Just realized my old torque wrench was off by 15 foot-pounds

I was doing a full brake job on a Dover MRL last week in a downtown Chicago high-rise. The motor brake just wasn't holding right after I buttoned it up. My foreman came over and checked my work with his new digital Snap-on wrench. Turns out my trusty old click-type wrench, which I've had for 8 years, was reading 15 foot-pounds light. I must have been under-torquing bolts for months without knowing. Has anyone else had a tool fail a calibration check that badly? What's a good interval to check your torque wrenches?

3 comments

3 Comments

mason72810d ago

Fifteen foot-pounds sounds like a lot, but on a big motor brake bolt is that even a big deal? Those things get cranked down way past that spec anyway. Checking every six months seems like overkill for a tool that just sits in a box most of the time. How often do you really use full torque on every single job?

parkerb2327d ago

Dang, that's a huge difference. Honestly, I'm surprised it was only off by that much after eight years of daily use. I check my main wrenches every year, but for something used that hard, I'd want a calibration check every six months, easy.

karen41027d ago

Yeah, six months seems smart. What kind of tolerance do you aim for when you check yours? Like, how much drift is your cutoff before you get it fixed?