Torque bars/sticks

[rockford33]

Anyone have opinions/suggestions on using torque bars/sticks with an impact wrench? I finally have a decent compressor (Eaton 4 gallon) and I inherited my Dad's old impact wrench (which hopefully still works), so I would like to start rotating my own tires. I know some people say to never use an impact wrench for tightening lug nuts, but isn't that what the torque bars are good for? Just curious if anyone has used them, if they are good or bad to use, etc. I do have a torque wrench also, but I understand it should be calibrated every so often (and where do you get that done?) and I have had mine for at least 6-7 years, so I don't know how accurate it is.

Thanks,
Neil

 

[66HertzClone]

We use them daily without issue, however we also use a torque wrench on every lug nut as a follow up. They are a big time saver and sure are handy when starting many of the new lugs nuts with the shanks like the slotted mag wheels use. Tough to fit your fingers around the head of the lug nut or bolt with the smaller holes on many wheels. I've never had a problem with a claim regarding warped rotors.

 

[rockford33]

Thanks for the reply 66. Any idea where to buy some (hopefully locally)? I searched the Internet and found Accutorq and one other brand (forget the name, American something I think). Any brands better than others that you know?

Thanks,
Neil

 

[48548]

I have a set of genuis and they work fine. No complaints. Here is a link to where I got mine.

http://www.torquestick.com/cart/customer/product.php?productid=27&cat=17&page=1

 

[Deafautotech]

i am rather to have torque stick than none!! my tech friend who do just tire rotated the 2008 Taurus and he dont use torque stick as he just do his feeling with impact wrench But that car was towed in because front left tire was come off and wreck the front left fender (cost him 1000.00 dollars out of his pocket!!

i always use Blue point torque stick set to do all models but when finish it, i did final torque so i dont have do be same tech who had to pay 1000.00 dollars for body repairs...

 

[krusty the clown]

discussed to death...........use a torque wrench. torque sticks are for FRFU's

 

[Bo Heck]

The main reason not to use an impact wrench for tightening lug nuts is the ease of crossthreading them without realizing it. I fingerthread them on as much as I can, then use the impact for a quick hit to snug them up and then do the final tightening with a torque wrench. Regardless, the final step in any process should be checking with a torque wrench.

 

[rockford33]

Bo,
I was actually thinking almost the same as you. Finger thread at first so as not to cross thread, hit it with the impact and torque bar (I was thinking of getting a 65 ft-lb torque bar since my lugs need 80 ft-lb), and then doing the final torquing with a torque wrench up to the 80 ft-lbs. That way no chance of overtightening, but using the impact to speed things up I guess.

First thing I guess I need to get is some impact sockets though! I have had my Dad's impact since he passed away a couple of years ago, but never found any sockets in his toolboxes.

 

[Deafautotech]

discussed to death...........use a torque wrench. torque sticks are for FRFU's

yeah that is true... that why other tech forget to do final torque, cost him 1000.00 dollars for damage on vehicle...

i just use torque sticks to get it tight as it will make it seat on right area instead let rim seat on threads...

 

[krusty the clown]

The main reason not to use an impact wrench for tightening lug nuts is the ease of crossthreading them without realizing it.

no......it's so it gets torqued evenly, so the rotors don't warp. even if you used an impact you would start the nuts by hand right?

 

[Bo Heck]

no......it's so it gets torqued evenly, so the rotors don't warp. even if you used an impact you would start the nuts by hand right?

If you read my whole post, thats exactly what I said.

 

[buening]

Some impact guns have a high torque rating (600+ ft-lb) and you will warp your rotors or possibly crack a rim if you aren't careful. I use a 4-way lug nut wrench to speed the nut on and a torque stick to properly torque the lug nuts in a star pattern. My wife's mustang is spec'd at 100 ft-lbs.

Wheels falling off from improper lug nut torque happens more than people realize. The possible damage from only using an impact gun is not worth the extra few seconds you save. I have pictures of someones classic mustang in downtown Chicago being towed after his front tire came off just minutes away from the tire shop. It completely screwed up his car, like $10k worth of damages.

