[rgfinn76]

So was doing my tranny pan today and everything going as planned... Grab my torque wrench to torque the pan bolts in... 1st bolt going in fine real easy then I notice that it seems like its not clicking and SNAP!!!! Damn torque wrench is not working and over tightening the damn bolt..... The rest of the bolts I had to tighten by feel...

Now I'm going to have to drill and tap the snapped bolt out. Anyone ever have this happen to them? or I am the first idiot with a broken torque wrench!!

It not showing any signs of leak in that area...should be ok I'm guessing

[roadkillrob]

Bummer, I have had that happen (not doing my trans pan) but I have had a torque wrench stop working and broke a bolt as a result, good luck drilling and extracting! You should be ok with just one bolt missing for a bit I would imagine.

[nukezero]

torque on the oil pan and valve cover is like 6-8 ft-lbs no? Vast majority of crap torque wrenches do not operate with precision at the low of a ft-lb anyways. It's best to hand tight till it's snug and then + 90 degrees max. Then follow it up with a torque wrench. That way you know that the bolt is already 80% of the way there and the torque wrench shouldn't be cranking it down. The torque wrench is validate that the bolt is at the specified torque.

I had a harbor freight torque wrench. The 1/4" and 3/8" one. The 1/4" one is in inch-lbs so you would think it has a bit more precision. The valve cover called for 75in-lb or basically 6.5 ft-lb. I set the torque wrench to 80-inch lb and did the valve cover job. It did NOT feel tight at all. In fact, it felt snug/ok but I was worried about over-torquing and snapping the valve cover bolts anyways. 3 months later, the valve cover gasket started leaking again. I suspect it was the improper amount of torque. Even when I tried to re-torque it on the cold motor, the wrench still told me it was good at 75-80 inch lb.

I need to invest in a quality torque wrench as well that operates in the 5-10 ft-lb with high precision. It's always the bolts that call for the least torque that causes oil leaks.

[Fundguy1]

Craftsman

[rgfinn76]

Originally Posted by nukezero

torque on the oil pan and valve cover is like 6-8 ft-lbs no? Vast majority of crap torque wrenches do not operate with precision at the low of a ft-lb anyways. It's best to hand tight till it's snug and then + 90 degrees max. Then follow it up with a torque wrench. That way you know that the bolt is already 80% of the way there and the torque wrench shouldn't be cranking it down. The torque wrench is validate that the bolt is at the specified torque.

I had a harbor freight torque wrench. The 1/4" and 3/8" one. The 1/4" one is in inch-lbs so you would think it has a bit more precision. The valve cover called for 75in-lb or basically 6.5 ft-lb. I set the torque wrench to 80-inch lb and did the valve cover job. It did NOT feel tight at all. In fact, it felt snug/ok but I was worried about over-torquing and snapping the valve cover bolts anyways. 3 months later, the valve cover gasket started leaking again. I suspect it was the improper amount of torque. Even when I tried to re-torque it on the cold motor, the wrench still told me it was good at 75-80 inch lb.

I need to invest in a quality torque wrench as well that operates in the 5-10 ft-lb with high precision. It's always the bolts that call for the least torque that causes oil leaks.

Yep is 10nm which is about 8 ft lbs.... I was using the 3/8in harbor freight one that starts at 5 ft lbs. IM just concerned the other bolts I did by feel are ok. I just drove it pretty hard and going to let sit overnight and will check for leaks in the morning....

Let me tell you when it snapped, I literally was like NO WTF!!!!! I used all new bolts too I saved a couple old ones in case I need to fix any. Ill throw it up next weekend and drill the snapped one out.

On a positive note the transmission shifts smooth as butter again... It had a small leak for a couple months now and it was about 1.5 L low.

[Sshec152]

Snap-on tech angle torque wrench line and don't look back.

