all torqued up

[12string]

Trying to torque up all the hardware on the suspension, some rather important bolts.  94 pounds seemed awfully easy, all that work at the gym has really paid off!

Or, the cheap torque wrench was kaput.

Option 2.

Oh, well, it's only 150#, I need 250# for the axle nuts.  I don't really need professional grade, the Kobalt branded wrench at the Depot got good reviews and a lifetime warranty.  The name brand version is $115 on Amazon, the Black Friday sale at the Orange store - $49!!!

Oh, and I took apart the broken one, fixed it, recalibrated it, so now I have a 12.5-150# and 30-250# wrench!

[donkpow]

I had to buy a torque wrench this year. Inch pounds. I was not happy.

[BR46]

3 hours ago, donkpow said:

I had to buy a torque wrench this year. Inch pounds. I was not happy.

How can one not be happy when buying new tools? 

[Razors Edge ★]

3 hours ago, donkpow said:

I had to buy a torque wrench this year. Inch pounds. I was not happy.

I only have a 4, 5, and a 6 n-m set.  I can't imagine having 12string's tough guy set!

[donkpow]

3 minutes ago, BR46 said:

How can one not be happy when buying new tools? 

Well, I had a 3/8" drive ft lb torque wrench. It was good enough to last me 30 years. This Subaru is practically all aluminum so that's why.

[Further]

I have a 1/4 inch drive inch pound model and a 1/2 drive foot pound model

[BR46]

15 minutes ago, donkpow said:

Well, I had a 3/8" drive ft lb torque wrench. It was good enough to last me 30 years. This Subaru is practically all aluminum so that's why.

But you got to buy a new torque wrench  it's kinda like when wife goes shopping for new shoes 

[bikeman564™]

I have an inch pound one at work. The click is barely noticeable w/ only several inch pounds of torque applied.

[Longjohn ★]

17 minutes ago, donkpow said:

Well, I had a 3/8" drive ft lb torque wrench. It was good enough to last me 30 years. This Subaru is practically all aluminum so that's why.

Even at the proper torque fasteners are known to fail in aluminum.

[donkpow]

As I was going through the assembly on the engine components, I kept reading low level torque specs in inch pounds. Normally, low level torque on steel engines is easy to manage. The aluminum parts with steel fasteners has a whole different set of requirements. I was already upset about the labors. Add to that the need to make special tools. I know how things go but that doesn't mean I like it.

[Bikeguy]

About 3 years ago I purchased a 250 ft-lb torque wrench.    

I needed to tighten a trailer ball to the mount at 250 #.   I thought about that for a little while....  I inserted the ball mount into the receiver rotated 90^o and used a big wrench (had to buy that too) to hold the ball, the concrete floor held that in place, and I pushed down on the torque wrench to get to 250 #.   It helps that I'm 6' 3" and 235 pounds... 

My old 125 # wrench died.  I never tried to fix it...  The ratchet pawls were slipping.  

[BR46]

I think that the Snap-on truck drive around like the ice cream truck. 

[Ralphie ★]

I am afeared to touch any fastener on the CFRP bike without a torque wrench. Heck, even WITH one if I had one!  I only have one with sockets, not Allens. 

[Ralphie ★]

and no place to go?

[Longjohn ★]

6 hours ago, Bikeguy said:

About 3 years ago I purchased a 250 ft-lb torque wrench.    

I needed to tighten a trailer ball to the mount at 250 #. 

When I bought my trailer for hauling the zero turn I needed to change the ball on my hitch to a larger ball. I was having trouble breaking it loose. It had been on there for thirty years. I used the same technique you did of turning the hitch a quarter turn in the receiver but I had to use my breaker bar with a five foot long cheater pipe and I stood on the end of the cheater pipe and jumped until it broke loose. It turned hard all the way off. I don’t know how many ft-lbs it took to break it loose but it would have been a lot more than 250.

[donkpow]

19 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

I had to use my breaker bar with a five foot long cheater pipe

Under some circumstances, you can use a floor jack or other to break loose a stubborn connection.

[JerrySTL ★]

I had a car that the front axle nuts required 250 in lbs and needed a 46 mm socket. My old beam torque wrench only did 150. So I would tighten to 150 then use a breaker bar with a long pipe slid over it to tighten to the next cotter pin hole aligned to the castlelated nut. 

[Further]

This is what we use on cranes, the 3/4 bolts are torqued to 400 ft lbs. The tightener cost about 2 grand.

 

[donkpow]

There are some specifications that include the engineering of fasteners. For example, your torque spec may be expressed in degrees of turn after a foot pound value is reached. IOW, "Torque to 200 ft/lb and continue rotation to achieve an additional 25°." Here is a tool for that:

[Longjohn ★]

2 hours ago, Further said:

This is what we use on cranes, the 3/4 bolts are torqued to 400 ft lbs. The tightener cost about 2 grand.

 

That’s cool. At the forge when tightening the dies in the press we use a slug wrench with a four foot pipe welded to it and insert a die bar into the pipe. At least two guys on the bar to tighten them. When loosening them we sometime can’t break them loose with four men on the bar and have to use a fork lift.

[Further]

3 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

That’s cool. At the forge when tightening the dies in the press we use a slug wrench with a four foot pipe welded to it and insert a die bar into the pipe. At least two guys on the bar to tighten them. When loosening them we sometime can’t break them loose with four men on the bar and have to use a fork lift.

The driver tightens them very easily, you can use one hand without any problems 

Generally use a torch to remove them 

[donkpow]

When I worked machinery, there was a shop tool called a "torque multiplier". This is an example that takes maximum 154 ft/lb input and outputs 8000 ft/lb. Needless to say it will snap a bolt in half a second if misapplied. Ask @2Far how I know.

[Ralphie ★]

5 hours ago, donkpow said:

There are some specifications that include the engineering of fasteners. For example, your torque spec may be expressed in degrees of turn after a foot pound value is reached.

I thought the guideline was tighten it until in breaks then back it off a quarter turn?  Is that old information? 

[donkpow]

1 minute ago, Philander Seabury said:

I thought the guideline was tighten it until in breaks then back it off a quarter turn?  Is that old information? 

Yeah, that's about it. And sell the car before you have to do it again. 

[2Far ★]

1 hour ago, donkpow said:

When I worked machinery, there was a shop tool called a "torque multiplier". This is an example that takes maximum 154 ft/lb input and outputs 8000 ft/lb. Needless to say it will snap a bolt in half a second if misapplied. Ask @2Far how I know.

Torque Multiplier (cheater bar):

[JerrySTL ★]

6 hours ago, JerrySTL said:

I had a car that the front axle nuts required 250 in lbs and needed a 46 mm socket. My old beam torque wrench only did 150. So I would tighten to 150 then use a breaker bar with a long pipe slid over it to tighten to the next cotter pin hole aligned to the castlelated nut. 

I meant to type Foot Pounds.

[Longjohn ★]

6 hours ago, Philander Seabury said:

I thought the guideline was tighten it until in breaks then back it off a quarter turn?  Is that old information? 

When working on aluminum you tighten the bolt until you feel it start to strip out and then back it off a bit.

[12string]

It's  VW, so it's full of stretch bolts.  Tighten to nft/lb plus 1/4 turn.  And always replace.  I've spent over $100 on hardware puttings these parts back on.

Stuck bolts?  PB Blaster and a torch.  Air tools, except my wrench is too weak for the tough ones.