The night shift mechanic who taught me to read torque specs twice

Back when I was starting out in fencing, I helped a buddy swap an engine in his garage over a weekend. He was a heavy equipment mechanic by trade, old school guy named Ray. We got the head bolts torqued down and I was ready to move on. He stopped me and said "read that spec again, out loud." I did, and realized I had skipped a line and used the wrong number by 15 ft-lbs. He told me he learned that lesson after cracking a block on a $40k loader. I still read every spec twice on the job site now. Has anyone else had a small habit like that save them a big mistake?

3 comments

3 Comments

robins831d ago

Habit can backfire on you too though. I've seen guys get so used to doing the same job the same way that they stop thinking about what they're actually doing, and then something small changes and they blow right past it. Muscle memory is fine for the big moves but the devil's in the details like torque specs. That's why I like having a second pair of eyes on things even if it's just my own voice reading numbers out loud. It forces you to engage your brain instead of running on autopilot.

david_jones381d ago

Nah, muscle memory is better than double-checking everything (unless you're really bad with tools).

betty_wells1d ago

But that's a good point, @david_jones38, only if you've practiced the steps enough times to make that memory solid. I've messed up more than once assuming my hands knew what to do when I hadn't done the job in months. Double-checking is just a quick fix for those rusty moments.