My torque wrench click changed meaning after a tire shop in Phoenix showed me their calibration log

I always thought that click was just the sound of the bolt being tight enough, but last Tuesday I watched a guy at Big Mike's Tires pull out a binder with every wrench's calibration date and I realized my whole 10 year career I've been trusting a tool that might have been lying to me, so has anyone else ever checked their torque sticks against a certified tester or am I just late to this party?

2 comments

2 Comments

angela7285d ago

That "binder with every wrench's calibration date" hit me right in the gut, cause it's not about the tool lying, it's about the fact that torque specs change with heat and how much you've been using the thing. A wrench that's been dropped once or left in a hot truck bed all summer can drift way off, and nobody thinks to check that. I took my old Craftsman into a shop once and the tester said it was clicking 12 pounds early, which means I'd been under-tightening lug nuts for years without knowing. That click is just a suggestion until you actually verify it against something solid, and most guys never will.

corap614d ago

My Harbor Freight one was reading damn near 15 pounds off after a summer of sitting in my trailer.