Originally Posted by Sniper
Anyone that thinks they can tell how tight something is torqued "by hand" is fooling themselves.



I'm not so sure that applies to all people. When I was going to college I worked part time at the local Chrysler dealer. One thing I did was new car pre-delivery preparation (dealer prep). One of the items on the checklist was to make sure the front wheel bearings were adjusted properly, So I was working on a new car and had the torque wrench out adjusting the front wheel bearings as per the FSM procedure. The senior mechanic walked over and asked me what I was doing. Told him, he laughed that you could do that by hand, didn't need a torque wrench. This is 1974 and I'm young, dumb, and headstrong so I proceed to tell him it can't be done. Now this is a guy that has worked on Mopars since 1947 and has done it all. So it ended up in a challenge. I'd do it by the book and he'd do it his way and we'd compare. So I set one side and make a small dimple on the nut so you could tell position. Loosened it up and he had a go at it (I covered the dimple with a bit of grease) and......he ended up in EXACTLY the same spot. I never questioned him again and over the next year I learned a lot from that old fart. Passed away about 20 years go. Great loss of talent. Sometime I'll tell the story about replacing the casting plug in the end of a 383 head...with the engine in the car....on the end that faces the firewall...without removing the head.


"We live in a time when intelligent people are being silenced so that stupid people won't be offended".