Over torque / Under torque

Sep 11, 2003 10 Replies
W

Hi all,



I have two torque wrenches, one which has a much higher increment range than the other. When I first torqued my Harmonic Balancer down to 120 pounds I used the lower increment wrench. Then I loosened it up to do something else and when I torqued it down again I used the higher increment wrench. When I used the higher increment wrench it seemed like it took a lot more force to reach 120 pounds. In fact, I don't believe I actually made it to 120. When I did it with the lower increment wrench I did get it to 120 with ease.


I'm afraid I have over torqued the Harmonic Balancer Bolt (to the crank). My question is what are the ramifications of over torquing a bolt or under torquing a bolt. I'm guessing it's better to under torque than over torque.



Thanks in advance for any comments or suggestions,



Bill


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W

Hey, you're right. One is in Inch Pounds and the other is in Foot Pounds.

When do you use the Inch Pounds wrench?

I believe I used the Foot Pounds wrench for all my torquing. This includes the Intake/Exhaust Manifold, The valve bridge, and the Harmonic Balancer.

Thanks in advance,

Bill

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J

Lucky guess eh? :) Well, an inch-lbs. torque wrench is just used for much smaller hardware that can't take a lot of torque yet they must be tightened evenly or precisely. Though this may seem like a no-brainer, 144 inch-lbs =

12 ft-lbs... and 12 inch-lbs = 1 ft-lb. Just so no one thinks there is anything tricky about it. :)

Jerry

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J

I don't even own an inch-lbs. torque wrench, both my 3/8" and 1/2" torque wrenches are both calibrated in ft-lbs. I have worked on nothing in a Jeep that needs to be tightened in inch-lbs. increments.

Jerry

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M

Only the valve cover bolts...

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Jerry Bransford wrote:

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J

I use my finely honed sense of what a "good tightness" is for valve cover bolts. A 1/4" drive makes that task an easy one.

Jerry

-- Jerry Bransford To email, remove 'me' from my email address KC6TAY, PP-ASEL See the Geezer Jeep at

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D

true, can't see anyone stripping that, and the torque wrench wouldn't go up high enough.

Dave Milne, Scotland '99 TJ 4.0 Sahara

: > Dave Milne, Scotland : > '99 TJ 4.0 Sahara : >

: >

: : : -- : Will Honea

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O

Valve cover bolts = 1 white knuckle Lug nuts = 2 white knuckles Harmonic dampener = 3 white knuckles Track bar = 4 whi.. er.. oh my God it's gonna sli... f#@*!!!

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