Axle Torque

[Old-Towd]

Ok Buggy Buddys I'm going to open a  big can of worms. Me and Ed are looking into torquing the rear axle ( IRS ) and there is so many opinions out there from you can't over torque it,  to using a scale that you stand on with the right length torque wrench. There's got to be the point when you over torque the axle  ( if you have five Buggy Buddys with a ten foot cheater bar your going to over torque it )  Like most we just used a cheater bar on a 3/4 breaker bar and gave it hell, but we seen what looks like crushed spacers. We picked up a Mac 600 foot pounds torque wrench and we were going to check it against a torque multilayer & just using a cheater bar (  about 250 ft. lb. )   Dose it take more foot pounds to break a torqued axle nut then it takes to torque?  I've heard that if there's oil or grease, that it would change the torque reading.

[Carltons]

Short  Answer Yes. It takes more to break torque than to apply torque. Second any lubrication etc will affect torque. If the Manufactuer specifies a thread lube then use it otherwise do not. Clean the threads and torque to the specified range. Additionally if you have runing torque (a locking feature such as nylon bushing) you should calculate the runing torque and add that to the value specified. This can be obtained using a dial torque wrench, or a clicker by sneeking up on the running torque.

There is torque 101

hope it helps

Carlton