> Not to mention that the car is only a foot or so off the ground
> and there's
> precious little room to work anyway.
HF has some nice tall jackstands for cheap. Even the $25/pair ones (cheaper
on sale) will get you 2 feet off the ground, and it's easy to make wooden
platforms to raise them even higher if you want. Scrounge a construction
site for where they're making 7' walls out of 8' 2x4s.
> My normal mode of operating is to snug them all up with whatever
> means seems
> to work best. . . including a crescent wrench.
If you're referring to the brand name Crescent, you should capitalize it.
Since the kind of wrench is more important than who made it, and "crescent
wrench" is the common name for a sliding jaw adjustable wrench ...
> I then go back and make sure each of the 4 bolts are TIGHT before
> moving on to the next joint.
Over-torque is just as bad as under-torque. What happens is that the
threads permanently distort where they meet the nut, so next time part of
the torque you apply goes into the thread distortion instead of clamping
force.
> While a removed bolt might not be "new"
> anymore. I certainly am capable of cleaning them well enough to
> put loctite on them again.
Was your choice of words, not mine. I was just responding to the question
as you asked it.
> (I'm working on a TR6 .. there's twice as many of them as there are on the
> TR4)
But the same number as my Stag. A full set of bolts is about $20, so if you
pull all the shafts every year (why ?) and the bolts only last 10 uses,
that's a whopping $2/year. And I was just guessing on the bolt life, it's
probably longer than 10 uses. If you want, you can measure the prevailing
torque with a new nut to determine when the bolt is worn out. There are
even "long life" prevailing torque nuts available if you're really worried
about it, but now you're going to be paying over $1/nut too.
> The only torque wrenches I've got certainly aren't going to reach the
> driveshaft bolts.
It's called a crowfoot wrench. Fits on your torque wrench.
> But then . . . . that was sort of the original point of my gripe
> wasn't it?
Coulda fooled me, I thought you were just wanting to put your car together
with the wrong parts without understanding why they were wrong. If you
really want something to gripe about, try putting the flywheel housing bolts
back into a Stag with the motor in the car !
BTW, getting the driveshaft straightened, balanced and phased will do
wonders for how long your driveshaft flange bolts stay tight.
Randall
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