 

[Leonard 95]

I have always used torque sticks, the ones I use are not like the link, they are 19mm, 21mm, 22mm etc torque sticks. They work great besides I break the 21mm every year it seems like. I plan on getting those sticks next time, so I don't have to worry about breaking them.

 

[J.A.F.E.]

discussed to death...........use a torque wrench. torque sticks are for FRFU's

FRFU?

 

[T56 Impala]

Finger start, Impact to take them down quick, Torque wrench to make sure they are correct. My cars require 100ftlb on the lugs. No problem for me. Since I am the only person to mount my wheels on my cars, I am extra careful! (I remove them and take them to the tire store. They mount the tires, I remount the wheel.)

 

[nissan_crawler]

discussed to death...........use a torque wrench. torque sticks are for FRFU's

x2.

Barely snug them with the impact, then use a torque wrench. "Checking" with a torque wrench is BS. If it clicks, you already have them too damn tight, it's too late.

EVERY nut should turn some when you put a torque wrench on them. If not, you screwed up.

The last shop I watched try and pull this **** paid for my mom's CRV to be hauled to the dealership on a rollback and have every lug replaced. You don't have a damn clue how bad you stressed that stud if the torque wrench already clicks.

By the way, the torque is supposed to be 80 ft lbs, it took damn near 150 ft lbs for the dealer to get them loose. There's a good chance she could have lost the studs.

Those torque sticks are a damn joke. We tried several brands (I did tires for 1.5 years), none of them were accurate worth a ****. THere was a plus/minus of 20 ft lbs on some.

Quit endangering lives, do it the right way. Is that extra $5 you take home worth the risk of injuring/killing somebody?

When I did tires, a single guy could do a set of 4 on a car in 20-30 minutes, doing it the RIGHT way. A 3/4-1 ton might take you 45. There's no excuse.

 

[Flash21]

There is some good dialog in the thread.

How do you guys feel about snugging the lugs with a torque stick to be extra careful not to overtighten?

Example: Torque Spec is 100 ft/lbs. Grab a 65 ft/lbs torque stick, run the lugs up to the rim and then drop the vehicle and torque to spec with a torque wrench.

 

[speed bump]

There is some good dialog in the thread.

How do you guys feel about snugging the lugs with a torque stick to be extra careful not to overtighten?

Example: Torque Spec is 100 ft/lbs. Grab a 65 ft/lbs torque stick, run the lugs up to the rim and then drop the vehicle and torque to spec with a torque wrench.

I just set my cheap HF impact gun to 2.5 run them down and on the GM and Dodges finish it with about 1/3 turn with the torque wrench to 100 Ft-lbs. On the Fords its about 2/3 of a turn for 110 Ft-lbs.

 

[yellowbox]

x2.

Barely snug them with the impact, then use a torque wrench. "Checking" with a torque wrench is BS. If it clicks, you already have them too damn tight, it's too late.

EVERY nut should turn some when you put a torque wrench on them. If not, you screwed up.

The last shop I watched try and pull this **** paid for my mom's CRV to be hauled to the dealership on a rollback and have every lug replaced. You don't have a damn clue how bad you stressed that stud if the torque wrench already clicks.

By the way, the torque is supposed to be 80 ft lbs, it took damn near 150 ft lbs for the dealer to get them loose. There's a good chance she could have lost the studs.

Those torque sticks are a damn joke. We tried several brands (I did tires for 1.5 years), none of them were accurate worth a ****. THere was a plus/minus of 20 ft lbs on some.

Quit endangering lives, do it the right way. Is that extra $5 you take home worth the risk of injuring/killing somebody?

When I did tires, a single guy could do a set of 4 on a car in 20-30 minutes, doing it the RIGHT way. A 3/4-1 ton might take you 45. There's no excuse.

