Torque the lugs

[DHenry]

Do you torque the lug nuts with all the weight of the trailer on them or do you jack up the trailer to take some of the weight off?

[azstar]

Hi Doug,

When torquing, what your actually doing is stretching the stud. It dosn't matter what the weight is on the tire. A good practice is to tighten all the lugs before the wheel is on the ground, by just holding the wheel from spinning with your hand to insure the wheel is flat against the hub. Anything after that is to place the stud into its elastic range of the material. The proper torque does exactly that.

Always remember to use the proper torquing sequence. It changes depending on the number of lugs.

If you use a clicker type wrench always remember to unscrew the handle when the jobs done. This type should be checked every year or so for calibration. One way to do this is to check it against another Torque wrench. Take it to a local shop or Tool store and with a couple of sockets and a nut between them check your against theirs.

Hope this helps

[DHenry]

azstar, thanks for the information, it does help alot.

[sreigle]

Like azstar, I retorque with the rig ready to roll. When a wheel has been removed and replaced I stop every 50-100 miles to retorque until they no longer tighten more. I keep those black nutcovers off the nuts until done retorquing. This both serves as a reminder to do the retorquing and it saves me having to remove them every 50 miles. Usually three, sometimes four, retorquings are required on mine.