[sirdaft1]

This happened to me this past weekend when buttoning up my oil pan gasket. Someone said it was 8nM + 1/4 turn. Could. Not. Be. More. Wrong. That was WAY too much torque. I had my drill and tap ready. But didnt need it since I was the able to use a tiny tiny flathead screwdriver and push it around to spin it out. Give that a whirl first.

[ssdara]

Originally Posted by rgfinn76

So was doing my tranny pan today and everything going as planned... Grab my torque wrench to torque the pan bolts in... 1st bolt going in fine real easy then I notice that it seems like its not clicking and SNAP!!!! Damn torque wrench is not working and over tightening the damn bolt..... The rest of the bolts I had to tighten by feel...

Now I'm going to have to drill and tap the snapped bolt out. Anyone ever have this happen to them? or I am the first idiot with a broken torque wrench!!

It not showing any signs of leak in that area...should be ok I'm guessing

Some don't click at low ranges, they just jerk without the click. You will feel it not hear it.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Harbor freight torque wrench is the answer... and believe me I like harbor freight when you're in a pinch but there is nothing precision about their product offerings. Most torque wrenches don't do well under a certain range unless they are specifically for low range torque applications. They usually won't go much past 30 ft lbs if they are made for low torque.

[NoSlow5oh]

I've bought a torque wrench from harbor freight before. It was in no way, shape, or form reliable within 50% of what you were trying to torque to.

[b1mmr]

kind of unrelated but never store a torque wrench with any setting above the minimum

sorry to hear about the bolt

[BeastMode335i]

Had this happen when doing VCG, snapped the very last bolt off into the head.. Luckily I was able to tap and reverse it out and throw in a new bolt from the new VC.. Good luck..

[Andrew1989]

Bummer sauce dude. I broke a stud for a frame slider off in my motorcycle frame before and had to drill and tap it. Fucking aluminum.

[rgfinn76]

Update... I couldn't wait till the weekend knowing I was missing one bolt in my tranny pan lol... Anyway I started to drill but the damn bit kept running off to the side, tried different size bits but no luck... So as someone suggested above I took a tiny flat header screwed tapped it with a hammer a little and was able to turn it back out... Took a lot of patience but got the lil faker out!!

In regards to the torque wrench at that low setting it works its just you have to feel for the click as the sound if very faint...

All is good now!! Time to Tune MHD V7 Wooohooo!!

[Figure807]

I always use a beam-type torque wrench with low numbers because they are usually more accurate. Your issue with a failed clicker just gives me another reason to keep on doing it.

[JasW]

Originally Posted by nukezero

torque on the oil pan and valve cover is like 6-8 ft-lbs no? Vast majority of crap torque wrenches do not operate with precision at the low of a ft-lb anyways. It's best to hand tight till it's snug and then + 90 degrees max. Then follow it up with a torque wrench. That way you know that the bolt is already 80% of the way there and the torque wrench shouldn't be cranking it down. The torque wrench is validate that the bolt is at the specified torque.

I had a harbor freight torque wrench. The 1/4" and 3/8" one. The 1/4" one is in inch-lbs so you would think it has a bit more precision. The valve cover called for 75in-lb or basically 6.5 ft-lb. I set the torque wrench to 80-inch lb and did the valve cover job. It did NOT feel tight at all. In fact, it felt snug/ok but I was worried about over-torquing and snapping the valve cover bolts anyways. 3 months later, the valve cover gasket started leaking again. I suspect it was the improper amount of torque. Even when I tried to re-torque it on the cold motor, the wrench still told me it was good at 75-80 inch lb.

I need to invest in a quality torque wrench as well that operates in the 5-10 ft-lb with high precision. It's always the bolts that call for the least torque that causes oil leaks.

Forget ft-lbs, you need to find a better in-lb torque wrench for sensitivity -- 20-200 in-lbs. No matter how low you can set them, with a ft-lb torque wrench the bolts will just keep spinning and you just put more torque on the bolt. I'd guess the problem was Harbor Freight quality or lack thereof, not the fact that it was an in-lb wrench.