Spindle nut torque and bearing life question.

[Tom]

I suspect I know the answer already, but would like to hear from those with more experience. I replaced the front wheel bearings in my ’94 Honda Accord about 3 years ago. At the time, I also installed new hubs, and CV shafts. The hubs and bearings were OEM Honda, the CV shafts were after market pieces.

When I put everything together, I used my trusty old Craftsman (the emphasis here being on old lol) clicker torque wrench. I think it was calibrated up to like 150 lbs/ft . . . I needed 180. I went ahead and dialed up another 30 clicks, suspecting that wasn’t a great idea as I did it.

Fast forward 3 years, and about 45 – 50 k miles, and my right front bearing is shot to hell. Is it a good guess that the seemingly short life of that bearing could well have been caused by my torque wrench not really giving me an accurate 180 lbs / ft on those spindle nuts?

And, in a related question, for anyone who has experience, do the electric torque wrenches need regularly scheduled calibrations like the old clicker wrenches do? I’ve searched high and low for someone to recalibrate my torque wrench to no avail. Sears doesn’t even service them.

Topic

[college man]

Have ever dropped the torque wrench or abused it? I don’t
see why going from 150-180 would make it out of calibration.
If calibration is off then its off. Your not using the torque
wrench to remove fasteners?

[Texarkana]

You also must reset the torque wrench to zero when done with it. I know the my teacher said to on certain vehicles you must torque the spindle nut, back it off a 1/4 to 1/2 turn. Hondas also use a cotter pin to keep the nut from backing off. Lastly, did you stake the nut to axle shaft after torquing it?

[drthrift035]

Here are some protocols.

1) If you suspect that your torque wrench malfunctioning you should replace it with a new one.

2) Go to a place like Autozone.com, register and see what the proper procedure is for tightening your fastener. It’s Free !

3) OEM parts are usually more expensive. However in most cases they work better than aftermarket parts in my experience.

My suggestion is to follow procedures based on the manufacturer’s research, use the correct tools for the job and finally check into anything that you find suspicious.

[Dave]

Torque wrenches need to be checked for accuracy regularly we have the Snap-on guy check ours at least once a year and torque sticks should be replaced once a year. This is the protocol at our shop.

[Tom]

Thanks to all for the answers / input.

I’ve never abused my torque wrench. I’m careful about not dropping it. I don’t use it as a breaker bar, and I always zero it before storing it. However, it has quite a few years on it, and has never been calibrated.

A few months ago, I nearly lost a wheel, not once, but twice. Both times, I had torqued the lug nuts to spec, following the proper star pattern, using my torque wrench, as I have done for years. Both times, I rechecked torque on the lugs the day after I initially tightened them, just as I have for years. After it happened the second time, I set the torque setting on my wrench to 85 lbs / ft instead of the 80 lbs / ft that the manual calls for, and had no more problems.

I wondered if going 30 lbs past the marked scale might cause an issue since I know that the inner working of the torque wrench is based on a spring, and we all know that pushing a coil spring too tight can damage it, and take some of the spring rate out of it, so I was wondering if by tightening my wrench up that far, I might not have compressed the spring too much, and changed it’s spring rate.

In addition to that, I know that torque wrenches need to be calibrated every so often, and my wrench is probably at least 15 years old, and has never been calibrated.

On the Accord, or at least, on my generation Accord, there is no cotter pin on the spindle nut, it is staked in place, and yes, I make certain to stake the spindle nut properly, and I use a new spindle nut any time I have to remove one. I only questioned whether it might be related to torque because even though they were after market bearings, 50k miles seemed pretty early for a failure to me, though perhaps that is not an unusual life for an after market bearing.

drthrift035 . . I will either find someone to properly calibrate the wrench, or get another, that is why I was asking about the electric digital model. They look nice, but not sure I want to spend that much coin if it still needs to be calibrated regularly. As for proper procedures for tightening fasteners, I have a copy of the factory service manual from Honda, and follow all of the procedures from the manual carefully. I fully agree, OEM is often a much better value when you consider the life expectancy of the part. When I did the brake conversion though, the place I purchased from made it seem as if everything was OEM Honda. Only after I bought them did I come to believe that the hubs were OEM, but the bearings were after market. This is life sometimes.

[college man]

I would get another click type torque wrench. Then send
the old out for calibration.

[Tom]

I picked up a new torque wrench today, set it to 80 lbs / ft, and went over the lug nuts on my car. Several of them were below the 80 mark, even though my old wrench had been set to 85 the last time I torqued them. That is confirmation enough for me that the wrench was indeed out of calibration.

With having to do the wheel bearings soon, and needing to remove the rocker assembly to do plug tube seals, I am very much glad I went ahead and go the new wrench. I hate to think of the carnage that might have happened had I torqued that rocker assembly down with the old wrench :ohmy:

[college man]

Glad it worked out with the new torque wrench. 🙂

[Author]

Replies