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An old boss said my torque habits were lazy, he was right
Worked at a fleet shop in Reno for 3 years. Used to just hit lug nuts with an impact and call it done. Boss watched me one day and said "you're the reason wheels fall off." Made me retorque every single one by hand after impact. Slowed me down maybe 15 minutes a job. But he had a point. Checked some older trucks later, found three studs that were way over. One was stretched bad. Now I do it every time. Anyone else fight this habit or am I the only lazy one?
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the_john22d ago
Three years at a Pep Boys in Ohio and I did the same thing, my foreman called me "one-lug wonder." Found out the hard way when a customer came back with a wobble so bad the wheel almost kissed the fender. Now I torque everything twice, once before the tires hit the ground and once after, and my knuckles still hurt from all those breakers.
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park.abby22d ago
Read a study a while back about how impact guns can overtorque by like 30% on bad days, especially when the air pressure drops or the gun gets old. That stuck with me because my old shop had a harbor freight impact that sounded like it was dying, and we all just kept using it anyway. You can feel it when a lug nut is galled up or the threads are crusty, the gun just hammers harder and you think it's fine. Hand torquing after impact catches all that, plus it forces you to actually look at the studs and see if any are starting to neck down. Took me a few months to break the habit but now I do it without thinking, even on my own truck.
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