Or the hammer tap test to checck for tightness …
The yellow plastic pointers are visual as long as no one has played with them …
At the end of the day you lose a wheel as the driver you are responsible …
The only proof that could save you is a signed of chitty every day that states a torque wrench was used but we know no one does this …
Suedehead:
If you did loose a wheel, or buggered up the engine through lack of oil or coolant, how is anyone going to prove one way or the other that you did or did not do your checks, & when you did those checks the truck did or did not appear to be fine ?
Oil and coolant is easy to prove. In the absence of any serious leaks and the oil or water is very low, its not been checked. Even if its full (funny how most seized motors seem to have plenty of oil in) a chemical analysis would reveal whether or not it was the same oil that the company supplied at the yard and if its oil you bought because you were away from the yard, the receipt you’d have would have a time on that tallied with the start of your duty.
26 years an Lgv Trainer:
Or the hammer tap test to checck for tightness …The yellow plastic pointers are visual as long as no one has played with them …
At the end of the day you lose a wheel as the driver you are responsible …
The only proof that could save you is a signed of chitty every day that states a torque wrench was used but we know no one does this …
But the yellow pointers or a tap test don’t actually tell you the actual torque of all the nuts and it’s that which is the important factor in a wheel being secure.There’s a difference between position of the nut and the torque of the nut and the amount of tension on the stud and if a tap could give accurate readings of that we would’nt need torque wrenches?.But how could you get a ‘chitty’ if you’re on a tramping job where your shift starts away from base?.It’s another one of those where an owner driver would probably have more chance of doing wheelnut checks with the right tools than an employed driver.
Apart from when a wheel is changed, does anyone know, or have a link to, any recommendation that says when or how often wheel nuts on commercials should be checked with a torque wrench ?
ROG:
Apart from when a wheel is changed, does anyone know, or have a link to, any recommendation that says when or how often wheel nuts on commercials should be checked with a torque wrench ?
All I know ROG is that wheel fixings are a daily check requirement?.It comes under vosas guide to maintaining roadworthyness?.But I think they leave it up to the driver as to how those checks are done and vosa only get involved if they find nuts loose at a roadside check or a wheel comes off ?.
ROG:
Apart from when a wheel is changed, does anyone know, or have a link to, any recommendation that says when or how often wheel nuts on commercials should be checked with a torque wrench ?
Carryfast:
All I know ROG is that wheel fixings are a daily check requirement?.It comes under vosas guide to maintaining roadworthyness?.But I think they leave it up to the driver as to how those checks are done and vosa only get involved if they find nuts loose at a roadside check or a wheel comes off ?.
I asked because certain other aspects of vehicle servicing have recommended time limits so thought this aspect may have one as well ■■?
ROG:
I asked because certain other aspects of vehicle servicing have recommended time limits so thought this aspect may have one as well ■■?
There’s probably not one, ROG. If there were, it could provide the driver an opportunity of a reasonable defence in the real world.
Without one, it makes it far easier for companies lay the blame elsewhere and for “enforcement agencies” to claim a “successful prosecution” against someone.
Cynic ?
Moi ■■?
ROG:
Apart from when a wheel is changed, does anyone know, or have a link to, any recommendation that says when or how often wheel nuts on commercials should be checked with a torque wrench ?
the only thing i could find is this
For instance, the Code of practice for the
selection and care of tyres and wheels for
commercial vehicles (developed jointly by the
Department for Transport, the British Standards
Institute and industry and trade associations)
recommend that following road wheel removal
and refitting, the wheel nut torque should be
checked — after the vehicle has been standing
for 30 minutes or after having travelled for
between 40 km and 80 km (25 to 50 miles).
delboytwo:
the only thing i could find is thisFor instance, the Code of practice for the
selection and care of tyres and wheels for
commercial vehicles (developed jointly by the
Department for Transport, the British Standards
Institute and industry and trade associations)
recommend that following road wheel removal
and refitting, the wheel nut torque should be
checked — after the vehicle has been standing
for 30 minutes or after having travelled for
between 40 km and 80 km (25 to 50 miles).
That’s the one used by most tyre fitting companies such as ATS 
That makes me think that there maybe something similar in general servicing maintenance…
we have a torque wrench in our office which we use when we have a wheel removed tag in our cabs we then torque the wheel that had been removed then sign the tag and hand it in to the office
ROG:
delboytwo:
the only thing i could find is thisFor instance, the Code of practice for the
selection and care of tyres and wheels for
commercial vehicles (developed jointly by the
Department for Transport, the British Standards
Institute and industry and trade associations)
recommend that following road wheel removal
and refitting, the wheel nut torque should be
checked — after the vehicle has been standing
for 30 minutes or after having travelled for
between 40 km and 80 km (25 to 50 miles).That’s the one used by most tyre fitting companies such as ATS
That makes me think that there maybe something similar in general servicing maintenance…
Yeah, so why do they never wait 30 mins and then re-torque ? instead of buggering off soon as ■■? Never understood that one.
