Foot-pounds to newton meters

How to convert pound-feet to newton meters

1. Take the value in pound-feet.
2. Use the formula newton meters = pound-feet × 1.355817948.
3. For example, 80 lb·ft is 108.47 N·m.

About pound-feet and newton meters

A pound-foot is one pound-force acting at one foot from the pivot, which is 1.35582 newton meters. Multiply lb-ft by 1.3558 to get Nm, or add a third and a bit for an estimate: 80 lb-ft gives about 108 Nm against the exact 108.47 Nm.

US service manuals, torque wrenches and car specs give torque in foot-pounds, while European manuals and most metric wrenches use Nm. You need the conversion whenever the manual and the wrench disagree.

Examples

• 80 lb·ft (a common car lug nut torque) is 108.47 N·m
• 1 lb·ft (one pound-foot) is 1.36 N·m
• 150 lb·ft (a small four-cylinder engine) is 203.37 N·m
• 400 lb·ft (a large V8 engine) is 542.33 N·m

Pound-feet to newton meters chart