Originally Posted by
dddd
The only wrench that I use on the top nut is an adjustable wrench, mainly because I can tighten it down to zero clearance, and because of it's wide jaws.
I have a technique to go with that, using a lower torque level, but repositioning the wrench to tighten all three pairs of flats. This distorts the top nut in three directions instead of just one, allowing better tightening without rounding alloy nut corners and without shearing the washer key.
That’s great advice, and interesting as well. I had never really thought about it before, but doesn’t the locknut actually have four sets of flats? I was noticing that when I took the pic of my twelve point wrench over the top of it. I guess it’s not like a normal six-sided nut, because it’s got a great, big hole in the middle. So, bigger wrench and more flats.
Thanks!