Wasted $200 on a "certified" torque wrench from a guy on Facebook Marketplace

Thought I was being smart buying used... guy said it was calibrated last month. First job using it on a 737 flap actuator, torqued a bolt to specs and it snapped clean off. Took it to my normal tool guy and he tested it... was off by 15 foot-pounds. Lost the $200 plus had to redo the job on my own time. Any of you guys ever get burned on used tools from online listings?

2 comments

2 Comments

viola_cooper621mo ago

Actually 15 foot-pounds off isn't that crazy for a used wrench, but it's enough to snap smaller bolts on aircraft parts. You'd have better luck going through certified tool dealers that offer a warranty.

-1

brian_murray1mo ago

Whoa, hold on there. I gotta push back on that. Fifteen foot-pounds is a pretty big margin of error for something that's supposed to be precise, even on a used wrench. If you're torquing down a bolt that's supposed to be at 50, going to 65 is a 30 percent jump, that's not "not that crazy" in my book. And honestly, if you're working on anything that critical, you should be using a certified, freshly calibrated tool anyway, not rolling the dice on a craigslist find just because it has a warranty. Why take the risk when the cost of messing up could be way worse than the few bucks you saved?