I finally realized my torque wrench was lying to me for 2 years

I was doing a head gasket job on a 2011 F150 last month and snapping bolts left and right, figured it was just rust or bad luck. Then I borrowed my buddy's digital torque wrench and the same bolts at the same spec went in perfect, that's when it clicked. My old clicker wrench had been sitting in the bottom of my box for years and I never got it recalibrated, probably off by 15 foot pounds by then. I checked the date on it and the sticker said it needed calibration in 2021, so it was my own fault for ignoring that. Has anyone else had a tool fail quietly like that and only find out by comparison, or am I the only one who skipped the calibration routine?

2 comments

2 Comments

carr.luna11d agoMost Upvoted

The 2019 Craftsman clicker in my drawer has a calibration sticker that says it was due in 2022, and I blew it off because I figured torque is torque. I used to laugh at guys who sent their wrenches in for service, thought it was a waste of money. Then last spring I did control arms on my wife's Tahoe and the bolts felt tight but the car still clunked, so I checked with my neighbor's digital unit and found I was under-torquing by 12 pounds. That was the moment I ate my words, because my stuff was failing and I had no clue. Now I treat calibration like an oil change, I just mark it on my phone calendar every year and get it done.

david92011d ago

@carr.luna bet that Craftsman clicks wrong on low settings too, nobody checks those.