Is lb·ft the same as ft·lb?

Yes — same unit, written two different ways. Both mean pound-force multiplied by feet of lever arm. US automotive industry tends to write lb·ft (Ford, GM, Dodge); ASME engineering and physics papers prefer ft·lbf. This converter treats them as identical. The order genuinely doesn't matter; multiplication is commutative.

Why must bolts be torqued to a specified value?

Because too loose and the joint vibrates apart; too tight and the bolt yields permanently or the threads strip. The correct torque produces the designed clamping force (bolt tension) that holds the joint securely. Torque wrenches make this repeatable without overstressing the fastener. Skipping this in Pakistani car repair — "bas, kas do" (just tighten it) — causes wheel lug failures, head gasket leaks, and engine block damage that costs PKR 50,000+ to fix later.

What is typical car engine torque?

Small Pakistani petrol engines (Suzuki Mehran, Alto): 80-120 N·m. Mid-size sedans (Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla 1.5L): 150-200 N·m. Larger naturally-aspirated V6/V8: 300-500 N·m. Turbo-diesel pickups (Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger): 400-700 N·m — which is why diesel utes feel so much more powerful pulling loads at low RPM. Electric vehicles (Audi e-tron, BYD Atto): 300-1,000+ N·m delivered instantly from zero RPM.

What is 1 N·m intuitively?

Roughly the torque you'd apply pressing down with a 100-gram weight at the end of a 1-meter wrench. Tiny by industrial standards, but plenty for the small precision fasteners inside a laptop, smartphone, or watch. For context: a typical car wheel lug nut needs about 110 N·m (over a thousand times more).

Why do electric vehicles feel so fast?

Because electric motors produce their maximum torque from 0 RPM, unlike internal combustion engines which need to spin up into their torque peak (typically 2,500-4,500 RPM). This means EVs deliver crushing acceleration the instant you press the accelerator, without waiting for revs to build or shifting through gears. A Tesla Model 3 Performance hits 0-100 km/h in 3.3 seconds with this trick — matching cars costing 5× more.

How do I convert kg·cm to N·m for a servo?

Multiply kg·cm by 0.0981 (or divide by about 10.2). A servo rated 25 kg·cm produces 2.45 N·m of torque. Hobby servos for robotics, RC cars, and DIY electronics projects usually specify torque in kg·cm because the numbers are small and friendly; industrial motors use N·m because they're larger. Same physical quantity, different unit scales.

Can over-torquing damage a threaded joint?

Absolutely. Over-torquing stretches the bolt permanently beyond its elastic limit (yield point), or strips the female thread in the casting. Both failures mean the clamping force collapses and the joint can no longer hold reliably under vibration or load. Pakistani car repair shops that "feel-tighten" without a torque wrench cause head bolt failures, alloy wheel cracking around lug holes, and oil-pan thread stripping. Always use a torque wrench on anything critical.

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Torque Converter

Unit

Automotive and fastener torque converter for Newton-meters (N·m), pound-feet (lb·ft), pound-inches, kilogram-centimeters, and kg·m.

Unit

Torque Converter

Generated on July 8, 2026

From

1 min readHow we build →

Quick Answer

Automotive and fastener torque converter for Newton-meters (N·m), pound-feet (lb·ft), pound-inches, kilogram-centimeters, and kg·m.

How the Torque Converter works

Unit

A torque converter translates between the units used for rotational force: newton-meters (SI), pound-feet (imperial, common in US automotive), pound-inches (small precision work), kilogram-centimeters (small motors), and kilogram-meters (heavy machinery). Torque is how hard something twists — your engine's ability to pull, your wrench's ability to crack loose a rusted bolt, your motor's ability to spin a heavy load. Getting torque values right matters for everything from tightening a head bolt to sizing an industrial servo.

Formula

1 N·m ≈ 0.7376 lb·ft. 1 lb·ft = 1.35582 N·m. 1 kg·m = 9.80665 N·m. 1 kg·cm = 9.80665 × 10⁻² N·m.

Hand-tight on a typical nut ≈ 5 N·m (3.7 lb·ft) — finger-tight before reaching for a wrench.

Car lug nuts need ~100–140 N·m (74–103 lb·ft) — one of the most-searched torque figures.

A typical petrol car engine produces 200–400 N·m at peak — the "pulling power" you feel.

