Wheel balancing

Should have a cotter key holding the big nut.  Easy to remove it if it is in the way.  Now removing the 36mm nut will take some work - it is torqued to 250#.

The easy, I-don't-have-all-the-tools-I-need-like-a-BIG-torque-wrench method:

Put the wheel back on, tighten the lug nuts/bolts and lower that end of the car to the floor.

Remove the cotter pin from the hub castle nut.

Attach your 36mm socket to a 18" - 24" breaker bar (you'll need a 6" extension for this).

Set the emergency brake to "wicked hahd" (hope you guys get a Bah-Sten announcer for the Stanley Cup games up theah).

Slide a 5' - 6' piece of steel pipe over the bat handle of the breaker bar to loosen the nut.  Apply pressure at the far end of the pipe (Lefty-Loosey) and the nut should loosen right up.

You may now jack it back up and remove the wheel to get your little collar on.

To replace the nut: replace the wheel, let it down to the floor.

Go weigh yourself.

Calculate where on the pipe you should be pushing for 250+ pounds of torque.

If you weigh 250 (jus' sayin'...) and were to stand (one foot) on the breaker bar or pipe 12" out from the hub, you would exert 250 foot pounds.  I weigh 157 so I usually stand (one foot) somewhere around 18" - 24" out from the hub. If it makes you feel better about it being tight, gently bounce once or twice - NO MORE.  Anything from 250 to 300 foot pounds is fine and it's ok to be towards 300 when done.

BTW:  I have a removal bar made from a 4' Long X 2" Wide X 1/4" thick piece of flat steel bar from Home Depot.  It has holes drilled to fit one end onto either two studs of a wheel hub (wheel removed) or a couple of flywheel pressure plate bolts.  Once on, I can use it as a lever to hold the flywheel or hub in place while loosening or tightening it.  I can take a photo if you want to see what it looks like.

gn

I apologize, Ray, for not remembering what wheels are on your car (especially after checking it out so much in the hotel parking lot), but from your bolt pattern I'm guessing you're running Fuchs? With the ball shaped centering depressions around the wheel stud holes in the wheels (and matching parts on the lug nuts) I don't see how a wheel can move even .001 or .002" if properly torqued to 85-90 lbs (which, if I'm not mistaken, is the spec for Porsche aluminum lug nuts). I would look at the possibility that the hole pattern of one or more of your hubs were drilled slightly off center.

I have seen cast Fuchs copies where 1 stud hole was ever so slightly off, but once in place and torqued down still seem to spin true.

Oh- if you do remove the axle nuts make sure they are torqued properly (217+ ft. lbs and then to a little more if necessary to re-install the cotter pins). Don't forget the cotter pins! 

Hope this helps. Al

Torque Meister!

Al, no worries on remembering  

Thanks for all the help and you called it Gordon, I weighed myself and I do weight precisely 252.8lbs   That should work...