For lug nuts, spark plugs, and valve cover gaskets, I use the correct torque spec. The places where it's most critical get the spec torque, while everything else just gets whatever I feel like using
Do you always, usually, or rarely torque bolts to spec?
- Thread starter ZZman
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ls1mike
$50 Site Donor 2023
I am not sure everything even has a spec. I have a the 3800 factory manuals and the LS1 factory manuals and some items don't give a torque.
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Usually
ls1mike
$50 Site Donor 2023
That is to say all fasteners do, but not all procedures give a torque because it is just not critical in some applications.
Nope, I don't do suspension bolts,( I should do tie rod end/ball joint tappers, but I don't). Spark plugs I do, and now after talking to NGK tech dept I use a degree wheel spec on non virgin reinstalled plugs as not to over torque them. I do aluminum wheel rims every time and come back 25/50 miles+ later and re torque. With my tuner Hyundai I will check them 3-4 times after since I highly load them. Normally I don't do steel rimmed cars, but my T-wrench is right there, with my wife's Rav4 steels, so I do those all the time. Anything "sealing" an engine/trans I do. Ignition coils no.
The idea of engineers needing to come out with a recall of a recall to fix the first initial problem is also frightening. Yet here we are, all riding in these “death machines” down the interstates at 75mph.
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ls1mike
$50 Site Donor 2023
You are not like the engineers I work with when I generate procedures. We even have a statement that says "Tighten fastener using good shop practice"
So what you are saying is, it is necessary to torque every fastener, to spec, on a car?
Experienced mechanics do have a feel for when a fastener is tight on many different types of systems.
Leaving fasteners loose makes it easier to take it apart the next time it needs fixing.
Good shop practice? at work we have a document that spells out what torque what each bolt size should use, with allowances for materials, and disclaimer about how this spec can be overruled by the spec’s for the item(s) in question.
Not being on a submarine though I think only me and the author know of this doc… pretty sure it could be printed off, hung on the wall, and still be unknown.
Pretty sure I could sit in a meeting with a document that says “tighten using good shop practice“ and watch half the room fight the other half over it.
Meanwhile, all the guys who would be doing the work (and aren’t in the room) wouldn’t care, and if asked, would ask, “does it matter? it’ll just be taken apart again before long, ‘cuz you guys will change your minds yet again.”That said…
I torque lugnuts and little else, mostly because I avoid “real” repairs. I like the idea of doing it right, but on a plain jane Toyota I know full well most of the bolts don’t matter. As an engineer I knew full well that a C grade was “good enough“ in school and going for an A grade might not have the ROI that one might hope for. Close enough is often good enough. I’m not paid to do this… but the more I pay someone else to do the work, the higher the expectations. But would I want to pay my mechanic the same rate I’d pay a surgeon? eh…
Do you know what that wording means when you write it?
In Army Aviation, it means "reference TM 1-1500-204-23-6, Table 2-9"
How many BITOGers even send in their torque wrenches for calibration every yr or 5000 cycles?
The achieved torque can also vary depending on the condition of the fastener and operator experience. If an inexperienced operator does not slowly reach the desired torque value (esp when using a clicker style torque wrench), they may be well over spec.
If you’re interested in a more technical conversation, there is a lot of good content in this thread:
The achieved torque can also vary depending on the condition of the fastener and operator experience. If an inexperienced operator does not slowly reach the desired torque value (esp when using a clicker style torque wrench), they may be well over spec.
If you’re interested in a more technical conversation, there is a lot of good content in this thread:
Why So Much Disdain For Using Torque Tools
Those figures seem to be somewhat inaccurate. http://www.lifetime-reliability.com/free...ty_You_Want.pdf Quote:It is impossible to guarantee accuracy when tightening fasteners by muscular feel. Using a process that ranges ± 35% to get within ± 10% of a required value is playing a game of...
bobistheoilguy.com
My small torque wrenches are snap on and have never failed our ISO certification / calibration check that we had yearly while I was at a dealership.
My large / higher torque wrench I bought gear wrench to save a little $….it failed out of the box.
Thank heavens you don’t work on my airplanes.
You know I love you, AM, but sloppy work from dealership techs, like only putting 3 bolts back in a bumper bracket when they took 4 out, or leaving their magnetic pan on my frame rail, with bolts in it, is why I rarely let anyone work on my cars any more.
Even at a dealership, technicians do sloppy work. Forgetting to put all the bolts back. Forgetting to tighten them. Stripping them. Breaking some small plastic part and leaving it broken. Leaving tools for me to find later.
I’ve seen it all.
Some suspension parts have one use, torque to yield bolts. Running those kinds of fasteners tight with a rattle gun guarantees failure.
There is a reason I do my own work.
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GA is really a minefield.
I've had friends ask me to do their annuals and, well, I politely decline.
When asked why I ask if they'd like to remain friends. They seem to understand.
axel nut, lug nut, head bolt, + an odd 1 here'n there. I've been told I havea tq wrench in my wrist but what I do w/all - is tighten according to size. The ones listed R4 safety (customer wants a rotate, I take off 4a break job... I hit the lugs as last man to touch it is man liable to any 'not-so-good' dwn the rd. Rebuild a motor? a blown head gasket will not B a claim (legal/financial) mine.
I know my weight, figure in 3, 4 lengths of drivers, bars, wrenches. I now have 4 or 5 electrics & 2, 3 pneumatic so need to B careful (usually on "over tighten") not the opposite. After an ele drive I might switch to hand drive upto proper tq by hand. MATCO just left some what appear carpenter's impacts (1/2, 3/8ths) and by fiddling a wk w/the ridiculously heavy 3/8 I think I can get it right on the lug tq w/o a back up (tq-to=spec). I only use these as I want to stay off the compressor & its big ele bill add-on. I am in the process w/these bat operated to C if I can lower my bill (by charging instead). HTH~
Pretty sure I’ve dropped mine on the floor at least once a year… does that count?
That reminds me, I need to replace mine, its been missing at least one of the screws for a few years now. (then again, so am I.)
Most calibration shops have repair services...
Not taking a HF special in.
Its pretty much only ever done lugs, and for that, I seriously question the need for accuracy.
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