Ubolts under torqued

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Exactly this reason why everyone should check & thank you for checking bro' ... you caught an unsafe condition & dealt with it hey it might have stayed that loose for your entire ownership & nothing would've come of it, .. or maybe you'd hit 1 pot hole too many & forced that loosened nut to run the thread on the U bolt stripping it on impact because it WAS loose just glad ya caught it , this thread ain't a who's right /whos wrong thing I just wanted to know how many are out there like the ones I've worked on, unfortunately they've all been 2nd gens, in fairness tho' even the 1st gens weren't quite up to specs, but not slightly above hand tight, they're not even nylocks, nor do they use lock washers either... I just want everyone to check their own just so You know your safe & I'm sure a few like yourself will be surprised with a few WTF's!! like you were.. just check them people please, shit maybe alot of axle wrap would be minimized (im sure it would)....just being safe

 

I ran an errand in my truck after retorquing mine. I am not certain if $10,000 of test equipment would verify it or not, but my truck seemed firmer while driving. All of my bolts were equally undertorqued at 37 LBS. Now setting at 73 LBS. Also, the "thump" I attributed to axle wrap seems quieter now as well.

 

Ok, I checked the ubolt torque on the 2012 vs. my '97 4WD 1st Gen. Yes, the 2012 seemed pretty dang easy to turn.

But, I get under the '97 and I set the torque wrench to 70 lbs, and it turned a bit. So I put the torque wrench at 50 lbs, still moved a bit. I set the torque wrench to 40 lbs, and got a click on all 8 ubolts.

So, if 40 lbs is good enough for the '97 - and I'm the orig owner - I guess it's good enough for the 2012.

The 2012 I experimented the same way and found they WERE a little undertorqued at about 30 lbs, so I tightened them all to 40 lbs.

SO, a little of column A, a little of column B. I spose it's a dang good idea to check.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I didn't check every bolt's torque for the 2012, but some turned a bit more than others when I set the torque wrench at 40 lbs, and it only has 700 miles on it.

I'm gonna have to get a factory motor manual and check some other torque specs.

 

Snugged mine up to about 40#. Most were in the 20's-30 range. Good post, OP.

 

Re-checked mine, still at 12-15 cracks on the impact gun just as I left em, works for me, dont know the torque but sure as hell aint 37lbs, were not talkin about drain plugs here

 

not going to argue elbow torque accurateness or go out and preform a trivial test- there is no way 25lbs vs 50 lbs vs 150lbs is causing vibes on these trucks.

is it good make sure they are tight? You bet your ass. is a magic bullet for drive-shaft vibration? Nope.

 

Yeah, then I snuck underneath your truck & loosened them up Tyler....

 

Haha, easy target, been stuck in
the driveway over a week, already got spiderwebs on it

 

Careful,,, Chris4x4 is too close to be talkin' spiders spider webs anything arachni, he'll start swinging that BMFBH tryin' to kill it & hit us all.....

 

Damn, big spider too, just checked it out and it had a couple of my lugnuts wrapped up in its web, it's gonna take a BMFBH cuz a fly swatter iz just gonna piss it off

 

someone run out, put 40 on one side, 80 on another - let me know how much of a difference there is because i'd bet a case of beer there is nothing. that is, from from my experience.

oh and for giggles, make it someone who is already having vibration issues and has accurately tightened bolts already.

 

Ok Jdaniel just left heading back to L.A. after torque check (1st gen) & all is well....

 

I have a 2012 that I bought 6 weeks ago. I checked the U-bolts yesterday after reading this thread. Sure enough, the passenger side was well below 37 lbs. I can't tell you how low, but I was shocked how easy the bolts turned. The driver side was closer, but still under. I tightened all the bolts to 37 lbs.

Someone has already posted the torque spec for the gen 1s but I can confirm 90 lbs is correct. My friend has the actual Toyota shop manuals for his '02. I read the spec with my own eyes.

I was concerned about going to 73 lbs because if 37 was actually correct, then the bolts would be way way over torqued at 73. But after seeing the 90 lbs for the first gen U-bolts, I can't imagine 37 is correct. That just does not make any sense. So I will be tightening them to 73 lbs today.

Thanks to the OP for this thread. As a new Tacoma owner, this site has been invaluable.

 

Glad you checked brother, thats why I started this thread as a little wake up call for ALL tacoma owners to check... Yeah 37ft lbs is a joke....

 

Yup, that's what my Haynes for the '97 Gen I says also, 90 lbs for the Ubolt nuts.

However, as I posted above I just took the torque wrench to the '97 yesterday and they were turning at 70 lbs, didn't get a click until I reduced the torque wrench to 40 lbs. I've had that '97 since day one and never had any rear supension troubles, and it's been run pretty hard off-road.

So I dunno at this point. The 2012 seems to be OK, it hasn't been run hard yet offroad (not even at 1000 mi), but I just whooped up on a Ford F150 4x4 short cab that tried his best to stay ahead of me on some major downhill twisties but couldn't, he was gracious enough to give me room to pass him.

I was very pleased with the handling (I now have the Leer 180 shell on it. That's about 200 lbs, and 70 lbs of Black Lab also in the bed). When I flick the steering wheel, the truck responds fast and predictably, even had rain on the road at times. So I don't know what to think at this point.

There just doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the rear suspension that would require more torque on the ubolts.

 

I just tightened all of mine to 73#, they seemed to all be evenly torqued and snug, but most likely at 37#. I would guess they each took about 1 to 1.5 turns to get them to 73#.

No noticeable difference in handling, no more or less vibration, but I didn't have a vibration issue.

If anyone has any reason to believe that 37# is correct and 73# is too much, post up your evidence. For the size of the nuts and bolts and what they are used for, 37# does seem a little light.

 

I don't know one way or the other right now. The 2012 has almost 1000 miles on it now, so I'll be running it offroad real hard as I usually did with the '97. I was running the 2012 pretty hard today through some downhill canyon twisties, pushing it hard to see how it handled, and it did fine at 40 lbs. I just looked at the rear suspension and theres no scratch marks like the brackets slid on the axle.

Did fine today also on dirt roads with pot holes and washboards. I put it through the paces today, 150 mile trip from freeway to moderate dirt roads, then through the twisties basically racing some people, and it was fine at 40 lbs. I was impressed with the handling and the 6-spd. It needs about 80 more HP to accelerate like my GS300, but very impressive overall. Good braking also, the twisties showed that.