Found out my torque wrench was lying to me for 6 months

Been signing off on gear bolts for half a year with a clicker that was way out of cal. A new guy asked to borrow it for a brake job on a King Air and I watched him hit 40 ft-lbs and the thing popped at like 28. I checked it against the shop standard and it was off 30 percent. Six months of torque values I thought were solid, all wrong. Anyone got a good routine for checking your clicker between cal cycles? I feel dumb for trusting the sticker on the case.

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2 Comments

kellygrant15h ago

My buddy Rick at a shop in Wichita had the same thing happen with a 1/2 inch Snap-on, and he only caught it because a lug nut felt loose on a test drive. He started hanging a 25 lb weight off the handle at the 25 inch mark every Monday morning, and if it doesn't click right there he flags it for cal. Takes two minutes and he hasn't been burned since. Cheap check with a fish scale works too if you don't have a vise handy.

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nina_taylor15h ago

That 25 lb weight trick at the 25 inch mark is clever. Reminds me of my uncle who checked his boat trailer hitch with a luggage scale every spring before the lake opened.

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