Vent: The constant misuse of torque wrenches on LRU connectors

I keep seeing guys at my hangar in Tampa just crank down on D-sub connectors like they're tightening a lug nut. The spec sheet for a standard 9-pin connector is 15 inch-pounds, not 'good and tight'. I had to re-pin three of them last month because someone crushed the backshells. Does anyone actually use a torque screwdriver for avionics anymore, or am I the only one?

3 comments

3 Comments

wright.drew1mo ago

Learned that lesson the hard way too, just like @patricia905 said, cause I used to crank them down until I had to chase a ghost fault for three days straight.

wright.drew1mo ago

You mentioned the crushed backshells... that's the real cost people ignore. It's not just about the pin you're working on right then. Over-torquing warps the whole connector body, messing up the alignment for every single pin in there. So now you get weird, intermittent faults that are a nightmare to chase down later. The next guy has to troubleshoot a ghost problem you created months ago. That torque spec is there to protect the whole assembly, not just the one screw you're turning.

patricia9051mo ago

Ghost problem" is right, I've definitely been that next guy chasing my own bad work from last year.