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That advice about torque wrenches from a senior mechanic saved me last week
Old Mike at the hangar told me always to store my torque wrench at the lowest setting when I started six months ago. I thought he was being picky until I dropped $400 on a Snap-on and left it at 200 inch-pounds for a week. Last Tuesday I was torquing cylinder base nuts on a Lycoming and it clicked way too early. Checked it against the shop's calibration rig and it was off by 20 percent. So yeah, listen to the graybeards about the little stuff. Anyone else ruin a torque wrench by not setting it down right?
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rodriguez.mia11d agoMost Upvoted
Hang on though, I gotta push back a little on that Snap-on story. I mean yeah, Old Mike is right about storing them at the lowest setting, I totally agree there. But that thing about it being off by 20 percent after a week at 200 inch-pounds sounds like a warranty issue, not just user error. I've left my old Craftsman cranked up for a month on accident and it was still within spec when I checked it at the shop. Those higher end brands are supposed to handle a little abuse, you know? If it drifted that fast, there might have been a defect from the factory or something. I'd be talking to Snap-on about a replacement before I blamed myself too much.
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