Search forum for number of thread about crank arms falling off. Then decide for yourself.
I just installed new cranks on my tandem last night. Crank bolts are 40-50Nm and I set it at 44Nm because that's a convenient spot on my wrench.
Doing it by feel, (and I've been an F-18 mechanic) I would have still probably made it too loose without the torque wrench.
Originally Posted by
JonathanGennick
FWIW, I've never quite bought into that whole "get a feel for the torque" argument. My issue with that is that the leverage on my torque wrenches is far different from that on my hex-head wrenches. I don't see how one can transfer the "feel" of 80 inch-pounds from a foot-long torque wrench to a five-inch hex-wrench with any accuracy. Just MHO.
When we learned about torque wrenches in A school, they had a chart from on of the tool makers that showed the results of "feel". Amateur mechanics on the whole tend to under torque things far more often and experience mechanics usually over torqued. Very few got the torque in the range specified by "feel". Humans aren't good at that.