TIL the difference between a torque wrench and a beam wrench the hard way

I had to choose between grabbing the beam wrench or the click-type torque wrench for a control rod install on a 737 flap track last week. Picked the click-type because it's faster, but I forgot to zero it out before storage and snapped the bolt at 22 ft-lbs instead of 18. Has anyone else had a torque wrench dummy moment like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

kevin_bailey1mo ago

Man you reminded me of the exact same mistake I made with a click-type on a landing gear bolt last year. Forgetting to zero it out is the easiest way to mess up a torque spec because you just assume it's right. I snapped a bolt at 30 ft lbs when it should have been 25 and had to drill it out, which took forever. That's why I stick with beam wrenches for anything critical on flaps and control rods, takes longer but no surprises. The click ones are great until you forget stuff like that and then it's game over for the part.

hart.ryan1mo ago

Oh man, drilling out a snapped bolt is the worst. I had to do that once on a trailer hitch and it took me like three hours with a broken extractor stuck in there too.