Torque wrench calibration saved me from a nasty surprise

I had a 737 wheel assembly come back with a hub bolt that wasn't torquing right last month in Tampa. My digital torque wrench was reading 220 foot-pounds but the bolt was barely at 190 when I checked it with a manual beam style. Turns out the calibration sticker was outdated by 14 months and nobody noticed because we never logged the usage hours. I sent it out for calibration and now I keep a simple log book on the cart, every 90 days or whenever it drops. Anyone else run into silent calibration drift on digitals that seem fine until you cross check them without a checklist?

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stellafisher9d ago

Oh man, my buddy had this exact thing happen with his torque wrench at his shop down in Fort Myers. He was convinced his digital was spot on, but when he loaned it to another mechanic, that guy caught the same kind of drift. Now he just uses a cheap beam wrench to double check every few weeks, takes two seconds.