Suedehead:
Short of taking it in to the garage that maintains it every morning and get them to check my nuts (oo err)what should i do?
Would be interesting to know how many drivers check their nuts on a daily basis -
ummmm 
between me n the mrs my nuts are checked everyday 
DAFMAD:
Yeah, so why do they never wait 30 mins and then re-torque ? instead of buggering off soon as ■■? Never understood that one.
After 20/30 mins of driving time they might work a little loose so that would be the time to recheck
A long long time ago in a far away galaxy (guess what I’ve just been watching) I came into work one Monday morning and noticed I had a trailer flat, after numerous coffees the fitter had done his biz and I set off for a week away. On my return the fleet engineer had a right pop at me for not retorqeuing my wheels and putting it into the book. Anyways, a few weeks later, same thing. This time I took the company torque wrench with me, so come Wednesday I’ve got the fleet engineer on the phone demanding to know where the wrench is. I told him it was strapped to my pipe rack as I had to retorque after 50 miles and 200 miles as per company instructions. He couldn’t say a lot really, and they changed the policy shortly after.
I still firmly believe that over zealous wheel tightening actually causes more problems than it solves. We had a spate of wheel losses and as a result numerous notices were displayed telling us to check wheels upon pain of death etc. Anyway, one of our night men would religiously check his wheelnuts in front of the office by bouncing on them with a scaffold bar, you can always tighten a little more hot wheelnuts, and he lost a few sets of wheels before he was told to stop.
i always check the oil water, but its not always easy as ours are double manned , so as they arrive in the yard they may go straight back out empty or have a few pallets put on, so i always put a note on top of defect sheet
the other problem is most of our scanias even though there 09/58 the bonnet catches are broke off them[cheap plastic crap], then its a case of pliers to get bonnet up, but also note on defect sheet.
but it amazes me how many drivers never check oil /water,its not 1/2 ,its the majority, i dont know how you can drive half-way across country not knowing how much,oil, waters in truck.
as for do we pay for damage ,im told you loose £25 ops bonus
the maoster:
I still firmly believe that over zealous wheel tightening actually causes more problems than it solves. We had a spate of wheel losses and as a result numerous notices were displayed telling us to check wheels upon pain of death etc. Anyway, one of our night men would religiously check his wheelnuts in front of the office by bouncing on them with a scaffold bar, you can always tighten a little more hot wheelnuts, and he lost a few sets of wheels before he was told to stop.
Same here, tightening nuts or bolts with a guessometer and a scaffold bar just stretches the threads, although it was standard practice when I was a lad. “If the nuts didn’t crack, they were not tight”
If the wheels are over tightened in the first place, no amount of torque wrenches or checks will help. If you do put a hinged torque wrench on an overtightened thread it will just “break” without actually checking the tightness. In an ideal world or in the case of big end, main bearings or cylinder head bolts the studs are renewed.
The science of tightening wheelnuts is to do with the metal stretching, friction and settling, hence the idea of stepped tightening and a waiting period.
Establish any causes of wear and damage on loose nuts before re-tightening
Keep adjoining surfaces clean and preferably free of paint
Ensure that nuts run freely over the whole length of the stud thread by hand action only
Final tightening must be with a calibrated torque wrench set to the vehicle manufacturer’s torque value
Power operated tools and extensions to wheel braces should not be used for final tightening
All wheel nuts must be re-checked for tightness after 30 minutes whether the vehicle has moved or not OR after the vehicle has travelled between 25 to 50 miles
When re-torquing, nuts should not be slackened and re-tightened, but simply re-tightened to the recommended torque
Commercial drivers should inspect tyres at the start of each shift for signs of damage, under inflation, cracked or distorted wheel rims, broken or loose fixings, signs of wheel looseness
If drivers check for loose nuts it should be with a socket and a bar no longer than 500mm to avoid over-tightening
Carryfast:
But the question still remains as to would a prosecution stand against the driver if a wheel came off especially if it caused an injury?.My reading of the Road Traffic Act is that it’s the driver’s responsibility to check the wheel fixings on a daily basis and as we all know that requires use of a torque wrench.Has there been a case yet where a driver has successfully defended such a prosecution?.
