Torque setting for front calipers

Moderators: theelanman, dapinky, Specky, clemo, Nige, Sy V, Dave Eds, DaveT, Elanlover, muley, Enright, algirdas, nitroman, GeoffSmith

Torque setting for front calipers

Postby Bern » Sat 18.02.2017, 12:53

Hi All,

I'm replacing the slides on my front calipers (standard), can anybody let me know the torque for the bolts that hold the sliders to the hub?

I think it could be 85-110 nm, but just wanted it confirmed!

Thanks in advance,

Bern.
'90 Elan SE
'95 MGF
'16 Renault Zoe
'03 VW Transporter
'72 Land Rover 88
'80ish Kubota B5100E
User avatar
Bern
Fanatic
 
Posts: 416
Joined: Sat 21.05.2016, 19:16
Location: Wells, Somerset, UK

Re: Torque setting for front calipers

Postby Steve A » Sat 18.02.2017, 13:20

:agree: 90-110 close enough :D
"If everything is under control, you are going too slow."
User avatar
Steve A
God
 
Posts: 2530
Joined: Tue 18.09.2007, 12:44
Location: South East Essex

Re: Torque setting for front calipers

Postby lotusflasherman » Sat 18.02.2017, 13:36

Manual says Front 85-110 Nm, Rear 90-110 Nm, which really doesn't make a lot of sense to have a different tolerance. I'd set torque wrench at 100Nm for both..
Phil

Leave me alone, I think I know what I'm doing.
Cars: Subaru Forester 2.5XTN, Eclat Riviera, brace of Pacific Blue SE's, Collapso SE, Elan+2S.... and now an Evora
User avatar
lotusflasherman
God
 
Posts: 2520
Joined: Fri 05.09.2008, 00:14
Location: Hadleigh, 15m west of Ipswich or I may be 800 miles south (Cap d'Agde)

Re: Torque setting for front calipers

Postby Bern » Sat 18.02.2017, 14:37

Thanks chaps, 100 nm it is :-)
'90 Elan SE
'95 MGF
'16 Renault Zoe
'03 VW Transporter
'72 Land Rover 88
'80ish Kubota B5100E
User avatar
Bern
Fanatic
 
Posts: 416
Joined: Sat 21.05.2016, 19:16
Location: Wells, Somerset, UK

Re: Torque setting for front calipers

Postby dapinky » Sat 18.02.2017, 15:08

lotusflasherman wrote:Manual says Front 85-110 Nm, Rear 90-110 Nm, which really doesn't make a lot of sense to have a different tolerance. I'd set torque wrench at 100Nm for both..


The difference will be in the 'standards' for the bolt threads..... Front ones are Metric, so have a European Tollerance, rear ones are Imperial thread, so will have either a BS or American tollerance.

(not saying it makes sense, but perhaps explaining the wider 'window')
Dave

Just the one now, but this one's mine! - and it will be finished eventually..... - but also temporary custodian of a project until it is finished enough for Angie to drive it

go on - click this link - you know you want to!
User avatar
dapinky
LEC Administrator
 
Posts: 10000
Joined: Sun 15.10.2006, 12:54
Location: As far west as you can get in West Wales before you become Irish (Pembroke Dock).

Re: Torque setting for front calipers

Postby lotusflasherman » Sat 18.02.2017, 17:16

dapinky wrote:
lotusflasherman wrote:Manual says Front 85-110 Nm, Rear 90-110 Nm, which really doesn't make a lot of sense to have a different tolerance. I'd set torque wrench at 100Nm for both..


The difference will be in the 'standards' for the bolt threads..... Front ones are Metric, so have a European Tollerance, rear ones are Imperial thread, so will have either a BS or American tollerance.

