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That old timer who told me to always torque head bolts by feel was dead wrong
After I snapped two ARP studs on a 6.0 Powerstroke following his advice and had to pull the heads again, I learned the hard way that $75 for a proper torque wrench would have saved me a full weekend of work, has anyone else gotten bad advice from the old guard that cost them time and money?
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erickelly10d ago
Hearing that hurt my soul a little. Torquing head bolts by feel on a 6.0? That's insanity straight up. Those studs are like $400 for a full set and you just snapped two of them. Man I would have lost my mind. That old school advice works on old cast iron blocks with soft bolts not on modern high pressure diesel stuff.
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olivia_lopez9810d ago
Yep, been there. Ended up buying a Craftsman torque wrench from the pawn shop after snapping a bolt on my 7.3 and learning the hard way. You can't just wing it on these newer blocks, the threads are way too tight.
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stella_scott9610d ago
Snapped an ARP stud on a 4.6 Ford V8 back in 2012 doing the same thing. An old timer at the shop swore by the feel method. Said torque wrenches were for engineers. I was too young and dumb to push back. Ended up having to helicoil the block after the stud broke off clean. That was a $250 mistake right there plus a whole Sunday lost. I bought a digital torque wrench the next Monday and never looked back. Now I tell every kid who walks into my shop to buy a decent torque wrench before they even touch a head bolt. That old advice only works on cast iron blocks with low torque specs, not on these high strength studs.
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