Old timer in Tucson told me to trust the torque wrench, not my elbow

After 11 years swinging wrenches, this guy I shadowed for a week insisted I stop 'feeling' fasteners and just follow the spec. I thought he was being lazy, but my next two jobs had zero callbacks versus the usual one every few months. Has anyone else had to unlearn a habit that some crusty veteran swore by, or is it just me?

2 comments

2 Comments

riley_miller2520d ago

Got told the same thing by an old millwright at a paper plant back in 2013. I fought it for a month because feeling the threads just seemed right. Then I snapped a 3/8 bolt on a pump housing and had to drill it out on my knees for two hours. Now I check the spec on everything except maybe a drain plug I've done 500 times. Had one job where the factory spec was 18 ft-lbs but everyone I knew ran them to 25, torque wrench ended up being the difference between a leak and a clean seal. Point is, your elbow lies to you when you're tired or rushed, the wrench doesn't care about your day.

oscar74317d agoTop Commenter

The thermal expansion angle is the one people miss. That 18 ft-lbs spec on the pump housing, it's usually calculated for the bolt at operating temp, not bench temp. I've seen a flange that sealed perfect cold then started weeping after a few hours of hot running because the aluminum expanded more than the steel studs. Torque wrench gets you close, but you also gotta ask what the material is and what the fluid temp will be. Snapped bolts are one thing, but a slow drip inside a confined space is worse because you won't find it 'til the bearing's already gone.