Most of the time (and for 50+ years) I have used an "Armstrong torque wrench" (known in some circles as a "mexican torque wrench"). On things that I consider especially important I use a beam torque wrench - I have no use for wrenches with bells and whisles or phone apps / blue tooth. KISS works....
I have had numerous surgeries on my hands due to arthritis, carpal tunnel and ganglion cysts. I had my Surgeon set my right hand at 15 pounds and the left one at 25. They click and send a nice nerve impulse to let me know I have it. Over 25 pounds I use a torque wrench.
The crow’s foot will offset the geometry of the torque wrench making the process invalid. Unless you know how to apply the formula for displaced bolt center as it relates to the torque circle.
Been there done all of that! If I had a dollar for every surgery I've had, I could pay someone to wrench for me.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day. The kind of person who uses a torque wrench to tighten a spark plug would never accept the margin of error considering the ratchet pawl is highly unlikely to nest in a position where the crow foot is exactly at a 90 degree angle from the body of the ratchet. I’m sticking with tightness feel, because it’s ok for a guy to have feelings.
I’ve used gootentite for tightening a lot things, spark plugs included. Never had a problem even on OT Furds.
Crosley 3/8 reach [total w/o gasket] 14mm plug 250 in. lbs. max, so 20 ft. lbs. The rod bolts torque that much.. When I was a kid I rebuilt a Crosley engine, one rod bolt nut would only go to about 18 lbs, I could feel the no gaining. Had my brother try it and he felt the same. Put the Pal nut on and ran it, i.e. beat the crap out of it and never came apart.
Every thread and every thread size has a recommended amount of torque, if for no other reason than to give the average nut installer a rough idea of what will keep the nut tight without twisting the bolt or stud in half. A manufacturer of a high grade fastener may create his own recommendation for use with his product. There is a wide range in how tight someones elbow tight compares with someone elses elbow tight feel. Guys with big arm muscles tend to over tighten.....wimps tend to under tighten. Still the number of tightened bolts by feel is about a quadrazillion t0 1 vs the number actually torqued properly.....and for the most part we seldom have any real problem. There are certain jobs that we do where concerns about correct torque are usually a pretty obvious need. Most people will use a torque wrench when the circumstance dictates it. Working on aircraft, especially military aircraft, its best to use a torque wrench, but then they usually include some type of locking nut or safety wire. If you are safety wiring a nut, its not likely you would get a perfect torque reading exactly when the nut lines up with hole in the bolt. My son told me about working as a jet engine mechanic in the air force. One day he saw a guy (equal or senior in rank) assembling an expensive component and the guy was putting it in backwards. He politely mentioned to the guy that it should face the other way when installed. Apparently instead of appreciating the suggestion, the guy got rather mouthy. So my son went about his business, and the fellow proceeded as before. When the engine went to the test stand, it immediately failed and ruined several other expensive components. They had an investigation and pinpointed the problem.....the part was installed backwards.....and the mechanic was on the hot seat. The reason I mention this is that even a trained professional can make mistakes, so in aircraft they obviously have to attempt to make everyone as consistent as possible............with cars, most things can be done with a wide variation of tight enuff.
For castellated nuts there is a torque range. First you tighten to the low end of the range, then check for hole alignment. If you can’t get the cotter pin in, you can tighten up to the maximum torque to achieve alignment.
The formula is not at all difficult. Most don't even need to use it. Even a pretty basic digital torque wrench allows you to program the offset. All you need to do is measure it and enter it.
I would guess if I just spent big dollars on a trick set of heads and they suggested a torque spec on the spark plugs. I would do it the way they suggested. Up to now I have never needed to do that.
