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Talked to a 30-year Delta mechanic who said he never uses a torque wrench on brake lines
He told me he just tightens them by feel and has never had a leak in 30 years, which made me wonder if I'm overthinking this whole torque spec thing or if he's just been lucky that long.
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dakota_murphy908d agoMost Upvoted
Funny enough, I tried the "feel" method once on my old truck's brake line and let's just say my driveway turned into a miniature oil slick. That guy's either got magic fingers or the luck of the devil, because I've never met a line that didn't eventually need a proper torque to stay sealed. I think it also depends on the type of fittings he's using, some are way more forgiving than others. But for me, I'll stick with the wrench, my knuckles have been through enough.
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jamie7948d ago
Gotta push back a little here - I've been using the feel method on brass and nickel plated fittings for years and never had a leak. Maybe it's just the type of line you're working with, but on softer metals you can actually feel the crush happen and that's usually enough. Some of this stuff is so thin a torque wrench will just strip it clean before you even realize what happened.
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