[DeTomaso] Axle Nut torque

[JDeRyke at aol.com]

If you look in the Machinery's Handbook for an equivalent screw thread size 
to our 1.5764"-dia axle shaft, such as 1-9/16" fine thread, the SAE torque 
recommendation is of the order of 1000 ft-lbs- but this is for grade-8 steel; 
stock rear axles are far from grade 8 (or even grade 5). The found-to-work torque 
from when the Pantera was new, is 300+ ft-lbs NOT done by hammering the nut 
with a punch but with a real wrench. One vendor uses a 3/4"-drive air wrench 
that generates 'above 500 ft-lbs' with a full compressor tank. This absolutely 
requires the type spanner-socket that completely envelopes the nut, not the 
factory kind with protrusions that stick down into the nut openings and NOT the 
type nut that is thin at the top with a half-height drive section below. This 
last type socket or the thin type nut WILL pop loose when tightening or 
loosening at such torques! All the vendors now sell the enveloping style socket and 
full-thickness nuts. 
And please- think of the next guy who will be working on your car and do not 
use Lock-tite on the nut along with very high torque. I had one with bad shaft 
wear requiring axle repair, whose nut exceeded 600 ft-lbs on my Snap-On 
torque wrench, and I finally had to blow the side off a perfectly good $16 nut with 
a cutting torch to get it loose! FWIW- J DeRyke


**************
The year's 
hottest artists on the red carpet at the Grammy Awards. Go to AOL Music.
      
(http://music.aol.com/grammys?NCID=aolcmp00300000002565)