My torque wrench lied to me on a 737 rudder cable

Last Tuesday I was tensioning a rudder cable on a 737 and my click-type torque wrench didn't click until I was way past spec. Ended up snapping a washer off the turnbuckle. Turns out the internal spring had rusted from moisture sitting in my box over the winter. Got a digital one from the shop now and I check it against the calibration log every 30 days. Any of y'all had a torque tool fail on you like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

dakota_murphy902mo agoMost Upvoted

69 dollars for a digital torque wrench?

joseph5291mo ago

Seventy nine bucks for a digital torque wrench? Man, that's crazy cheap. I just paid almost four hundred for a Snap-On digital and thought I got a decent deal. The store I go to has the cheap ones on the bottom shelf but I figured they'd fall apart after a few uses. That's wild if it actually holds calibration. I'd be worried about the internal electronics getting moisture in them too though. Did you check if it has any kind of weather seal around the buttons?

owens.willow2mo ago

That's a good point about moisture, but have you checked if the seal on your box is actually keeping humidity out? A lot of guys don't realize that even a "sealed" toolbox can breathe moisture in if the room temp changes.