(not saying it makes sense, but perhaps explaining the wider 'window')


:agree: different for thread pitch too but we don't set a torque wrench for a tolerance. I just aim for near the mid-point and I expect everybody else does too. Elan+2 Manual specifies torque for all the major components but also has a "General -Nuts & Bolts" table for everything else. Copy attached that may be useful for old un's who still use lbs.ft., metric is in kg.m - some of my torque wrenches have metric shown as kg.m and others as Nm (1 kg.m = 9.81 Nm) but all have lb.ft which is what I've always used.

torque.pdf
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Phil

Leave me alone, I think I know what I'm doing.
Cars: Subaru Forester 2.5XTN, Eclat Riviera, brace of Pacific Blue SE's, Collapso SE, Elan+2S.... and now an Evora
User avatar
lotusflasherman
God
 
Posts: 2520
Joined: Fri 05.09.2008, 00:14
Location: Hadleigh, 15m west of Ipswich or I may be 800 miles south (Cap d'Agde)

Re: Torque setting for front calipers

Postby dapinky » Sat 18.02.2017, 17:43

I'm with you on the units used - if it says tighten to 30Lbs.ft I can pretty much get it right with a spanner, but I find it hard to 'visualise' 25Nm let alone feel it!
Dave

Just the one now, but this one's mine! - and it will be finished eventually..... - but also temporary custodian of a project until it is finished enough for Angie to drive it

go on - click this link - you know you want to!
User avatar
dapinky
LEC Administrator
 
Posts: 10000
Joined: Sun 15.10.2006, 12:54
Location: As far west as you can get in West Wales before you become Irish (Pembroke Dock).

Re: Torque setting for front calipers

Postby Steve A » Sat 18.02.2017, 18:07

dapinky wrote:I'm with you on the units used - if it says tighten to 30Lbs.ft I can pretty much get it right with a spanner, but I find it hard to 'visualise' 25Nm let alone feel it!


Have you had your arm calibrated :lol:
"If everything is under control, you are going too slow."
User avatar
Steve A
God
 
Posts: 2530
Joined: Tue 18.09.2007, 12:44
Location: South East Essex

Re: Torque setting for front calipers

Postby Fredjohn » Sat 18.02.2017, 18:22

Steve A wrote:
dapinky wrote:I'm with you on the units used - if it says tighten to 30Lbs.ft I can pretty much get it right with a spanner, but I find it hard to 'visualise' 25Nm let alone feel it!


Have you had your arm calibrated :lol:


That'd be the strong arm of the law then :lol: :lol: :lol:
La vie passe vite: vivez la avec elan(s).

Elan S4 DHC 1969
Elan SE turbo 1992
Emira 2023
MB E250 CDi coupe 2013
Boardman Endurance SLR 9.4 disc 2018
Rapido 746 2010
Lotus Evija Danish edition
User avatar
Fredjohn
God
 
Posts: 2385
Joined: Tue 21.08.2012, 00:30
Location: Malvern, Worcs

Re: Torque setting for front calipers

Postby dapinky » Sat 18.02.2017, 20:55

In a way, yes - with arthritis in my elbow, it will click at a preset force (i just need to know what it is!) :D
Dave

Just the one now, but this one's mine! - and it will be finished eventually..... - but also temporary custodian of a project until it is finished enough for Angie to drive it

go on - click this link - you know you want to!
User avatar
dapinky
LEC Administrator
 
Posts: 10000
Joined: Sun 15.10.2006, 12:54
Location: As far west as you can get in West Wales before you become Irish (Pembroke Dock).

Re: Torque setting for front calipers

Postby lotusflasherman » Sat 18.02.2017, 21:13

dapinky wrote:I'm with you on the units used - if it says tighten to 30Lbs.ft I can pretty much get it right with a spanner, but I find it hard to 'visualise' 25Nm let alone feel it!


