Re: must be good luck, right?

[Ian Lomax <sfalfisto@domain.elided>]

tony,

all bolts have a standard "spec" for them. 
unfortunately i don't remember where my guide is, i
might have left it at the lawrence berkeley lab, last
time i used it, but i'll poke around and see if i can
find it.  a reference chart would be very handy for
all of us weekend mechanics (or pros for that matter)
when you can't find a torque spec.

cheers,
ian lomax

--- Tony Sims <simstony@domain.elided> wrote:
> Had something odd happen tonight, have decided it
> must be good luck disguised
> as a PITA.  The replacement for the crossbar I
> damaged arrived from Alfa
> Performance Center today, so I headed out to the
> garage to get the left front
> suspension reassembled.  Bolted up wishbone arms to
> the crossbar, bolted in
> the new lower ball joint, torqued it all together,
> no problems or quirks.
> 
> Crawled under the car and started bolting the a-arm
> to the cross member.  Got
> all 4 bolts in the crossbar, got the nylock nuts all
> started, and snugged them
> up.  There's no torque spec in my Haynes book for
> these, but 60 lbs/ft is in
> the ballpark for the other suspension attachments so
> that's what I used a few
> days ago when I installed the right side.  Took all
> 4 bolts to 50 lbs/ft, then
> set the wrench to 60 and started around again. 
> First nut wasn't clicking the
> wrench after a couple turns, so I just moved to the
> second one.  Same thing
> happens.  I reach across the car and slip the torque
> wrench on one of the
> right side nuts and give a tug -- "click".  Hmmm...
> 
> Put the wrench back on the first nut and give it a
> couple more turns -- and I
> feel the resistance drop off -- "%$#!".  Grab the
> ratchet and back off the
> nut, finding all threads from the nut now lodged in
> the bolt.  Inside of the
> nut is smooth like buttah.  Bolt is unscathed. 
> Curious now about other nuts,
> so I start trying to torque them.  The other 3 are
> headed the same way, so I
> stop before they strip.  Reach across under the car,
> slip the wrench on
> another of the right side nuts and tug -- "click".
> 
> My diagnosis -- this car has been wrecked a time or
> two in its life.  During
> the repairs from one of these incidents, someone
> must have over tightened all
> 4 of these nuts, weakening the threads enough that
> they failed when I tried to
> take them past 50 lbs/ft.  I am making the
> assumption that 60 lbs/ft is not
> over tightening, but for 10 X 1.25 hardware that
> doesn't seem excessive.  If
> anyone has a reference with torque specs I'd be
> grateful.
> 
> What's the good luck part? Well, they failed while I
> was installing them, not
> while I was driving!
> 
> Cheers,
> Tony
> 74 GTV 2000
> 70 2800Cs
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