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Had a conversation with an old fleet mechanic who made me realize my torque wrench habit is costing me time
He said 'you're chasing numbers that don't matter on a 30-year-old Cummins, just feel the bolt' and now I'm wondering if I've been overthinking every goddamn head gasket job, anyone else ditch the clicker and go by feel?
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matthewh281d ago
Overthinking's the new normal for everything these days.
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cole_robinson1d ago
Oh man, that old mechanic might be onto something but it depends on the job, right? Like are we talking main cap bolts on a marine 4BT or just the valve cover? Because I've definitely chased my tail for an hour trying to get 22 foot-pounds on an exhaust manifold that had been torqued 18 different ways since 1989. But then you get that one bolt that's a little too easy to spin, and you spend the whole night wondering if you just half-assed your way into a blown head gasket. So what's your cutoff - when do you grab the clicker versus when do you just snug it and call it good?
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