for those that know, how critical are the torque settings for the tightening of the nuts/bolts on the lower arms/ball joints and the track control arms/ball joints..

WM states 165nms and 80nms, if tightened more than that , would it cause any problems. ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
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Normally they only lost a torque value for a nut or bolt if it is important. I would stick with whats in WM.

Torque levels are there to ensure that you don't over do the pudding and strip a thread or snap a bolt.... An over torqued bolt can appear to be fine, but it can snap without warning You want to see what happens to Nissan Partols when you over torque the wheel nuts...... there you going down the road minding your own business and then ping,ping,ping.....oh look that wheel that is rolling past looks just like mine..... D'OH!!


Your 165 nms are 120 lbs ft, which is f tight and 80 nms is 60 lbs ft which is still a reasonable force... that's is where wheel nuts start on lighter applications.....

Personally I'd use a torque wrench just to ensure that they weren't under done... you can get one for under a score http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-2-DRIVE-DR-TOR...TqEtd..... handy for wheel nuts too, so keep it in the car, I do  Yesterday I couldn't spell Engineer... Today I are one!
Inventor of the 'Guide-o-Matic automatic wheel alignment tool'
Former long term L322 owner, Up/Down graded to a Classic Tractor!

thanks Paul...so having the nuts slightly over tightened wouldnt affect the 'arms' from doing their job properly.. ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
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It shouldn't, as long as you had the vehicle's weight on the arm when it was tightened, and I would strongly advise getting a torque wrench on them asap, and if it clicks without moving... I'd be inclined just to loosen it a bit and re-tighten with the wrench. Unfortunately now a days everything is engineered to the n'th degree and there is a fine line between and .... 50 years ago everything was over engineered and you could jump on the wheel brace doing up a wheel and there was no consequences..... now a days it could end in tears

If you do the job and it's all gone back together OK then use it with care...ie don't go and do the Pari Dakar, but to drive down the road should be fine..... just get them to the correct level of tightness soon  Yesterday I couldn't spell Engineer... Today I are one!
Inventor of the 'Guide-o-Matic automatic wheel alignment tool'
Former long term L322 owner, Up/Down graded to a Classic Tractor!

great advice as usual , thanks .. ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
.

As pointed out previously it's very important to have the weight of the vehicle on the wheels when they are finally tightened to prevent the rubber bushes from over twisting if they are tightened with the wheels hanging down as there is a lot of travel on the suspension from fully unsupported to fully loaded.
The correct procedure is in Rave.
The final tightening torque is very hard to achieve without the use of a ramp as I found out when doing mine.

I've just read Rave...... and without the use of a 4 post ramp, that could prove to be a tricky thing......However, personally when faced with a conundrum like that I would stick a good old trolley jack under the ball joint end of the arm and lift, just as the cars' weight is placed on the jack.. tighten up the bolt to said torque... yes in an ideal world the car should be sitting on all 4's weight evenly distributed before tightening, but at least with my method the suspension has weight on it so the bushes wont be too far out

Failing that you could employ a couple of good old fashioned car ramps so that you've a bit more clearance Clarence, OH and the car should be in 'Normal' height  Yesterday I couldn't spell Engineer... Today I are one!
Inventor of the 'Guide-o-Matic automatic wheel alignment tool'
Former long term L322 owner, Up/Down graded to a Classic Tractor!

I bought some cheap railway sleepers and drove the front end up onto two of them at the front which gave me more clearance but trying to achieve the correct torque and the further 90 degree turn or whatever it was proved really difficult because unless you are really strong the torque wrench needs to be long and then you can't swing it. i just about managed it using a swivel head bar and turned it one flat at a time after reaching the required torque.