Overheard a lineman mention his crimps were failing on a cold day

I was grabbing coffee at the FBO last Tuesday and heard a lineman complain about his battery crimper giving bad connections in the freezing hangar air. Made me think about how temperature swings can mess with hydraulic fluid viscosity and tool calibration. Anyone else run into odd avionics failures that traced back to cold weather tool issues?

2 comments

2 Comments

miles_perez2d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, cold weather crimping issues..." a buddy of mine had that same problem last winter up in a hangar.

jamie_clark1d ago

Agree with miles, that cold weather crimp issue is real and it goes way deeper than just battery tools. I've seen guys switch to hydraulic hand tools thinking they'll fix it, but the cold thickens up the hydraulic fluid so bad the ram moves slower and doesn't seat the die hard enough. That gives you a loose connection that looks fine but vibrates loose after a few flight hours. What really gets me is nobody talks about the terminals themselves getting brittle in freezing temps, especially the nylon insulators on ring terminals. I've had them crack right in the die and you don't notice till the wire pulls out. Best fix I've seen is prewarming the whole connector kit and the tool inside the heated office for an hour before you even walk out to the bird. Keeps the crimp consistent even if the hangar air is still cold.