I had to eat crow about using a torque wrench on every bolt

I was working on a Cessna 172 at a small field outside of Austin last summer and a buddy told me I was wasting time torquing down interior panel screws. I argued with him for a solid 10 minutes that you only need to feel the torque on those, not actually measure it. Then I cracked a co-pilot seat rail bracket because I overtightened it by hand and had to special order a new one for $85. Has anyone else had a moment where they stubbornly ignored standard torque specs and it bit them?

3 comments

3 Comments

emerym361mo ago

Over torquing is a real thing, I've done it plenty of times myself.

wyatt_mitchell261mo ago

Whoa wait, you actually stripped a bolt badly enough to have proof?!

taylor.reese1mo ago

Keep going with that same mindset everywhere and you'll start noticing how many things break from too much force, not too little. Screws, jar lids, even relationships fall apart when people push past the natural stopping point. There's something to learn from a stripped bolt about knowing when enough is enough.