By Muhammad Salman SaleemMethodologyFree, no sign-up · Runs in your browser — your data stays private

Read this first

Torque conversions come up at one of two specific Pakistani moments. First: you're reading a US-spec car repair manual or YouTube tutorial that says "torque the cylinder head bolts to 65 lb·ft" and you need to translate that to N·m (88 N·m) because your torque wrench is metric. Or you're reading a Toyota Hilux owner's manual that quotes lug nut torque in kgf·m (11 kgf·m for example) and your torque wrench reads in N·m (108 N·m) — same physical specification, three different units depending on which country the manual was written in. Second: you're shopping for a car and the brochure quotes "400 N·m of torque" — but how does that compare to the 295 lb·ft your American friend's car has, and which is actually more powerful (they're the same)? Torque is what you feel when you press the accelerator and the car shoves you back — it's rotational pulling power. Horsepower is torque multiplied by speed. Diesel trucks and modern turbocharged engines feel powerful because of high torque at low RPM; Formula 1 cars and traditional sports cars feel fast because of high horsepower at high RPM. Honest take: when reading any spec sheet, ignore peak horsepower and look at peak torque AND the RPM where it occurs. An engine with 300 N·m at 1,500 RPM (turbo-diesel) feels dramatically different from one with 300 N·m at 5,500 RPM (high-revving petrol) even though the peak number is identical.

Pro tips most people learn the hard way

Pakistani lug nut torque is usually 100-140 N·m (74-103 lb·ft) for passenger cars. Always use a torque wrench when refitting wheels — "impact gun tight" causes warped brake rotors, stripped lug threads, and dangerous wheel separation. Check torque after the first 50-100 km of driving following any wheel removal.
Conversion shortcut: lb·ft × 1.36 ≈ N·m. So 80 lb·ft ≈ 108 N·m; 100 lb·ft ≈ 136 N·m. Memorise this single multiplier and you can mentally convert any US car spec to metric on the fly. Useful when reading American car magazines, watching YouTube reviews, or buying imported aftermarket parts.
Torque feels like "pulling power" — the shove when you press the accelerator. Horsepower feels like "top speed" — how fast you can go once you're moving. A diesel Hilux with 400 N·m at 1,800 RPM out-pulls a petrol Civic with 175 N·m at 4,500 RPM despite having similar peak horsepower, because the diesel delivers its torque at engine speeds you actually use in normal driving.
Electric vehicles deliver maximum torque from 0 RPM — there's no torque curve to climb because there's no engine spinning up. A Tesla Model 3 Performance with 660 N·m available instantly accelerates faster than petrol cars costing 5× more, simply because the torque is there the moment you press the pedal.
Pro tip: always buy a quality click-type torque wrench (PKR 8,000-15,000 from Pak Tools or Snap-on dealers). Cheap PKR 2,000 wrenches drift out of calibration within months and silently over- or under-torque every bolt. For occasional home mechanics, one good wrench covering 20-150 N·m handles 90 percent of car maintenance tasks.

?What is the Torque Converter?

The Formula

1 N·m ≈ 0.7376 lb·ft. 1 lb·ft = 1.35582 N·m. 1 kg·m = 9.80665 N·m. 1 kg·cm = 9.80665 × 10⁻² N·m.

Torque equals force multiplied by the perpendicular lever-arm distance. So N·m = newton × meter, lb·ft = pound-force × feet. Although torque is dimensionally identical to energy (both are force × distance), torque is a directional rotational quantity (a vector) while energy is scalar — which is why we do not use joules for torque, even though the math would match. In automotive contexts, US market cars quote torque in lb·ft while European and Japanese makers quote N·m.

N·m, lb·ft, kg·cm — Torque Reference Table

Common torque conversions for automotive, engineering, and fastener specification.

N·m	lb·ft	kg·cm	in·lb
1	0.738	10.197	8.851
5	3.688	50.986	44.25
10	7.376	101.97	88.51
25	18.44	254.93	221.3
50	36.88	509.86	442.5
100	73.76	1,019.7	885.1
200	147.5	2,039.4	1,770
500	368.8	5,098.6	4,425

Put It in Perspective

Hand-tight on a typical nut ≈ 5 N·m (3.7 lb·ft) — finger-tight before reaching for a wrench.

Car lug nuts need ~100–140 N·m (74–103 lb·ft) — one of the most-searched torque figures.

A typical petrol car engine produces 200–400 N·m at peak — the "pulling power" you feel.

A Tesla Model S Plaid delivers over 1,000 N·m of torque instantly from zero RPM.

Practical Examples

A car engine rated at 400 N·m produces about 295 lb·ft of torque — common in modern turbocharged 2-liter engines.

A bolt specification of 80 lb·ft equals 108.5 N·m — the torque at which most wheel lug nuts on passenger cars are tightened.

