That one comment about my torque wrench changed my whole routine

I've been turning wrenches at a shop near Portland for about 5 years now, and I always thought I had a good feel for tightening stuff. Then a customer who builds race bikes watched me do a crank install and said, 'you're leaving 3 to 4 Nm on the table, I can hear it.' I laughed it off at first, but then I checked with a digital torque wrench and he was right. My habit of stopping right when the bolt got snug was actually under-torquing almost everything. Now I use a beam style torque wrench on every critical fastener, especially stems and brake calipers. It adds maybe 20 seconds per job but I haven't had a single creak or loose part complaint since. Anyone else get called out like that and find out your hands were lying to you?

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cameron_chen6319d ago

Wait, he could actually hear it? That part is wild to me because I've never thought of torque as something you can pick up by ear. A few Nm off doesn't seem like much but if it's enough to make noise then it clearly matters more than I believed. Guess hands really do get lazy without you noticing.

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