

yep. My normal street wheels have the smaller “tuner lugs” so the stock ones have sat in a box for the past year. My track tires are on the stock wheels, so I have to use the stock lugs.

I think part of my problem is that the dealer has been doing rotations for me, and I think they’re over-torquing the lugs. I checked the specs, Ford has the mustang lugs at 240 ft-lbs. It’s a killer...

Wagon Guy drives a Boostang > Cash Rewards
02/02/2018 at 21:34

I went for years without an autocross worthy car and kids filling the rooms. Now they’re older and I get to play again. Your turn will come.

Urambo Tauro > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang
02/02/2018 at 22:10

I checked the specs, Ford has the mustang lugs at 240 ft-lbs. It’s a killer...

WAT

Are you sure? That sounds like a wheel bearing torque figure to me.

Wagon Guy drives a Boostang > Urambo Tauro
02/02/2018 at 22:21

yep. They upgraded the studs and everything.

Urambo Tauro > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang
02/02/2018 at 22:38

Wow, that’s a LOT. Are they using Super Duty truck parts or something?

merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc > Cash Rewards
02/03/2018 at 07:22

I feel your pain, but the kids are worth the sacrifice for now. Soon they will be older and you’ll have a pit crew.

I currently have 3 boys, 5 and under, and no track toy.... but this too shall pass and we will get another toy for all of us to play with.

merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc > TheTurbochargedSquirrel
02/03/2018 at 07:23

Fords and Chrysler’s. It’s the chrome capped lugnuts. You can actually remove that chrome cap on some of them, but some are more stubborn.

merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang
02/03/2018 at 07:25

Holy moley. That’s more torque than the big spindle nuts on most cars.

Urambo Tauro > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang
02/03/2018 at 22:12

Ok so that 240 lb-ft has been bothering me all day. Would you mind posting a pic or link to that spec? I just gotta see it for myself. It’s driving me nuts.

Wagon Guy drives a Boostang > Urambo Tauro
02/03/2018 at 23:19

well holy crap. Now I can’t find that, and I don’t remember where I saw it. Now Everything I’m seeing says 150. Which sucks. Means everything is over torqued, but will save my back once I get them apart later.

I think I know what I did. It’s 204nm. I don’t do metric. I misread and translated that into lb/ft.

https://themustangsource.com/forums/f806/lug-nut-torque-2015-a-534238/

MUSTANG PERF.PKG / ECOBOOST 2015 - 2017 150 ft-lbs

https://www.discounttire.com/learn/wheel-torque#ford

Though now this does make me a little pissed at the Ford dealer, because they had them torqued so hard I needed a 4 foot cheater bar to get some of them off.

Urambo Tauro > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang
02/03/2018 at 23:48

Yikes. I’m not sure I’d want to go autocrossing on studs that have been stressed so much.

Wagon Guy drives a Boostang > Urambo Tauro
02/04/2018 at 00:06

yeah. I’m going to pull them all in the morning and re-torque

Urambo Tauro > Wagon Guy drives a Boostang
02/04/2018 at 00:19

I hope that’s enough. The thought of a once- (or twice-) stretched stud scares me.