A bicycle's crank experiences roughly 100 N·m when a 75 kg rider stands on the pedal — enough to climb a steep hill.

Industrial gear motors rated at 1,000 kg·cm deliver about 98 N·m of output torque — useful for sizing conveyors.

An impact wrench rated at 1,000 ft-lb can remove most seized wheel bolts — while a cordless driver usually tops out at 40–80 N·m.

Electric vehicles like the Tesla Model S deliver up to 1,420 N·m instantly — over twice a typical sports car's internal-combustion torque.

Frequently Asked Questions

Torque is the twisting force the engine produces at any given moment. Horsepower is the rate of doing work — torque multiplied by rotational speed. High torque gives strong low-end acceleration (the feeling of being pushed back into your seat when you press the accelerator); high horsepower delivers higher top speeds. A diesel Hino truck has massive torque (1,000+ N·m) for hauling load; a Formula 1 car has massive horsepower (1,000+ hp) for top speed. Pakistani city driving rewards torque; Karachi-to-Lahore motorway cruising rewards horsepower.

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Premium Converters

Torque Converter

Unit

Automotive and fastener torque converter for Newton-meters (N·m), pound-feet (lb·ft), pound-inches, kilogram-centimeters, and kg·m.

Unit

Torque Converter

Generated on July 8, 2026

From

1 min readHow we build →

Quick Answer

Automotive and fastener torque converter for Newton-meters (N·m), pound-feet (lb·ft), pound-inches, kilogram-centimeters, and kg·m.

How the Torque Converter works

Unit

Formula

1 N·m ≈ 0.7376 lb·ft. 1 lb·ft = 1.35582 N·m. 1 kg·m = 9.80665 N·m. 1 kg·cm = 9.80665 × 10⁻² N·m.

Hand-tight on a typical nut ≈ 5 N·m (3.7 lb·ft) — finger-tight before reaching for a wrench.

Car lug nuts need ~100–140 N·m (74–103 lb·ft) — one of the most-searched torque figures.

A typical petrol car engine produces 200–400 N·m at peak — the "pulling power" you feel.

By Muhammad Salman SaleemMethodologyFree, no sign-up · Runs in your browser — your data stays private

Read this first

Pro tips most people learn the hard way

Pakistani lug nut torque is usually 100-140 N·m (74-103 lb·ft) for passenger cars. Always use a torque wrench when refitting wheels — "impact gun tight" causes warped brake rotors, stripped lug threads, and dangerous wheel separation. Check torque after the first 50-100 km of driving following any wheel removal.
Conversion shortcut: lb·ft × 1.36 ≈ N·m. So 80 lb·ft ≈ 108 N·m; 100 lb·ft ≈ 136 N·m. Memorise this single multiplier and you can mentally convert any US car spec to metric on the fly. Useful when reading American car magazines, watching YouTube reviews, or buying imported aftermarket parts.
Torque feels like "pulling power" — the shove when you press the accelerator. Horsepower feels like "top speed" — how fast you can go once you're moving. A diesel Hilux with 400 N·m at 1,800 RPM out-pulls a petrol Civic with 175 N·m at 4,500 RPM despite having similar peak horsepower, because the diesel delivers its torque at engine speeds you actually use in normal driving.
Electric vehicles deliver maximum torque from 0 RPM — there's no torque curve to climb because there's no engine spinning up. A Tesla Model 3 Performance with 660 N·m available instantly accelerates faster than petrol cars costing 5× more, simply because the torque is there the moment you press the pedal.
Pro tip: always buy a quality click-type torque wrench (PKR 8,000-15,000 from Pak Tools or Snap-on dealers). Cheap PKR 2,000 wrenches drift out of calibration within months and silently over- or under-torque every bolt. For occasional home mechanics, one good wrench covering 20-150 N·m handles 90 percent of car maintenance tasks.

?What is the Torque Converter?

The Formula

1 N·m ≈ 0.7376 lb·ft. 1 lb·ft = 1.35582 N·m. 1 kg·m = 9.80665 N·m. 1 kg·cm = 9.80665 × 10⁻² N·m.

N·m, lb·ft, kg·cm — Torque Reference Table

Common torque conversions for automotive, engineering, and fastener specification.

N·m	lb·ft	kg·cm	in·lb
1	0.738	10.197	8.851
5	3.688	50.986	44.25
10	7.376	101.97	88.51
25	18.44	254.93	221.3
50	36.88	509.86	442.5
100	73.76	1,019.7	885.1
200	147.5	2,039.4	1,770
500	368.8	5,098.6	4,425

Put It in Perspective

Hand-tight on a typical nut ≈ 5 N·m (3.7 lb·ft) — finger-tight before reaching for a wrench.

