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Old 12-20-08, 11:54 AM   #23 (permalink)
Tinker
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Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Larkspur, CO
Posts: 2,566
My uncle was an airplane mechanic during WWII: he told me torque wrenches made a monkey out of him more than once. Bolts, nuts, & studs develop burrs & rough spots over time & believing the torque wrench leads to under-tightening things.

All the pro mechanics I know tighten incidental items like VCs, OPs, etc. by feel, & the big things (heads, rod caps, mains) by torque wrench. If you follow what the FSM says about replacing certain fasteners and torque values by size & pitch of thread you really can't go wrong on these tractors.

I have a Crapsman click-stop 1/2" torque wrench & have had it re-calibrated once. Pretty cheap & worth it IMHO. Used a friend's in/lb Snap-On for the intake manifold gasket on my Vortec. Pretty snazzy with a vibrate/beep annunciator IIRC. Doubt if I'll buy one, though.

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