More specifically, I'm looking for the lug nut torque specs for my 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan w/ AWD.
I believe the wheels are aluminum/alloys, I'll post a pic of one.
I know it should say in the manual, unfortunately this van was purchased used and didn't have a manual with it.
Here's what's going on. A while back we had a tire blowout and when we went to change to the spare, we found that some of the lugs had been replaced with shorter ones that were deep inside and the factory wrench that came with the van couldn't get a good bite on them and they were rusted in and in short one got stripped out. Would have never happened if we had real Sockets and wrenches with us. Anyway, we ended up having to go to a repair shop and have them come out and help us.
After that I ordered some new lug nuts and replaced all of the short ones with ones that are longer and the same as the stock ones.
A while later I took the van to Wal-Mart and asked them to balance and rotate the tires while I did some shopping. Not long later they called me back and told me that they had stripped out one of the lug nuts because it had been tightened too tightly. They were unable to remove the tire and therefore would not balance them.
Needless to say, I was furious. The lug nut they stripped was not one of the ones I replaced, but was one of the stock ones. I've removed these wheels myself a few times and never used a torque wrench, just tightened them to what felt right, and never had any trouble. I'm sure the idiots there just used the wrong size, or didn't get it on all the way. This van used to live in SLC so there is rust under there, and I'm sure it was rusted a little tight.
Right now I'm getting ready to try and fix the damage they did, and check on my brakes while I'm in there. I tracked down my brother's torque wrench and am just wondering what the specs are for tightening down the lug nuts.
I believe the wheels are aluminum/alloys, I'll post a pic of one.
I know it should say in the manual, unfortunately this van was purchased used and didn't have a manual with it.
Here's what's going on. A while back we had a tire blowout and when we went to change to the spare, we found that some of the lugs had been replaced with shorter ones that were deep inside and the factory wrench that came with the van couldn't get a good bite on them and they were rusted in and in short one got stripped out. Would have never happened if we had real Sockets and wrenches with us. Anyway, we ended up having to go to a repair shop and have them come out and help us.
After that I ordered some new lug nuts and replaced all of the short ones with ones that are longer and the same as the stock ones.
A while later I took the van to Wal-Mart and asked them to balance and rotate the tires while I did some shopping. Not long later they called me back and told me that they had stripped out one of the lug nuts because it had been tightened too tightly. They were unable to remove the tire and therefore would not balance them.
Needless to say, I was furious. The lug nut they stripped was not one of the ones I replaced, but was one of the stock ones. I've removed these wheels myself a few times and never used a torque wrench, just tightened them to what felt right, and never had any trouble. I'm sure the idiots there just used the wrong size, or didn't get it on all the way. This van used to live in SLC so there is rust under there, and I'm sure it was rusted a little tight.
Right now I'm getting ready to try and fix the damage they did, and check on my brakes while I'm in there. I tracked down my brother's torque wrench and am just wondering what the specs are for tightening down the lug nuts.