Terry, all lug nut tightening should be done with the slides in! Why??? Because that makes it a lot easier on the "lug-nutter", of course!
Just FYI. When we bought our 2005 Suites, with the 17.5" wheel, not only did the manuals not have the lug tightening requirements, the factory would not tell me what to tighten them at either. DUH?? They said to call their wheel supplier and ask them, and gave me the phone number. I called the aluminum wheel supplier, and the supplier instructed me to tighten the lugs at 175 pounds to 225 pounds. I chose to tighten to 200 pounds, and for 5 years, I never had a problem.
I know that in a prior post, someone mentioned a factory letter with instructions to torque 125 pounds to 150 pounds. While I cannot dispute what the factory says, I will say, with the 17.5 inch wheels, and if you have 8000 pound axles, 5/8 wheel studs, that torque range sounds a little light, to me.
My axles were manufactured by Dexter, and according to Dexter's on-line manual, for "17.5" wheels with Clamp ring and cone nuts, the the recommended torque is 190-210 pounds". 17.5" wheels with 5/8 flange nuts is 275-325 pounds".
I will post a link to this manual just FYI. There may be a difference in torque relative to what type of wheel you have. If there is, dexter doesn't mention it in the manual.
http://www.united-trailers.com/Uploa...s/Manual_6.pdf