1 person mount and balance 4 tires in 20 mins??? yeah but your killin yourself that pays at least an hour , can do easy in bout 45 mins why bust *** ?
i have done tire work for 10 yrs and you bust out a few fast sets and man it will wear you down , but i aint 20 yrs old either

 

[nissan_crawler]

1 person mount and balance 4 tires in 20 mins??? yeah but your killin yourself that pays at least an hour , can do easy in bout 45 mins why bust *** ?
i have done tire work for 10 yrs and you bust out a few fast sets and man it will wear you down , but i aint 20 yrs old either

Why? Because I was putting myself through college doing tires at Wal-Mart, and making $14.50/hour to do so. The other people were making $9-10/hour. We had less staff on the payroll in the shop, than we were supposed to have in the shop at one time, and were the highest grossing in the region. Yes, my friend and I busted our asses (moved to college together), but we were paid for doing it. We also got every holiday we wanted off, and any weekend we wanted off, while the others had to come in to work to cover for us.

In an 8 hour shift, the two of us kicked out over 80 cars, with 6 tire changes. That was a hell of a day. The regional manager came the next week to buy us pizza and thanks us personally the next week.

It wasn't a great job, but we did our best, and it paid off for us. It was the difference between running on fumes and eating ramen for the week, or having mac and cheese, and a 1/4 tank of gas left. We were going to college 40 hours a week, and working 40-60 hours a week, we needed every dime we could get. *shrug*

 

[eschoendorff]

discussed to death...........use a torque wrench. torque sticks are for FRFU's

Can I get an "AMEN???"

 

[eschoendorff]

x2.

Barely snug them with the impact, then use a torque wrench. "Checking" with a torque wrench is BS. If it clicks, you already have them too damn tight, it's too late.

EVERY nut should turn some when you put a torque wrench on them. If not, you screwed up.

The last shop I watched try and pull this **** paid for my mom's CRV to be hauled to the dealership on a rollback and have every lug replaced. You don't have a damn clue how bad you stressed that stud if the torque wrench already clicks.

By the way, the torque is supposed to be 80 ft lbs, it took damn near 150 ft lbs for the dealer to get them loose. There's a good chance she could have lost the studs.

Those torque sticks are a damn joke. We tried several brands (I did tires for 1.5 years), none of them were accurate worth a ****. THere was a plus/minus of 20 ft lbs on some.

Quit endangering lives, do it the right way. Is that extra $5 you take home worth the risk of injuring/killing somebody?

When I did tires, a single guy could do a set of 4 on a car in 20-30 minutes, doing it the RIGHT way. A 3/4-1 ton might take you 45. There's no excuse.

Can I get another "A-M-E-N????!!!!!"

 

[48548]

I use a lower torque stick(100-110) and then get out the torque wrench and tighten to 125 lbs. Then everytime I have used the torque wrench it does move the nut before it clicks meaning, the torque sticks weren't over tightening the lugs. I have tried to test the torque sticks and they say "Torque Sticks are accurate to within +/- 3% when used with a 375-400ft/lb impact gun". I would say that is about right, not sure what happens with a lot of use though.

 

[beelsr]

let me go out on a limb here and posit that: torque sticks can be useful if (and only if) you calibrate them to your impact gun first.

some people love them, some people hate them. I'd never used them before. Last year, I bought a set from HF. Didn't want to drop >$100 on something that maybe ****, so I spent $10 with a coupon.

Anyways, I tried my 231, my 2131 and my electric impact gun on them. They all gave different results and the IR guns gave different results depending on the power setting. My theory is that the hammer blows are more consistent (air pressure fluctuations/pulses). Since the way they work is by flexing to resist the hammer blows from the gun, that seems to fit.

No idea on fatique of the metal used and if older sticks can drift out of calibration.

For my sticks, I use the electric gun and the torque is about 5-10 pounds below the rating of the stick.

Finger start the nut on the stud, zap em down to seat the nuts, drop the car, finish with the clicker. Works for me and I've never overtorqued doing this.