Comparing torque wrenches the hard way after a landing gear job last month

I was in the hangar working on a Cessna 172 last month and used my old beam style torque wrench for the main gear bolts. Felt good, clicked off fine. But then a senior mechanic checked my work with his digital torque adapter and said I was 8 ft-lbs over. I thought I was being careful. Got his click type to compare and ran the same bolts again. Night and day difference in consistency. Has anyone else had a bad experience switching between torque wrench types?

3 comments

3 Comments

alex82018d ago

I read a study from one of the aviation maintenance magazines that tested beam wrenches after being dropped from waist height, and they were off by an average of 12 foot-pounds after just one drop. The click types in the same test fared better but still varied by 5-8 pounds after multiple drops. Makes me wonder if the real issue isn't the type of wrench but how we all treat them on the job. What do you do to keep your torque wrenches from getting knocked around in the toolbox?

caseywalker18d ago

Bought a cheap click type years ago and thought I was hot stuff until I stripped a lug nut on my own car. Turns out that wrench was out by 15 ft-lbs from the factory. Now I keep a beam style as backup and check my click type against it every few months. Its annoying but way better than guessing.

henry_anderson5418d ago

That 15 ft-lbs difference is wild, did you test it right out of the box or did you find out the hard way like most of us? I've been curious about those cheap beam-style wrenches too, how accurate do you figure they hold up over time compared to a click type? I've heard some people say the beam ones can drift if you drop them or leave them in a hot car, but maybe it's just me being paranoid. What brand was the click type that was that far off, if you don't mind me asking?