Showerthought: I was torquing bolts wrong for a solid year

I was working on a Cessna 172's landing gear assembly last month, and my lead came over to watch. I was doing my usual thing, pulling the torque wrench smooth and steady. He just said, 'You're pulling too slow. You're letting it settle and losing the click.' I argued a bit, but he grabbed the wrench and did it himself, a quick, firm pull. The click was way sharper. I tried it his way on the next bolt and realized I'd been feeling a soft click for ages, probably under-torquing stuff. It hit me that my 'careful' method was actually the problem. I've been doing it fast and firm ever since, and my confidence in the torque values is way higher. Anyone else have a basic skill they found out they were messing up?

3 comments

3 Comments

johnh821mo ago

Eh, is a muffled click really gonna crash the plane, @mila_craig4?

jana_henderson522mo ago

Ever think about how many other "right ways" we're doing wrong? Makes you wonder what else we've all been overthinking.

mila_craig41mo ago

That "overthinking" part really hits home, @jana_henderson52. We get stuck on finding the perfect answer when a good enough one works fine. It's like we're all scared to just pick a lane and go.