Appreciation post: A snapped bolt in a Detroit 60 series made me rethink my whole approach

I was doing a head gasket job on a Series 60 about a month back and snapped a head bolt. I'd been torquing them in the factory sequence, but just going straight to the final spec. An old timer at the shop in Billings saw me and said, 'Kid, you're pulling them down too fast. You're supposed to bring them to half torque first, cycle the sequence, then go to full.' I'd been skipping that step for years because I thought it was a waste of time. That one snapped bolt cost me half a day of drilling and a new insert. So, is the multi-step torque sequence a must-do for you guys on big diesels, or do you think the single pull method is fine if you're careful?

2 comments

2 Comments

haydenj9021d ago

Wait, isn't that half-torque step in the manual?

wendy_ross7121d ago

Totally is, @haydenj90. I skipped it once and spent the next hour trying to figure out why the whole thing felt wrong.