2
Chat with an old mechanic at the diner made me rethink torque specs
I was eating breakfast at the greasy spoon near the airport last week and this retired guy who used to work on DC-3s sat down next to me. He said he never trusted torque wrenches on critical bolts, he always did them by feel after 30 years. It got me thinking about how much we rely on tools instead of our own hands these days. Anyone else ever had an old timer tell you something that went against what you learned in school?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
laura_schmidt8213d ago
But here's what I keep coming back to, how do you really know his torque was right just because it felt good? Because the old timers say that all the time, "feel this, feel that," but nobody ever talks about the bolts they snapped off with a breaker bar when they were wrong. I've watched guys try to muscle stuff together and end up stripping threads in aluminum because they thought their arm was calibrated better than a Snap-On. Did he ever mention how many times he had to helicoil something after trusting the "feel"?
5
You ever had one of those moments where you realize your shiny tools might actually be a crutch? I used to think torque wrenches were gospel too, but hearing him talk about reading the bolt's feel after years of practice kinda made me reconsider.
5