Finally gave in and tried torque sticks after years of doubting them

I always thought torque sticks were a gimmick. Been doing this 12 years and never saw the point. Last week I had to do a set of mains on a 737 and my arm was shot after the 8th fastener. Threw a set of $45 torque sticks on my impact and every single bolt came out within spec. First time I checked the first one on the dial it was dead on. Anyone else have a tool they hated until they actually used it?

2 comments

2 Comments

ward.piper1mo ago

Did you check the torque with a separate wrench after or just trust the stick? I had the same doubt until I did a job on a Cessna 172 where the manual called for 100 inch pounds on a panel with like 30 screws. My arm was toast after 15 so I grabbed my buddy's torque stick set. First screw I checked with my beam wrench read 98 inch pounds. That was good enough for me. Now I use them for anything that's not super critical, just make sure to hit the important ones with a manual check.

finley7771mo ago

You ever have one of those moments where you're like "I shoulda done this years ago"? That's me with digital levels. I was dead set against them for years. Always used the old bubble kind. Then I'm leveling a machine base and I drop my bubble level and it shatters. Had to borrow a digital level from a guy two bays over. That thing was so much easier. I could see the exact angle down to like 0.1 degrees without squinting at a bubble. Now I got two of them in my box. Funny how we get stuck in our ways until something forces us to try the new thing.