Tried using a cheap torque adapter from Harbor Freight on a critical bolt and it snapped clean off at 45 foot-pounds

I was torquing down a cylinder head on a Lycoming O-320 last Tuesday and the adapter broke, which could have ruined the whole engine if I hadn't caught it mid-crank; has anyone else had a bad experience with those budget torque tools on aircraft work?

3 comments

3 Comments

evan_campbell8d agoTop Commenter

Blew through a cheap plastic torque wrench on my car's lug nuts once (just trying to snug them up a bit, nothing crazy) and it snapped like a twig. Makes you wonder why we gamble on gear like that when the stakes are way higher than saving twenty bucks.

xena_brown508d ago

Wait, didn't you know cheap tools have built in self-destruct buttons? Honestly, I've seen harbor freight stuff fail just from looking at it wrong. Tbh, we all do it because nobody wants to drop $150 on a torque wrench they might use twice a year. Ngl though, watching your wheel nearly fly off on the highway kind of makes that $20 savings feel real stupid real fast.

felix8248d ago

Yeah I get what you're saying but honestly I've had a $20 torque wrench for like 8 years and it's still dead on accurate, I check it against a beam type every so often. Maybe I just got lucky but sometimes the cheap stuff works fine if you're not cranking on it like a gorilla.