Many moons ago I worked with someone who lost a wheel, it was a 3.5 tonne LDV van, when the wheel studs sheared. There was some bent metal and scratched paint by no injuries. He didn’t face prosecution as this was plainly a failure of the metal stud but the company, BT, made ■■■■ sure that the fleet had wheel nuts checked at the garage as the investigation found that the driver was checking his nuts by using the van wheel brace, a length of steel tube and standing on the tube every week.
Eventually all the spare wheels were removed and any punctures were then dealt with by the garage if in the depot, or by a tyre company if on the road. Progress eh.
26 years an Lgv Trainer:
every truck should have a defect book assigned to it and checks should be made daily.
All major problems should be reported as soon as found .And the best defect book is one that gives you a duplicate copy incase the book gets lost.
The wheel nut issue is … and always has been an issue as a torgue wrench should be used… but THEY are rarely avalable and it should be tested every year.
If your car siezes up thro lack of oil you pay the bill
If your truck siezes up because oil not checked you boss pays … but if he can prove you have not done your daily checks he may have a case against you for negligence …
And at the point the engine siezes up i’d advise anyone to fill a defect note out to say the water coolant or engine oil light was defective !!
Mike-C:
26 years an Lgv Trainer:
every truck should have a defect book assigned to it and checks should be made daily.
All major problems should be reported as soon as found .And the best defect book is one that gives you a duplicate copy incase the book gets lost.
The wheel nut issue is … and always has been an issue as a torgue wrench should be used… but THEY are rarely avalable and it should be tested every year.
If your car siezes up thro lack of oil you pay the bill
If your truck siezes up because oil not checked you boss pays … but if he can prove you have not done your daily checks he may have a case against you for negligence …
And at the point the engine siezes up i’d advise anyone to fill a defect note out to say the water coolant or engine oil light was defective !!
why ■■
we had a black volvo fh12 u might know it mike, (had port logistics on it) driver was going past widnes turn off on m62 E/B goes to change into top split, clutch in, engine siezed solid, lets the clutch out clutch plate smashed to bits tyres on drive axle flat spotted, engine had oil and water in at correct levels all warning lights working, when i stripped the bottom of the engine out turned out the oil pump in the sump had stopped working, driver was at non fault like, boss sais ■■■■ happens, new engine was bought and away it went,
as for loss of wheels there was only my unit which had chrome wheel trims on all axles so i used to torque my wheel nuts up every saturday and not once was any loose, 1 driver had the same type of chrome wheel trims on his drive axle and usd to torque them 3-4 times a week, he torque’d them on a monday morning got as far as sheffield and could hear a loud vibration, pulls over checks around, removes wheel trims to find 2 snapped studs and 4 nuts missin 
which goes to show that they can be over torque’d, studs stretched etc etc , if no wheels have been removed throughout the week the nuts should be torque’d as required but not every day !
mark h:
Mike-C:
26 years an Lgv Trainer:
every truck should have a defect book assigned to it and checks should be made daily.
All major problems should be reported as soon as found .And the best defect book is one that gives you a duplicate copy incase the book gets lost.
The wheel nut issue is … and always has been an issue as a torgue wrench should be used… but THEY are rarely avalable and it should be tested every year.
If your car siezes up thro lack of oil you pay the bill
If your truck siezes up because oil not checked you boss pays … but if he can prove you have not done your daily checks he may have a case against you for negligence …
And at the point the engine siezes up i’d advise anyone to fill a defect note out to say the water coolant or engine oil light was defective !!
why ■■
we had a black volvo fh12 u might know it mike, (had port logistics on it) driver was going past widnes turn off on m62 E/B goes to change into top split, clutch in, engine siezed solid, lets the clutch out clutch plate smashed to bits tyres on drive axle flat spotted, engine had oil and water in at correct levels all warning lights working, when i stripped the bottom of the engine out turned out the oil pump in the sump had stopped working, driver was at non fault like, boss sais [zb] happens, new engine was bought and away it went,
as for loss of wheels there was only my unit which had chrome wheel trims on all axles so i used to torque my wheel nuts up every saturday and not once was any loose, 1 driver had the same type of chrome wheel trims on his drive axle and usd to torque them 3-4 times a week, he torque’d them on a monday morning got as far as sheffield and could hear a loud vibration, pulls over checks around, removes wheel trims to find 2 snapped studs and 4 nuts missin
I can’t see the connection between overtorqeing a nut and checking the torque on it with the wrench set at the correct torque measurement.If it’s set right it should’nt matter wether you check them daily or weekly?.But daily is what they say?.But the drive axle and double sets of wheels always seem to me to be wrongly held by one set of nuts holding both.That seems like a recipe for stretched studs.Why don’t they use the old yank idea of one set of nuts for the inners and one set for the outers?.