Appreciation post: An old timer at the Detroit Diesel plant set me straight on torque specs

I was putting together a Series 60 head and thought I could just go by feel, but this guy named Carl saw me and said 'Kid, you're gonna warp that deck if you don't follow the 50-75-100 ft-lb sequence exactly.' He made me redo it with his calibrated wrench. Now I always use a torque wrench and the factory manual, no shortcuts. What's one piece of advice that changed your basic routine?

3 comments

3 Comments

sam_anderson28d ago

Got to love the old guys who actually know what they're doing. Sounds like Carl saved you a huge headache and a very expensive block of metal. My version of that was learning to never trust a zip tie on a refrigerant line. Saw a guy try it once, line vibrated right through the tie and dumped a full charge. Now I always use the proper clamps, even if it takes an extra five minutes. Some lessons you only need to learn once.

hannahmurray28d ago

Seems a bit over the top for a simple zip tie, doesn't it?

skylerc861d ago

Carl sounds like the kind of guy who's seen it all. Reminds me of a time I watched a new guy skip the crush washer on an oil drain plug because he was in a hurry. Made a huge mess overnight, and the boss made him clean the whole bay floor. @sam_anderson is right about learning some things once, that was definitely one of them. Now I check every single washer, even if the parts guy says it's in the box.