From a purely mechanical & physics perspective, i.e. not considering
corrosion issues, etc., metal to metal threaded fasteners should be
lubricated and torqued to spec. A threaded fastener is intended to
produce a clamping pressure on the joint - if the fateners are dirty,
rusty and poorly lubricated, a greater portion of the applied torque
goes into overcoming the rotational friction of the nut and less goes
to the clamping force, i.e. holding the wheel on. So somewhat
paradoxically, lubrication increases the clamping force (which we want)
for a given level of torque.
As in the earlier message, it's very true that one should be very
careful when allowing poorly calibrated air guns near your wheel nuts.
I always re-torque my lug nuts by hand after having my car serviced
(but then I'm a nutty engineer!)
Andre
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 13:01:17 -0400
Subject: Re: M_Boats: Trailering Terror
Hi Steve,
I put water pump grease on the studs of my M15 Trailrite trailer.
The automobile people are against doing that because they say then
mechanics with air guns can over torque the wheel nuts, which could lead
to stud failure.
My rational is, I want grease in the threads because I'm submerging the
wheels in water on launching and retrieving, and I don't want water in
the threads while the trailer isn't moved and used - or has the lug nuts
removed - to keep rust from forming there.
My new Shellback trailer had been immersed in water since new with no
protection, and the lug nuts were totally unmovable. It took my welding
shop's air tools plus welding torch heat to get them to loosen up. I had
tried for days using KROIL and other penetrants and got absolutely
nowhere.
Now they too are covered with water pump grease.
Checking the tightness of lug nuts should be done before each trip - and
during a long trip - but when I want them to loosen, without calling in
King Kong for assistance, I'll rely on a bit of grease on the threads.
Another thing to consider is to use tallow, but that is hard to obtain,
unless you make it yourself (rendered suet).
I used to use tallow on all my stainless turnbuckle threads on the
Tripp-Lentsch - standing rigging and life lines - and never had a
galling
problem; ... and they always worked.
Connie
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