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The torque wrench lie I bought for years on my motorcycle
I used to think you had to crank every bolt on my bike till it felt 'solid', then I stripped an oil pan drain plug on my 1982 Honda CB750 in my garage in Tacoma. The factory manual said 25 ft-lbs, but I figured more was safer, and the aluminum threads gave out with a crunch. A buddy who builds race engines told me he never trusts his wrist, only the click, and that I'd been over-torquing everything for a decade. Turns out my old beam-style wrench was way off, and I'd been putting side load on the fastener the whole time. I bought a decent click-type torque wrench for $60 after that, and started following spec exactly, even on spark plugs. The day I stopped guessing and started using the right tool, my leaks and stripped threads vanished. Has anyone else fought the urge to just give it an extra half turn out of habit?
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mila_reed2mo ago
Did your buddy ever show you the mangled fastener he kept as a reminder?
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