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My lead hand said he stopped using torque wrenches on brake bleeder screws and I'm still thinking about it
He claimed he just goes by feel after 22 years on CRJs at the Ogden hangar and hasn't stripped one yet. Anyone else heard old timers say this, or is he just lucky?
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the_henry19d ago
That "just goes by feel after 22 years" line is the part that gets people in trouble. I've watched guys do this on brake bleeder screws and honestly it works for them because their hands are calibrated after decades of the same fitting on the same plane. But here's the thing, they're feeling for the point right before the metal gives, and that takes thousands of repetitions to learn. Your lead hand at Ogden has probably touched that exact bleeder a few hundred times. You haven't. And it's not just about stripping the screw, it's about not getting it snug enough so it weeps fluid under pressure. I've seen that happen more than stripped threads. If you're gonna skip the torque wrench, at least be honest with yourself about which one of you has the muscle memory.
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