A customer in Milwaukee told me my torque wrench clicks were too quiet to hear over shop noise.

I started adding a visual check with a paint marker on critical bolts after that, which has saved me from missing a few final clicks on suspension work.

3 comments

3 Comments

tyler_baker1mo ago

That paint marker trick is a band-aid on a bigger problem. Visual checks fail under grime or if the mark gets rubbed off during assembly. A torque wrench you can't hear in a shop is a broken tool, period. Relying on sight over the calibrated click is how critical fasteners get missed, especially when you're tired at the end of a long day. The real fix is getting a properly loud wrench or using a digital one with a buzzer.

terry_hayes182mo ago

So what's your visual check method?

ericjackson2mo ago

Yeah @terry_hayes18, I basically just look for anything that seems off or out of place. It's not a perfect system, but it catches most obvious stuff before a deeper check. You gotta trust your gut on the first visual pass.