Hello, Our experiences started with a torque wrench with a lever showing pointed marks on a dial. When it got to the listed number by the pointer, we stopped pushing. That was ok, since there was nothing else and it was a step up from guessing how tight the screw/bolt or nut was attached. It was not the most efficient way to tighten down those items that needed tightening to specifics. It was a velvet touch versus gorilla grip strength in most cases. The click version was much more accurate than watching the needle move to a number. For that earlier model, it was the only game in town, so that was it. But, when the "click once" handle version came on the scene, it took over everything we were doing in our backyard garage. Then a new torque wrench came out with a click to notify one has reached the listed torque number. Now, that was a good one and we immediately stopped. So, for the rest of our hot rod days and then into daily driver up keep later on, the click torque wrench was the most useful tool in our box. When it came time for different ways to tighten various items on our desert racing motorcycles, at the beginning, our plugs were being replaced many times over. So, being out on a 40 mile desert course in dusty conditions and a motor that won't start, well... that is not how I envisioned "racing." So, we got the smallest model of a click torque wrench and put it in my backpack, along with water and snacks. The conditions out in the desert continued until we installed a dual plug head and created our own version of spark plug cleaning. When one plug got fouled as I was in the middle of a bunch of racers, I started to lose power. But, then I flicked a switch to move the spark to the other spark plug in the head. Now, the motor instantly sparked and continued to run for another 10-20 miles. If it happened again, the switch was flicked over and the old fouled plug was now clean from all of the spark from the second spark plug. That went on until I eventually ended up in the pits, before the next 40 mile course for round 2. Jnaki We did the “pay it forward” thing and gave away the click torque wrench to a friend who was a car mechanic. We had gone into a discussion about tightening nuts and bolts as well as intricate engine parts and yes, sparkplugs. When we finished, I surprised him by offering the click style torque wrench as a necessary tool. He had an old one that got over used and broke. He was in the market for a new one with more features, but he loved that old style “click” unit as it was the most accurate version of torque wrenches. Yes, the digital ones are a step into more technology and sounds great, the history is listed as having more accuracy and has other features. So, is the skipped beat a feature of over tightening? For me as an old hot rod guy, a one click feature is all that was needed back then and the tightening was great to perfect… YRMV
If the OP did the same thing with a 80$ ratchet and had the same results, I wonder if the thread would be shorter Personally I never considered using a TW on plugs, but why not? Seems like a good idea to me.
With age, I have lost my feel that I used to have. I torque almost everything now. I'd rather know I did my best than take a chance on old body parts. Between rounds thrashing on a blown alky car didn't require you to check every bolt but as I stated, I can't feel the difference between 40 and 50 lbs. anymore.
I do put anti seize on all my spark plugs, especially on aluminum heads! I didn’t mention it earlier because I was afraid Gimpy would lose sleep over the thought Just kidding
I'm with a lot of you. I would break out a torque wrench for the stuff I felt was important, which would help 'calibrate' my pull when not using it. I also was wrenching 6 days a week, and got to the point where I could pull down an intake, then check with a torque wrench and it was within 5%. By checking, I mean I'd tighten by hand, then go back with the torque wrench and note angle, loosen and then pull to correct torque and check the angle. I don't do it nearly as much now, so tend to use it more often on stuff. To those that say everything should have a calibrated tightness, I wonder if each and every thread is perfect, clean and lightly lubed, and every fastener has been certified as correct material! My old stuff wouldn't pass those standards every time! I understand torque to yield, but I'm not a fan. I'd rather have it over engineered and possible to clamp too much. Aluminum head with steel studs? Make the head strong enough to handle it and the block strong enough to not go out of round.
I purchased calibrated torque wrenches with crows foot that we used to tightened automotive refrigerant fittings. Not sure how it was done, but was an industry standard tool.
As an example I just installed an aluminum intake on a 318 called for 35 ft lb . I snugged up with a 3/8 ratchet and socket and thought I was getting close. Switched to a torque wrench Nope not even close or very even I was at a little less than 20 and as much as 25 ft lb. I don’t spin wrenches as much as I used to and have some mild arthritis. However I installed the plugs with just a 3/8 ratchet and socket and I’m not worried about it. Dan
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