My old instructor's torque wrench trick finally clicked for me last week

I was helping a new guy on a Cessna 172's landing gear bolt, and he asked why I always set the wrench to the spec and then back it off before tightening. For ten years, I thought it was just to check the click, but he pointed out the manual says it's to seat the mechanism and avoid a false reading. I'd been doing it wrong since my first class in Wichita. Has anyone else had a basic skill they misunderstood for a long time?

2 comments

2 Comments

brians272d ago

Yeah, that exact thing got me once on a cylinder base nut. The manual is right, you really do need to take up the slack in the mechanism first.

parkerrodriguez2d ago

Ever wonder if the manual's warning is more about saving the tool than the part? I've seen people snap cheap wrenches trying to muscle it before taking up slack. That little step is basically free insurance.