Guy on a podcast claimed every diesel shop should stop using impact guns on drain plugs, and I can't decide if he's onto something or just old school | Diesel Mechanics - Topic Shares
Guy on a podcast claimed every diesel shop should stop using impact guns on drain plugs, and I can't decide if he's onto something or just old school
He was talking about stripped pans and how a 1/2 inch impact at 150 psi will wreck an aluminum drain plug boss way faster than most guys think. His rule was hand tight plus a quarter turn, no gun, and he says he's seen it save pans on everything from a 6.7 Cummins to a little Kubota. But the other side is flat rate, and if I'm pulling 12 drain plugs a day on a fleet account, doing every one by hand eats real time. I've had good luck running my gun on the lowest torque setting and just bumping it, and only one pan cracked on me in two years. So where's the line, do you guys gun your drain plugs or go hand tight, and does the torque spec even matter once the copper washer is crushed?