Just realized my old torque wrench was way off after a year

Had a customer come back with a loose stem bolt that I torqued to spec. Checked my wrench against a new digital one. It was reading 6 Nm when it was actually 4. Been using it for about a year on everything. Guessing the spring just wore out. Anyone else have a wrench fail like this?

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3 Comments

the_pat7mo ago

Blame the tool, not the spring.

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dylan_thompson7mo ago

Tell me about it. I once tightened a set of lug nuts so perfectly, I thought I was a genius. Drove for a week before the whole car developed a new kind of rhythmic shimmy. Turns out my "calibrated arm" was just a worn-out wrench and I'd basically finger-tightened them. Guess that's what I get for trusting a tool I found at a yard sale.

9

thomas5316mo ago

Hold up, you're really gonna blame the yard sale wrench? How do you know the shimmy wasn't from a bent rim you never noticed before? A cheap old tool still turns a nut, and you felt it was tight. That weird rhythm could've been a tire balance issue waiting to happen. Honestly, sometimes a bad result is just bad luck, not the tool's fault. You might have gotten a smooth ride for a week even with a brand new torque wrench.

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