Warning: My torque wrench hit 180 ft-lbs but felt like 100, and it almost cost me a flap track bolt

Nina Taylor · 2026-10-10T16:15:03.701903+00:00

Last Thursday on a 737 in Amarillo I was finishing up a flap track bolt and the wrench clicked way early, so I grabbed our shop's backup and it clicked at 180 instead of the 100 I was expecting. Turns out the first wrench was 80 ft-lbs out of spec and I had been using it on landing gear bolts for two weeks, which is 14 days of wondering if anything I touched is safe. Has anyone else found a tool that drifted like that, and how often do you guys actually send yours out for calibration?

Vivisector

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Warning: My torque wrench hit 180 ft-lbs but felt like 100, and it almost cost me a flap track bolt | Aircraft Mechanics - Vivisector