A torque wrench check at the Denver hangar showed me I was off by 15 foot-pounds

I was doing a routine wheel change on a King Air last week and my new partner asked to double-check my torque. I was sure I had it right, but his wrench clicked at 15 foot-pounds less than mine. Turns out my wrench hadn't been calibrated in over two years and was giving false readings. Has anyone else had a tool calibration issue sneak up on them like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

joseph_roberts1mo ago

Honestly, 15 foot-pounds on a wheel nut? That's not a huge margin. It's not like you left it finger-tight. Tools drift, it happens. As long as the wheel stayed on, I'd call it a learning moment, not a crisis.

anna9831mo ago

Check your torque wrench every few months with a known weight. Mine was off by ten pounds last year and I had no idea. A quick calibration saved me from a real headache later on.

spencer_chen624d ago

Fair point @anna983, but ten pounds off in either direction changes things way more than people think. If it's loose, you're not clamping the nut right and that whole assembly can shift under load. That kind of movement eats wheel studs fast, way faster than a slightly undertorqued nut would.