Deconstructing the Unimog 435 Wheel Nut Torque Decal
Why does this decal exist?
Basically, this decal is a reminder to “Re-tighten wheel nuts after 50km at every wheel replacement”. It seems to be written in four languages: German, French, English, and Spanish.
The proper torque for the wheel nuts is 400Nm. You could use a torque wrench and set it to 400Nm. Or… you could use a 1 meter (3 feet) long breaker bar with 400Nm or 40kpm applied to the end. “40kpm” is short for “40 kilograms per meter”. So, adding a weight of 40kg(88 Lbs) to the end of a 1 meter(3 ft.) bar will get you the proper torque tightness.
Here is the original. A few changes I made:
- The black shadow edges in the wheel are chunky and spotty. I think they were trying to represent a fade without using a lighter color. I made mine hard edged. I just think it looks better.
- The font I used was DIN alternate. It is really close but not exact. I also centered the block of text. The original has a much larger margin in the left.
- I tightened up the spacing on the lug nut and the arrows – it is now all uniform.
- The wrench handle crosshatch is now uniform as well. I am assuming the original was hand drawn.
- I made the red lug nut shadows uniform. In the original they are all slightly different shapes.
On my truck, this decal is found on the driver’s door pocket:
If you would like to know more about Unimog lug nuts check out this post.