Car lug nuts need ~100–140 N·m (74–103 lb·ft) — one of the most-searched torque figures.

A typical petrol car engine produces 200–400 N·m at peak — the "pulling power" you feel.

A Tesla Model S Plaid delivers over 1,000 N·m of torque instantly from zero RPM.

Practical Examples

A car engine rated at 400 N·m produces about 295 lb·ft of torque — common in modern turbocharged 2-liter engines.

A bolt specification of 80 lb·ft equals 108.5 N·m — the torque at which most wheel lug nuts on passenger cars are tightened.

A bicycle's crank experiences roughly 100 N·m when a 75 kg rider stands on the pedal — enough to climb a steep hill.

Industrial gear motors rated at 1,000 kg·cm deliver about 98 N·m of output torque — useful for sizing conveyors.

An impact wrench rated at 1,000 ft-lb can remove most seized wheel bolts — while a cordless driver usually tops out at 40–80 N·m.

Electric vehicles like the Tesla Model S deliver up to 1,420 N·m instantly — over twice a typical sports car's internal-combustion torque.

Frequently Asked Questions

Popular Conversions

Jump to a ready-made conversion — useful for quick reference and sharing:

Browse all Unit

Weight Converter

Convert mass and body weight between kilograms, grams, pounds, ounces, and stones for recipes, fitness, and shipping.

Length Converter

Convert distance and height across meters, kilometers, centimeters, miles, yards, feet, and inches with precision factors.

Temperature Converter

Convert Celsius, Fahrenheit, and Kelvin instantly for cooking oven temps, weather, fever readings, and science homework.

Area Converter (PK)

Pakistan real estate area converter for Marla, Kanal, Square Feet, Square Yards, Square Meters, and Acres on plots and farmland.

Volume Converter

Convert capacity across liters, milliliters, US and UK gallons, cups, fluid ounces, tablespoons, teaspoons, and cubic meters.

Speed Converter

Convert speed and velocity between km/h, mph, m/s, knots, and ft/s for driving, running pace, sailing, and physics problems.

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Project planning and programming time converter for seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years using Gregorian averages.

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Convert digital file sizes between bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes, and petabytes on the binary 1024 scale.

Browse all Unit calculators & converters

See every tool in this category, plus FAQs and category-specific guides.

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Torque Converter (2026) | Premium Converters

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Premium Converters

Torque Converter

Torque Converter

How the Torque Converter works

Read this first

Pro tips most people learn the hard way

?What is the Torque Converter?

The Formula

N·m, lb·ft, kg·cm — Torque Reference Table

Put It in Perspective

Practical Examples

Frequently Asked Questions

Popular Conversions

Embed this calculator on your site

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Premium Converters

Torque Converter

Torque Converter

How the Torque Converter works

Read this first

Pro tips most people learn the hard way

?What is the Torque Converter?

The Formula

N·m, lb·ft, kg·cm — Torque Reference Table

Put It in Perspective

Practical Examples

Frequently Asked Questions

Popular Conversions

Embed this calculator on your site

Browse other categories

Premium Converters

Premium Converters

Torque Converter

Torque Converter

How the Torque Converter works

Read this first

Pro tips most people learn the hard way

?What is the Torque Converter?

The Formula

N·m, lb·ft, kg·cm — Torque Reference Table

Put It in Perspective

Practical Examples

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between torque and horsepower?

Is lb·ft the same as ft·lb?

Why must bolts be torqued to a specified value?

What is typical car engine torque?

What is 1 N·m intuitively?

Why do electric vehicles feel so fast?

How do I convert kg·cm to N·m for a servo?

Can over-torquing damage a threaded joint?

Popular Conversions

Embed this calculator on your site

More Unit Tools

Browse other categories

Premium Converters

Torque Converter

Torque Converter

How the Torque Converter works

Read this first

Pro tips most people learn the hard way

?What is the Torque Converter?

The Formula

N·m, lb·ft, kg·cm — Torque Reference Table

Put It in Perspective

Practical Examples

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between torque and horsepower?

Is lb·ft the same as ft·lb?

Why must bolts be torqued to a specified value?

What is typical car engine torque?

What is 1 N·m intuitively?

Why do electric vehicles feel so fast?

How do I convert kg·cm to N·m for a servo?

Can over-torquing damage a threaded joint?

Popular Conversions

Embed this calculator on your site

More Unit Tools

Browse other categories