Honestly, a fleet manager in Omaha told me my torque procedure was costing him money

He said I was taking way too long torquing wheel nuts on his rigs, like 20 minutes per axle. He showed me his data where just hitting spec and moving on cut downtime in half with no more callbacks for loose wheels. I switched to using a calibrated torque multiplier and now do a full set in under 8 minutes. Has anyone else had a shop boss push them to work faster on jobs you thought had to be slow?

3 comments

3 Comments

phoenix_carter18d ago

So what's the big rush anyway, are loose wheels really such a common problem that you need to cut every corner? Seems like a few extra minutes to make sure a truck doesn't lose a wheel on the highway is time well spent. I get shops want to make money, but is saving ten minutes worth the risk? Maybe that fleet manager's data is missing the one big accident that hasn't happened yet.

-1

jamie10112d agoMost Upvoted

You mentioned the fleet manager's data missing the one big accident. That's the whole problem with cutting corners, right? The data looks fine until the one time it goes really wrong.

vera_murphy18d ago

My buddy at a Freightliner dealer in Boise had the same thing happen with brake jobs. The service manager timed him and said the meticulous cleaning step was killing their flat rate. He started using a parts washer instead of hand scrubbing and his times dropped by a third.

-2