That old-timer told me to never use a cheater bar on a torque wrench

Borrowed a 3/8 snap-on from the new guy to finish a job on a Cessna landing gear and put a 3-foot pipe on it thinking I knew better. Snapped the head clean off inside the bolt hole and had to drill it out for 2 hours in the rain. Has anyone else had a senior mechanic's rule come back to bite you after ignoring it?

2 comments

2 Comments

cora_perez3d ago

Ah yeah, "never use a cheater bar on a torque wrench" is pretty solid advice, but I'm gonna gently push back on one thing. You said you "snapped the head clean off inside the bolt hole" but torque wrenches don't really have heads that snap off inside holes. What actually happens is the internal mechanism breaks or the square drive twists off, leaving the socket stuck on the bolt. I've done almost the exact same thing on a truck's suspension bolts, put a 2-foot breaker bar on a cheap click-type wrench and felt that terrible clunk when the ratcheting mechanism gave out. Had to chisel the socket off and replace the whole bolt. So yeah, the rule stands, just wanted to clarify what actually breaks so nobody tries to drill out a stuck torque wrench head that isn't really there.

ivan2303d ago

Bet you a dollar half these "heads snapped off" stories are really just the socket getting seized on there and the guy panicking with a drill. You can almost always tap the socket off with a punch from the backside if the bolt's still sticking out.