That old A&P who told me torque specs are just suggestions

I was working a cylinder change on a Cessna 172 at a small shop outside Tulsa, and this guy with 40 years experience walks up. He said "those numbers are just a starting point, feel the fastener." I argued with him for 5 minutes about following the manual exactly. Then he showed me a stud that snapped because someone torqued it to spec on a corroded thread. He never used a torque wrench on stuff under 150 inch-pounds, just calibrated his wrist. It stuck with me because half the line mechanics I've met since either agree or think that approach is dangerous. Has anyone else seen old timers get away with going by feel?

2 comments

2 Comments

reese_bell1mo ago

Man, did that old timer ever walk you through exactly how he "calibrated his wrist" in the first place, or was it just years of trial and error?

gavinperez1mo ago

You already know it was the trial and error method. Guy literally stood there for like 20 minutes twisting his watch back and forth, muttering about "finding the sweet spot" like he was tuning an old radio. Meanwhile I'm just standing there thinking "dude this is a quartz watch with a battery, not a Rolex from 1952." Honestly I think he was making half of it up as he went along just to seem mysterious.