Totally agree with you on that... There's a Newton 10 miles from me and a Newton Flotman 4 miles east of Hethel but I don't come across Newton as a unit of force in everyday life so a Newton metre is meaningless ... Newton is force to accelerate 1kg at 1m/sec/sec ... and then put it on a lever 1 metre long... Nah, still doesn't mean as much as 'lbs ft'. My mate had a cheap Beam Torque Wrench where the bar bends so the free pointer moves round a scale and those are good for 'calibrating your arm'. OK for cylinder head bolts where you look directly down on the scale but he used to borrow my 'clicker' for suspension, hubs and wheels...
Phil

Leave me alone, I think I know what I'm doing.
Cars: Subaru Forester 2.5XTN, Eclat Riviera, brace of Pacific Blue SE's, Collapso SE, Elan+2S.... and now an Evora
User avatar
lotusflasherman
God
 
Posts: 2520
Joined: Fri 05.09.2008, 00:14
Location: Hadleigh, 15m west of Ipswich or I may be 800 miles south (Cap d'Agde)

Re: Torque setting for front calipers

Postby Simon_P » Sun 19.02.2017, 11:35

dapinky wrote:I'm with you on the units used - if it says tighten to 30Lbs.ft I can pretty much get it right with a spanner, but I find it hard to 'visualise' 25Nm let alone feel it!

lotusflasherman wrote:Nah, still doesn't mean as much as 'lbs ft'

Well it wouldn't because lb and kgf are units of weight and lbf and N are units of force.
ie Torque is not dependant on gravity, so is not weight x distance ... so lb.ft (and kg.m /kgf.m) is technically meaningless

To convert weight and mass
lotusflasherman wrote:Newton is force to accelerate 1kg at 1m/sec/sec ... and then put it on a lever 1 metre

Pounds-feet is a force to accelerate either
1 slug at 1ft/sec/sec .... and then put it on a lever 1 foot.
(1lb at 32.174 ft/sec/sec.... and then put it on a lever 1 foot.)
or alternatively the poundal as a unit of measure!

I don't know about you Phil but I prefer Nm to sg.ft^2/s^2 or pdl.ft (Can't tell if ive got that right!)

So like everyone else I go for what is called lb.ft cos I know what that feels like.

Do you think we will get lb and gal back when we leave the EU?
Simon_P
God
 
Posts: 2438
Joined: Fri 06.08.2004, 12:33
Location: Kent UK

Re: Torque setting for front calipers

Postby dapinky » Sun 19.02.2017, 11:56

Simon_P wrote:Do you think we will get lb and gal back when we leave the EU?


We will when President Trump invades the UK and anexxes us as the 53rd state :D

But that will be another learning curve as we will all have to speak 'properly' and the gallon will be only 16oz not a proper 20oz.....
Dave

Just the one now, but this one's mine! - and it will be finished eventually..... - but also temporary custodian of a project until it is finished enough for Angie to drive it

go on - click this link - you know you want to!
User avatar
dapinky
LEC Administrator
 
Posts: 10000
Joined: Sun 15.10.2006, 12:54
Location: As far west as you can get in West Wales before you become Irish (Pembroke Dock).

Re: Torque setting for front calipers

Postby Simon_P » Sun 19.02.2017, 14:44

dapinky wrote:But that will be another learning curve as we will all have to speak 'properly' and the gallon will be only 16oz not a proper 20oz.....

That's just fake news Dave!
Simon_P
God
 
Posts: 2438
Joined: Fri 06.08.2004, 12:33
Location: Kent UK

Re: Torque setting for front calipers

Postby lotusflasherman » Sun 19.02.2017, 16:20

Simon_P wrote:Well it wouldn't because lb and kgf are units of weight and lbf and N are units of force.


Was just being 'old school' and speaking colloquially Simon, old manuals and my old torque wrench say "lb.ft" and I see my newer torque wrenches say "Foot Pounds". No 'force' mentioned as we all assume we are on planet Earth where 1 pound (mass) will generate 1 'pound force' with only very very small variations depending upon where on the planet you happen to be.

lb ft.jpg


Lecture on units not needed thank you... halfway through my college education we swapped from C.G.S. to S.I. units to satisfy the Metrication Board and part of trying to join the Common Market. What a bloody nightmare!
Cycles per Second, which every layman understood, became Hertz, only known as a large car rental company... (by the way, that's a joke, I do know about Heinrich). I'm amused to see that courses in Electrical Power and Electromagnetism are now being taught in CGS with the tutor saying in the prospectus "I believe it is easy to argue that CGS is more appropriate for teaching electromagnetism to physics students".

