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Had a pilot swear by this old-school torque wrench trick for years
Honestly, I thought it was just hangar talk until I saw a guy at the MRO in Phoenix use a Sharpie on the drive square to spot-check for movement under load. Ngl, it actually works for a quick visual on those awkward firewall bracket bolts. Anyone have other simple tricks like that for verifying torque in tight spots?
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kaid599d ago
My buddy Dave worked on Black Hawks at Fort Rucker. He told me about using a strip of masking tape on the wrench handle, marked with a line from the handle onto the fastener head. If the line stays straight when you pull, you know the head isn't turning and you're actually stretching the bolt. He used that on rotor head bolts all the time. It's the same basic idea as your Sharpie trick, just for a different angle where you can't see the drive square. Cheap and it works.
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henrycooper9d ago
Read that tape trick from @kaid59. Makes total sense for rotor bolts. So for a really confined space, like a deep well behind an instrument panel, where you can't see the bolt head or the drive square at all, what's the move? Do you just go by feel and the click, or is there another low-tech check? I've heard of guys listening for the pitch change in the wrench click on final torque.
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riley_schmidt9d ago
Kaid59's tape trick works, but for pure feel, try a stubby wrench with a knurled handle.
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