Torque applied to awkward nuts and bolts?

[Mart]

How the heck do you get the right torque settings on some of the bolts that are just too awkward to get a torque wrench in there, (i.e. the oil fill bolt on the differential) it swas awkward enough torqing down the hub bolts.

I just replaced all of the bushings in the rear and and figure I might as well change the diff fluid while in there, ( Question 2 ) I assume the car need to be level when adding the fluid?

C'mon guys share your tricks and tips on this one.

Mart

 

[Hib Halverson]

Well, you can tighten without a torque wrench and hope for the best...don't laugh, experienced techs do that all the time.

Or, you can tighten a different, more easier to reach bolt, by feel then check its tightness with a torque wrench. By trial and error you can develop a feel that gets pretty close.

 

[c4cruiser]

Although every nut and bolt on the car has a torque value assigned to it in the service maual, most service techs don't use a torque wrench on them. The exception being nuts and bolts on engine components like rods, main caps, head bolts and such. Also flywheel and clutch pressure plate bolts are typically torqued to spec. After awhile, you sort of get a "feel" for what is tight enough for most other fasteners.

For the fill plug, I just apply a bit of anti-sieze compound to the threads on the plug and use one hand to tighten it to where it feels tight but not to where I feel pain in my hand from the wrench.

And the car should be as level as possible when checking any of the fluid levels.

 

[Mart]

Thanks guys, great tip Hib.

Allthough this really does not give me that easy feeling about mechanics, the rear suspension on these things is one of those areas that has areally wide variety of torque values applied to them (i.e. the strut rods, one end is 63 ftlbs the other 140ftlbs, there is quite a difference there)
Mart

 

[Edmond]

To me, as long as it doesn't fall off, it's all right!:L

 

[tnovot]

Well, you can tighten without a torque wrench and hope for the best...don't laugh, experienced techs do that all the time.

Or, you can tighten a different, more easier to reach bolt, by feel then check its tightness with a torque wrench. By trial and error you can develop a feel that gets pretty close.

Yes, true enough and done all the time. About the only time I've ever used my torque wrench is for engine assembly.
It might also be worth noting that it can be just as bad or even worse to over torque a fastener as have it undertorqued. When it comes to torquing a fastener, more is not necessarily better.
This probably does not apply to diff. fill pipe plugs but if a fastener is stretched beyond its elastic limit to hold or regain its shape, it can actually become looser than one with less torque.
Terry

 

[Edmond]

And not to mention damaging the threads to make removal difficult.