The torque wrench calibration sticker I ignored for years finally caught up with me

I used to think the 12 month calibration stickers were just a money grab from the tool truck guys. Ignored it for 3 years on my old Snap-On. Last Thursday I was torquing main bearing caps on a Cessna 172 engine. My beam style wrench said 55 ft-lbs but the new digital one I borrowed read 48. That's a 7 ft-lb difference. Could have been a catastrophic failure. I sent mine out for calibration the next morning. Cost me $65 but now I trust every fastener I touch. Anyone else skip the stickers or am I the only idiot who thought they knew better?

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1 Comment

seth_shah4d ago

So you trusted an out of spec wrench on aircraft hardware for three years? Man, I gotta ask, what made you finally check it against the digital one that day, was it just random or did something feel off on those main caps? Because I've got a clicker type that's probably due too, and I'm wondering if I'm about to learn this lesson the hard way.