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ChrisBennet ChrisBennet is offline
Irrationally exuberant
 
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Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Nashua, NH USA
Posts: 8,164
Garage
Quote:
Originally posted by old_skul
Sounds nice, but at 96 lb-feet (torque value for lugs), there's a +/- 3 lb variance. Is that acceptable? For lugs, sure...but what about my calipers?
I think 3% is pretty normal for a torque wrench, at least the clicker type.
I hate to sound like a broken record but I think torque values, as we generally use them, are a pretty crude measurement of how tight a fastener is. When you remember that something like 80% of the torque is used to overcome friction you realize that fastener condition and the lubricant used makes a huge difference. To put it another way, the wrench inaccuracy is much smaller than the error you introduce when you don't use a new fastener with the lube specified for that fastener.
The fact that wheels and fasteners don't fall off every day on cars makes me think that there is a wide allowable torque range on most fasteners.
-Chris

Last edited by ChrisBennet; 01-21-2003 at 01:21 PM..
Old 01-21-2003, 01:17 PM
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