Saturday, February 7, 2009
The delicate art of the torque wrench
One tool that is a complete must-have when it comes to working on cars and bikes is the torque wrench. Don't skimp on the price either - get a decent one and it will last for years. Having said that, you also need to get matched parts for it, by which I mean the driver bits, sockets and heads. I was over at a friend's house this afternoon and he was working on the brakes on his Moto Guzzi. As he came to tighten the final bolt on the brake caliper mount, the torque wrench suddenly became very loose. We both thought he'd stripped a thread, but it turned out that the socket set he was using was a 7mm hex head on a 1/8 inch mount. That was attached to the torque wrench with a 1/4 inch adapter. The 1/8 inch driver just didn't have the strength to deal with the torque he applied to it, and it literally shattered. I'm home now and he's off to our local tools emporium to but a 7mm hex driver on a 1/4 inch mount....
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