Loose nuts !!!!

[Jimbo]

Having swapped over the orginal 18" wheels for 16"ers on Sunday, I had a brown-trouser moment this afternoon.......

Whilst driving from Borehamwood to Radlett, the Disco developed a steering vibration not unlike when a wheel is out of balance. I thought that one of the balance weights had come off the (second hand) 16"ers. The vibration got steadily worse, I was also becoming aware of a dull knocking noise from somewhere at the front. The customer site car park seemed the appropriate place to do some investigations.....

All 10 front wheel bolts were just finger tight - hence the vibration and knocking noise !!!! - did I need a change of nappy or what ! :shock:  :shock:

I am certain that I tightened all the bolts up on Sunday, they were checked and double-checked, so why did they come so loose today ?

Silly question - do 16" wheels use different bolts to the 18" wheels ?

Luckily my trusty 3' breaker bar and 27mm socket was in the back, so all bolts are now fully tightened - my torque wrench is not big enough, but I'll borrow a large one and make sure the bolts are torqued up to spec.

Jim

[Xtremeteam]

depends if u have went from 18" alloys to 16"steels cos the nuts are different,,disco 2 is 140 nm & disco 1 is 128nm

[lee celtic]

The angle on an ali wheel nut is different to that on a steel wheel.

One is steeper than the other so if you get the wrong ones on the wrong wheel there is less surface area making contact so they come undone real easy .I think ali ones have the shallower angle and the steel have a sharp angle. :D

as always a picture paints a thousand words (don't laugh at me drawings)  [-X

[500bhp]

Can some one help me with some info what is the torque setting for steel wheels on a Disco 1................... :roll:

[Xtremeteam]

see my other post above ^^^^^^

[500bhp]

Sorry wasn't sure if those figures refered to alloys or steel wheels......so its 128nm for steels on Disco 1 ?

[Xtremeteam]

thats what it quotes in the autodata manual
will check for certain tommorow,im sure its 128 for both steel & alloy wheels

[Range Rover Blues]

Don't he factory alloys have a flat surface, protected by an encapsulated washer on the nut?

[Jimbo]

I went from 18" alloys to 16" alloys - so assuming that the bolts used are the same, the angle on the mating face should be the same ?

I've had another thought - there was a liberal coating of copper grease on the hubs when I removed the 18" wheels (thoughtfully applied by the stealer at the last service), the shape of the 16" is different to the 18" wheels - perhaps I didn't clean enough of the grease off before fitting the 16's...... :oops:  :oops:


Jim

[Xtremeteam]

checked to day with the autodata book & for disco 1s 200 tdi its 128 nm,for 300tdis its 130 nm & disco 2 td5's its 140 nm

[muddyweb]

I've had another thought - there was a liberal coating of copper grease on the hubs when I removed the 18" wheels (thoughtfully applied by the stealer at the last service), the shape of the 16" is different to the 18" wheels - perhaps I didn't clean enough of the grease off before fitting the 16's...... :oops:  :oops:

The grease is supposed to be there... helps to prevent corrosion between the steel hub and alloy wheel and helps to make sure they don't get stuck on.

[Jimbo]

Tim,

I know about the merits of using copper grease, the thing is the shape of the mating face of the two types of wheel is different - I think that when I fitted the 16's, some grease (more than is needed) was trapped between the wheel and the hub and created a temporary 'spacer' effect. Once I'd done a few miles, the grease warmed up and was centrifugally (?) moved out - thus giving me the loose wheel problem.

Since tightening the bolts on Tuesday, I've not had any more brown-trouser moments - although I did manage to bust my breaker bar yesterday morning whilst checking the bolts (no, I wasn't jumping on the bar !!)

We're off to get the front discs changed today, so I'll have a good look at the bolts, hub faces, wheel backs etc, and clean off all the excess grease.

Jim