On Thu, 15 Aug 1996, Allan R. Hovis wrote:
> Corey wrote:
>
> > I'm glad you asked that one. I've been having a little of the same problem
> > with Rags since I rebuilt the front end, and can't trace it down. It
>doesn't
> > seem to affect the braking, steering or handling of the car in any way I can
> > detect while driving it.
> >
> > My splines, too, seem fine ... but one never knows. This is an area I'm not
> > an expert on, and I'd appreciate anyone's input, too.
Well, my firsthand experience with this is limited to the wires that came
on my Midget. They had worn splines and loose spokes and were not true
and made funny-creaky noises at low speeds and flexed tangibly in turns
and had a suicidal shimmy at speeds above 75mph. The car has since been
converted to disc wheels. What I'm getting at here is that this car had
VERY worn splines. An embarrassingly loud "thock" noise came with every
start, stop, and getting on or off the gas. The splines looked dandy.
Someone on the list a few years ago told me that the splines are supposed
to have flat tops; if the tops of the splines are peaked (or bending over)
then they are worn. Although my splines were so sharp I could (and did)
cut a finger on one, there was plenty of material left, and if I didn't
know they weren't supposed to be sharp I probably would have assumed they
were OK.
> noooooo. I decided to really tighten the wheel nuts and pounded on all
> four as hard as I could with my lead hammer and got them to go about 1/2
> trun more all around. I now have a new car! No rear end noise, no front
> end clunk. Unbelievable! Now for the big question, can I overtighten the
> wheel nut?
Yes.
> Can I break/hurt something?
Yes. You can break a wheel stud, mess up the holes in the wheel, or mess
up the lug nuts. I don't know about the B, but the Midget uses these
positively adorable little wheel studs that a normal person using a normal
lug wrench can snap without too much effort (BTDT).
> How long can this last? So far I
> have driven about 30 miles and still no noise. Any input from those who
> have been there done it before would be appreciated.
If you are truly putting an insane amount of torque on the nuts, I would
look for other problems. Perhaps the holes in the wheels or the conical
sections on the wheel sides of the lug nuts have already been mangled by
some fiend with an air wrench. Or maybe there's a whole bunch of rust
somewhere that's either interfering with the threads or preventing a good
contact between the lug nuts and wheels. I would take the wheels off,
clean all mating surfaces and threads, and reassemble with anti-seize on
the threads and on the ends of the lug nuts that face the wheels. It
shouldn't take a whole lot of torque to make the wheels stay on solid.
Oh, and remember, what goes on must be able to come off. If you have a
flat somewhere far from home (the French Riviera, for instance) and you
aren't able to remove the lug nuts, you're gonna kick yourself. BTDT,
too. If you must overtorque the nuts to make the wheels not go clunk,
then make sure you have a hammer and/or cheater bar in the trunk.
Hope this helps-
Michael Chaffee
mchaffee@staff.uiuc.edu
I speak only for Diesel Fried Chicken Motorsports. CCSO frequently disagrees.
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