Broke my torque wrench on a Ford F-150 last Tuesday and I don't miss it

I keep seeing guys on here say you absolutely have to torque everything on modern trucks, but I had a different experience. I was doing lower control arm bolts on a 2019 F-150 at my buddy's shop in Austin, and my digital torque wrench seized up halfway through the job. Finished the rest by feel alone, checked with his torque wrench two days later and all eight bolts were within spec. Has anyone else found that some of these factory torque specs are overkill for routine suspension work?

2 comments

2 Comments

james_martin9329d ago

I get what you're saying about the F150 bolts and doing it by feel, but I think that's a risky habit to get into. I've been wrenching for a while and had a control arm bolt strip on me once because I thought "good enough" was fine, turns out it wasn't. The torque specs on these newer trucks are set for a reason, especially with aluminum parts and composite materials that don't give you the same feedback as steel. Sure, you got lucky this time, but I'd bet money that if you kept doing that on every job you'd eventually have one work loose or snap.

thea24629d ago

My dad always said the same thing about tightening lug nuts, just crank 'em down. He's got a stripped rotor on his old F250 right now to prove that habit doesn't age well. It's kind of like how people estimate ingredients when baking instead of measuring, works until it doesn't and you end up with a brick.