LBS and Torque Wrench

[randynewmanscat]

That’s what I might describe as a “torque-critical component”. I’d wager you’re doing it with some knowledge and experience too.

On a torque-related tangent, years ago I attended a training course delivered by a major ship engine designer. They laboured the point of torque settings and whether dry or lubricated at some length (as you can imagine given the size, power and cost of the engines in question). But it was amusing to note that the cylinder head stud nuts on these biggest of engines are done up hand-tight. Of course the studs are stretched with a hydraulic puller first, but the nuts are run on by hand.

The very same at Crossley Engines in Openshaw, all gone now.

 

[winjim]

A torque wrench used dogmatically can be worse than a sympathetically used spanner. It’s like my dad used to tell me about using a calculator - you have to at least have some idea what answer you are expecting or what order of magnitude; same with a torque wrench - you have to have an idea what feels ok. I’ll use one for torque-critical components but more often than not will go by feel, on any and all frame or component materials. It has been decades since I last sheared a bolt (the last I can remember was a thermostat housing bolt on a 1977 Mini, sheared in 1991).

That's why it's important to remember that, as I said upthread, a torque wrench is a measuring device. Tighten up by feel and then check with the torque wrench. If it seems like things are getting a bit silly, check the setting on the wrench.

Don't just ratchet things up with the wrench without thinking, that's not what they're for.