217 ft-lbs on spindle nut?

[Allen McCready]

My rebuilt driveaxles for my 97 camry le, 4 cyl, auto trans, ABS require 217 ft-lbs. The description of the driveaxles says this and my Haynes manual does too. However, my torque wrench only goes to 150 ft-lbs. I called several local auto parts stores and their wrenches only go to 150 ft-lbs. Sears has some, but the cheapest is $99 + tax and shipping.

Since a lot of people appear to be installing rebuilt driveaxles on their camries, what are they doing about this?

It's hard to imagine most people buying a 250 ft-lb torque wrench, but I am leery about the spindle nut.

Should I just torque it to 150 ft-lbs, then put my breaker bar on it and give it as much additional force as I can? Should I whack it with a hammer a few times as well?

How long a breaker bar would I need to get that much torque? My existing bar is only 17.5". However, my 150 ft-lb torque wrench is only 19.5", although I won't whack it with a hammer.

Any advice, including educated guesses will be appreciated.

[Brian R.]

If you put all your weight on the end of your breaker bar, you will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 217 ft-lbs. Go for it.

[Allen McCready]

FYI:

Another individual on another forum suggested calculating the length needed on my breaker bar to get the 217 ft-lbs necessary to torque the spindle nut on my 97 camry LE, auto trans, 4 cyl. I did exactly that and tested it at 150 ft-lbs. That is, I wrapped a piece of masking tape on my 19.5" breaker bar at the required number of inches to develop 150 ft-lbs, according to my calculations in an Excel spreadsheet, using my weight. Then I centered my foot on the middle of that piece of tape on the breaker bar handle and applied my fool (joke) weight. Then I used my 150 ft-lb torque wrench to loosen the spindle nut. It was right on, so I then used my calculated length for 217 ft-lbs and tightened the spindle nut per specs.

Here is the Excel spreadsheet I used. You should test the results, as I did, prior to depending on it for your application. A wheel falling off can be life-threatening.

I used "**" to separate spreadsheet columns. That Excel alignment got lost when I posted this message.

Application ** Desired torque ** My wgt ** Inches Needed
97 Camry LE
4 cyl, auto trans
spindle nut ** 217 ** 169 ** 15.4
test ** 150 ** 169 ** 10.7
wheel nut ** 76 ** 169 ** 5.4

Here are the corresponding formulas:

Application ** Desired torque ** My wgt ** Inches Needed
97 Camry LE
4 cyl, auto trans
spindle nut ** 217 ** 169 ** =12*(B2/C2)
test ** 150 ** 169 ** =12*(B3/C3)
wheel nut ** 76 ** 169 ** =12*(B6/C6)

If you are interested in the english (loose fit socket) to metric (exact fit) calculation, which also show the difference, here it is:

Inches to millimeters conversions:

Millimeters (MMs)
/inch ** Inches ** MMs ** MMs truncated ** MMs rounded up
25.4 ** 1 3/16 ** 30.2 ** 30 30

and here are the formulas:

Inches to millimeters conversions:
Millimeters (MMs)
/inch ** Inches ** MMs ** MMs truncated ** MMs rounded up
25.4 ** 1.1875 ** =A11*B11 ** =TRUNC(C11,0) ** =ROUND(B11*A11,0)

[Allen McCready]

The link to get you to that thread on the other forum is

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/sh...593#post534593

[Brian R.]

I wasn't recommending that you stand on your wrench, just lean into it in a controlled manner. Standing on a wrench is usually a bad idea.

Good that you sorted it out anyway.

[Allen McCready]

Originally Posted by Brian R.

I wasn't recommending that you stand on your wrench, just lean into it in a controlled manner. Standing on a wrench is usually a bad idea.

Good that you sorted it out anyway.

Brian R.,

Not to worry. I was aware of the perils and took precautions to execute the move in a controlled fashion. The breaker bar was up to the task and my weight, as was the socket. The handle was only at most 6" from the ground, and I was in a stable position. The breaker bar was at a right angle to the socket.

In contrast, I have been smacked and had my knuckles cut and bruised by pushing and pulling wrenches at high torques with my hands.

Unless I had put my full weight on the breaker bar handle, the torque would have been less than spec and how much less would have been unknown.

However, such maneuvers should certainly be done with care and without haste.