overtorqued wheel bolts: what to do

[sevilla]

Hi everybody, I have a Kubota 3830 and I'm close to the 200 hr mark. Thus I finally bought a torque wrench to check the wheel torque: everything worked fine for the front which I set at 100 ftlbs as in the manual. When I tried to loosen the back wheel bolts with my breaker bar I could not move them: not even with the help of a pipe. I believe that they were overtorqued by the dealer. Can anybody help me on what to do? Is it dangerous? Thank you for your expert advise.

 

[lp333]

... When I tried to loosen the back wheel bolts with my breaker bar I could not move them: not even with the help of a pipe...

Wheel nuts and bolts are frequently over-torqued by speeding mechanics using pneumatic tools without proper torquing devices. Typically, you would have to apply even more force to remove those stubborn bolts on your 3830. I have broken many wrenches in similar situations over the years, and sometimes a bolt or stud may break in the process. However, either can be replaced.

The lesson here is that you are usually better off keeping strangers away from your loving Kubota, and doing informed servicing yourself whenever possible.

 

[TalonDancer]

My wheel bolts were also delivered over torqued It took 4 ft of 1' pipe over a 3/4' T Bar to break them loose.

IMHO mechanics that use impact wrenches to "torque" wheel lugs/bolts should be required to remove the wheel with only hand tools in the middle of a 40 acre muddy field, in a poring rain, with 25 mph winds, oh and a little golf ball size hail -- for free. There that made me feel better

Talon Dancer

 

[rural2]

Best option would be to make the idiot who over torqued them fix them as already mentioned Short of that, apply penetrating oil (PB Blaster, whatever...) over the course of several days then take the tractor somewhere with a 1" drive impact gun and compressor to run it. Hopefully the lugs aren't stretched, thus reusable and hopefully the lube will help to ease them off. In the past I have fabricated a socket to accept a pipe wrench and cheater bar in addition to my 1/2" impact gun, PITA! All but ruined a good socket but it did work. On another occasion (due to my own stupidity) I had to use a small angle grinder to take off most of the material on one side of a flange nut without getting into the bolt threads (try that in a tight area), another PITA! Ruined an otherwise perfectly good, specialty application, extremely hard to find nut but it worked too. Neither of the the above "fixes" were on over torqued lugs, but I don't see why they wouldn't work???
Good luck.

 

[easygo]

Same problem here. I actually twisted a 1/2" extension bar while trying to take out bolts. I was worried that the tool would break, but I just ended up with sore arms from the effort.

 

[art]

Just for a thought, suppose they were loose enough that shortly after delivery one falls off? Which way would you prefer? I'd rather have them a little tight then to loose because someone was in a hurry to get a tractor delivered to a customer and didn't retorque them. You loose either way to a degree but no damage done to the tractor or the wheel vs a wheel hitting the fender and egged out holes that is not a warrantee issue but a big snag with a customer. They are supposed to be tightened after a few hours of operation after assembly. So to run it two hundred hours before you found out they were over torqued is not a dealers fault or is it?

 

[sevilla]

Thank you for the answers. Just one little thing: at 50 hr I had the dealer do the maintenance; I specifically asked for a torque and tire pressure check since I felt a low front tire: few weeks later of inactivity the front tire was flat due to a slow leak that was gong on for months according to the tire man. Having paid a lot of money for that maintenance I thought everything was fine. Now I agree with the idea the do it yourself means better results. Thank you again.

 

[john_bud]

Now I agree with the idea the do it yourself means better results.

Ding Ding Ding!!!

We have another winner!

Couldn't agree more.

jb

 

[BotaBigot]

Any time someone else tightens your wheel lugs and you didn't see him use a torque wrench, you should re-torque them (we could go way off topic here talking DIY, but this thread is about wheel lugs). Same for you car(s). Nothing worse than trying to change a flat with that sorry excuse for a lug wrench in the trunk (or even a 4-way), only to learn tire guy air-wrenched the lugs super tight.

 

[Birdhunter1]

Can anybody help me on what to do?

Get a bigger cheater bar.
I have never seen an impact under a 1" drive that would put a bolt down to tight that I couldn't break it with a breaker bar and an 8' piece of pipe.