Proof you should check torque every trip.

[jfaberna]

Well I use to wonder if the advice to check your trailer wheel lug nuts torque every trip was really necessary. I don't wonder anymore.

Last month I check the torque before leaving on a trip and everything was fine. So I debated whether to just skip torquing this time because both trips were less than 400 miles round trip. Then I remembered I had a difficult time in one parking episode where the Monty got jacked around with some hard turns with a lot of back and forth before the trailer got parked. So I thought, just maybe that would have an impact on the lug nuts. Well it DID. Yesterday I went to prepare the Monty for a trip on Wednesday and I decided to check the torque. Each lug nut turned just slightly before the "click" was heard on the wrench. This doesn't usually happen except for the few times after you pull a wheel off and replace. But apparently stress on wheels can effect properly torqued lug nuts.

So now I know for sure, check the torque every trip. I would add to check the air pressure, but I've been using a TPMS forever so that gets done all the time.

[Ozz]

Good advice Jim.
Another thing to remember is to relieve the turning torque pressure in tight turns, if possible, by stopping in a tight turn, go the other direction for a foot or three, then continue the turn. You can watch someone do this, it is a real eye opener.

[1retired06]

Great advice, both counts. When backing in to a site, we always pull forward 3 or4 feet, then straight back again to reposition the tires.

[DQDick]

With the stress we put on them and the roads we drive on everything can come loose after time. Fenders, wheels, it doesn't matter.

[grayghost03]

Also, the aluminum wheel is much more sensitive to temperature change, almost two to one in expansion and contraction rates. If the weather is cold, the wheel will contract more then the studs and hub assembly, effecting torque. I have thrown off road cars in every conceivable direction, with side forces that will roll a tire off the rim, without bead locks, no loosing of torque on lugs. But leave that sucker outside in 15F degree temps, on aluminum rims and you had better check em before hitting the trails. They will be a little light on the torque. Sitting in the desert in Arizona, in June, I have found just the opposite. So there is another thing to think about. Remember the important part on wheel torque is to be in the close ballpark, and be EQUAL. A few pounds difference is not a make a break deal, but having some at 120ft/lbs and some at 100ft/lbs can be a problem.