On a final note ... out of interest what is the 'f' in 'kgf' for, for f* sake? - or am I being too pedantic.. :lol:
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Phil

Leave me alone, I think I know what I'm doing.
Cars: Subaru Forester 2.5XTN, Eclat Riviera, brace of Pacific Blue SE's, Collapso SE, Elan+2S.... and now an Evora
User avatar
lotusflasherman
God
 
Posts: 2520
Joined: Fri 05.09.2008, 00:14
Location: Hadleigh, 15m west of Ipswich or I may be 800 miles south (Cap d'Agde)

Re: Torque setting for front calipers

Postby alan e » Sun 19.02.2017, 17:34

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE no more its Sunday thank you and may the force be with you.
[color=#FFBFFF]Black 1992 M100
2010 black evora
Austin 7 1932 box saloon
MG ZS EV
alan e
God
 
Posts: 1097
Joined: Sun 19.02.2012, 20:43
Location: worthing west sussex

Re: Torque setting for front calipers

Postby Steve A » Sun 19.02.2017, 17:59

:twisted: Of course all this is pointless if you don't zero your torque wrench after using it as it will loose it's accuracy :P
"If everything is under control, you are going too slow."
User avatar
Steve A
God
 
Posts: 2530
Joined: Tue 18.09.2007, 12:44
Location: South East Essex

Re: Torque setting for front calipers

Postby Simon_P » Sun 19.02.2017, 20:37

Indeed Phil,I got the old school bit and the absurdity of it all.

At least Dave got it with his gallons to ounces, even though he quoted pints, but then I suppose thats inflation (or age!) for you.

Foot Pounds is a unit of energy - That's BTU rather than lb.ft ;)

lotusflasherman wrote:On a final note ... out of interest what is the 'f' in 'kgf' for, for f* sake? - or am I being too pedantic..
kgf (Kilograms force) is a non-SI metric unit - since the kg is a unit of mass, the force due to gravity is 1kgf (= 9.80665 N if you want it quoted in SI units) ... much like the force of a 1lb weight exerts 1lbf.

The reason normal people like the imperial system is because it is based on practical reality. I expect moments have been described at weight x distance i.e. lb.ft for a long time before anyone invented the concepts of force, gravity or for that matter mass (pun intended). When it comes to weight SI units don't make the grade, we all describe weight incorrectly in terms of kg rather than Newtons...,. bonkers - I rest your case!
Simon_P
God
 
Posts: 2438
Joined: Fri 06.08.2004, 12:33
Location: Kent UK

Re: Torque setting for front calipers

Postby sheriff464 » Tue 21.02.2017, 21:06

Bern,I saw your post on torque settings for the slider bolts which secure the caliper to the hub! My question is: would you use threadlock on the bolts when torqueing up? Cheers from Sheriff 464.
sheriff464
Enthusiast
 
Posts: 104
Joined: Thu 01.04.2010, 22:13
Location: Shropshire

Re: Torque setting for front calipers

Postby Bern » Wed 22.02.2017, 09:11

The new bolts I used had a dry threadlock on already.

I would have put a wet threadlock on them if they didn't, and done them up to the same torque. I have heard that you should reduce the torque with a wet threadlock, but I never have!
'90 Elan SE
'95 MGF
'16 Renault Zoe
'03 VW Transporter
'72 Land Rover 88
'80ish Kubota B5100E
User avatar
Bern
Fanatic
 
Posts: 416
Joined: Sat 21.05.2016, 19:16
Location: Wells, Somerset, UK


Return to Suspension and Brakes

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest