I’ve a decent Sealey torque wrench (3-15Nm or thereabouts) which I’ve used for years, however, since I’m aware that torque wrenches tend to be most inaccurate at the at the extreme of their range I asked my Wife to get me a Topeak Torque Bar DX for my birthday which uses preset 4, 5 & 6Nm torque sleeves. I’ve changed over some bars today and used the 4Nm sleeve for my faceplate bolts.

Whenever I’ve used the clicker wrench I’ve tended to double check the bolts with the wrench and once it’s clicked once, it always clicks straight away when rechecking the bolts’ torque. I noticed with the torque sleeve that it moves the bolt on 1/8 – 1/4 of a turn before subsequently clicking again each time I recheck a bolt, meaning that over-torque the bolt and additional amount each time.

The only way therefore that I can see to accurately use the sleeves is to start with a bolt that known to be below torque and apply constant pressure until the sleeve clicks; in the end I went back to using my old torque wrench as it seemed more reliable.

Am I doing something wrong here?

Never used that type of torque sleeves so can’t help you there.  I can tell you that in the aviation industry they would hang you by your #$@& if you double clicked a fastener with the torque wrench.  Some manufacturers also say to avoid doing it. I suspect that what you are seeing from the sleeves is why.  Possibly the mechanism in your click type wrench is a bit worn, which is why it doesn’t (appear) to move the fastener.

If you like to recheck, I would suggest a beam type or digital would probably be more to your taste.

the aviation industry they would hang you by your #$@& if you double clicked a fastener with the torque wrench.

I suspect that the aviation industry would hand me by my #$@& for a variety of my mechanical foibles (severe OCD means checking tends to be one of a number of things I struggle with); it’s probably a good thing I don’t work on planes!

With regards to the torque sleeves, I may have misunderstood how they work. On closer inspection it appears that when the appropriate torque is reached the outer part of the sleeve (and therefore the bar) continues to turn for a while prior to clicking, but breaks away from the inner part holding the bit; consequently although the bar turns, the bit (and the bolt) does not! I would imagine therefore that the preset torque sleeves (4, 5 & 6Nm) will be a bit more accurate that the wrench as hoped.

I use a JCool torque sleeve and it doesn’t click, just slips round once you reach the set torque.

I didn’t know that double clicking should be avoided. On multiple bolt fasteners, I’ve always done it on the basis that the later bolts may settle the joint a bit tighter and thus require retightening the earlier ones (despite doing them incrementally and in a pattern).

For a double click i always leave it a few Nm below the required on my settings. I was doing caliper bolts (motorbike) recently and they’re 45Nm, so i set it to 41 and double click.

Never used that type of torque sleeves so can’t help you there. I can tell you that in the aviation industry they would hang you by your #$@& if you double clicked a fastener with the torque wrench.

No they wouldn’t, 16 years building and testing aircraft engines, certain critical components had to have triple torque checks done on them.

Strictly speaking, assuming the torque wrench is accurate or calibrated you should only hear a single click as a second or more could over tighten, depending on the wrench design

I would firstly check your torque sleeves against your torque wrench, connect them together and adjust the torque wrench until you work out what torque the sleeve is slipping at. Then you should be able to work out what they are actually doing and if the sleeve is repeating the setting, if not send them back.

Once a fastener is at torque unless something is knackered or the wrong spec then the point it is torqued to won’t change and won’t keep tightening down. You should be able to click away to your heart’s content as it won’t be going beyond the material limits… unless it’s something like a stretch bolt.

It seems some people are confusing repeating torque check click (allowing the torque limiter to reset before next application) with carrying on tightening after the setting and ignoring the indicated torque.

you should only hear a single click

Yes, but the double click the OP refers to is because he backs off, then checks torque again, it’s not a double click from one continuous movement.

Tbh OP, you’re probably over thinking it a bit, even if a torque wrench is 10% out of calibration, worst case scenario you’re gonna torque say a stem bolt to 5.5Nm instead of 5Nm.

PJay, make sure you never loosen a bolt with those torque sleeves. You might already know is this, but apparently using them in reverse will mess up the torque setting.

One of the issues I’ve found with the Topeak torque sleeves is that the click is really subtle and quiet, and could be missed if there is background noise etc. My small torque wrench has a much more noticeable click.

Thanks all; as with my second post I think that it was simply a case of not realising that the torque sleeves slip when the preset torque is reached rather than simply clicking (like my wrench); I was equating movement of the bar with movement of the bit and bolt, which wasn’t happening (when I was re-checking the bolts the sleeve slipped about 1/4 turn before clicking and I assumed I was over torquing them).

Tbh OP, you’re probably over thinking it a bit,

Undoubtedly; it’s not the first time and probably won’t be the last (I can get a bit anal about getting things just right) but at least I have a nice new tool to play about with.

@Pembo6 – I didn’t know that, so thanks (although I’ve heard that you shouldn’t loosen bolts with a torque wrench either for the same reason).

Aye, you’re not really supposed to use the torque wrench as a ratchet, ie to loosen off, also supposed to return it to zero when you’re done as well.

No they wouldn’t, 16 years building and testing aircraft engines, certain critical components had to have triple torque checks done on them.

I’ll see your 16 years and raise you a combined 114 person years of building and designing aviation stuff including engines and the conclusion is you never double click.  If you must recheck, it is done with a digital, beam or degree wrench.

I’d be interested to know what click type torque wrench set you use though, as I said many  manufacturers of click type wrenches specifically warn against using their wrenches to double click.

<span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>I didn’t know that double clicking should be avoided. On multiple bolt fasteners, I’ve always done it on the basis that the later bolts may settle the joint a bit tighter and thus require retightening the earlier ones (despite doing them incrementally and in a pattern).</span>

A tech doc for one maker of torque wrenches, I forget which, said you had to exercise the wrench at least six times at the required setting before using it on the fastener to avoid different amounts.  Although I also wondered about the difference between the early fasteners seating the part and the later ones being easier.

not realising that the torque sleeves slip when the preset torque is reached rather than simply clicking

Apologies OP, I didn’t think to !mention how torque sleeves worked.  If you ever see one on an impact wrench, you’d see immediately.

I’ll see your 16 years and raise you a combined 114 person years of building and designing aviation stuff including engines and the conclusion is you never double click.  If you must recheck, it is done with a digital, beam or degree wrench.

My point is that there’s no such thing as ‘the aviation industry does this’ as there’s such a diversity across the sector. I’ve seen aviation overhaul shops that never had torque wrenches, or even bloody manuals.

It was common practice in GE aviation to ‘buddy check’ as it meant two or even three people would check the torque applied, and electronically sign to say they’d complied too. This meant confidence and traceability too.

Maybe you’re just  getting confused, 114 years is a ling shift….. 😉😆

114 years is a ling shift…

True.  Long lunch break, spend at least a 1/3 reading STW, it’s not so bad.

Such diversity across the sector

Also true. Mimagine my surprise when, surrounded by aviation guys from different roles/companies/sectors and one ex car guy, who worked in all sorts of places (mostly high end/custom/lower level racing), I double clicked and they responded in unison, in almost exactly the same language, none of which can be printed here, that I shouldn’t ever do that again.

I double clicked and they responded in unison

Can you clarify which meaning of ‘double click’, as discussed further up the thread, you mean here? That is, did you apply torque until the wrench clicked twice, or did you revisit the fastener after already having torqued it to one click? I’m not criticising, I just want to understand.

He means click, stop ‘pushing’ and then click again. All done very quickly, so that it sounds like a double click.

If you keep pushing all in one movement, it will only click once, and then just keep torqueing, it won’t click twice.

Was always snap on we used Olly. I’m in Pharma now, hate watching folk using shifters and hardly a torque wrench in sight! 🙄🤣

I’m intrigued by this no double clicking business. Can anyone give a good engineering reason why not to? Not just “everyone says no”

I served a pretty comprehensive apprenticeship many years ago spending a lot of time building military engines and have never heard of it.

If using a good quality calibrated wrench there should be no reason not to trust the first click, but I know I have been guilty of double checking on the odd occasion. And when I have double clicked I have never seen the bolt head physically turn any further. If it did, I would begin to doubt the reliability of my wrench.

Seems likely to me that this is a rule to save the tool. These things only have a finite number of clicks in them before they loose calibration, so if you double click everytime you are halving the working life of an expensive tool.

Can you clarify which meaning of ‘double click’,

What no beer said.  I don’t think you can maintain pressure on the wrench and get it to click twice if it is working properly.

As it was explained to me – it will decalibrate ( is that a word?).the wrench and cause the fastener to be wrongly tightened.  I think that the restriction is on the double click, because it is the speed at which the two clicks occur not tighten – go for lunch – come back and check again.  That’s fine afaik.

You wouldn’t see the fastener ‘stretch’ before the end actually visibly turns.

Brake calipers are assembled using first a torque wrench then finished with a degree wrench so that you get exactly the right amount of stretch regardless of the torque required to get there.

OK, it may be possible that a speedy double click could alter the calibration. I wouldn’t know to be honest. Never even occured to me that someone would do it that way. What I mean is e.g. torquing a series of bolts to torque and then going back over them again and giving them another click to check so there is a certain time period between each click.

“You wouldn’t see the fastener ‘stretch’ before the end actually visibly turns.” Really?? I would say the opposite; you would have to have more turn for further stretch to occur. Hence angle torquing.

I should have said – the click type wrench usually refers to the type where you get a click from the spring ball detente system but which remain able to turn the fastener after the click.  They click occurs a couple/ few degrees after the setting is reached because the mechanism starts to release to click, there is a bit more motion and then it actually releases. If you do it slowly and have good feel you can probably feel it.  So you can a) turn the bolt a bit more each time you use the wrench even though the torque setting is the same due to the lag and b) depends how good you are at stopping the pressure when you hear the click

There is another type, called can over or something, can’t recall exactly, anyway, it releases when it clicks and goes slack so you can’t keep turning the fastener after the mechanism is triggered.

Yep, cam over. Fair enough, sounds plausible.

Interesting discussion, every days a school day. 😊

I’m not an expert I just know some – they tell me that angle torqueing measures stretch, torque wrench measure stretch via friction and the extra step introduces all sorts of error possibilities.

Also Boeing used to require people to be “torque wrench certified” before they were allowed to use one.  And if checking was required it should be done with a dial wrench.

Don’t know what the “hammer certified”test is like though.

From the Norbar website

”

2.     For accurate results, one click is enough

Users often allow torque wrenches to click multiple times, without being aware of the additional torque being applying to the bolts. Operate your torque wrench in a smooth and steady manner and remember that one click is enough.”

Although, I have a nice calibrated Norbar wrench and the manual doesn’t mention this at all.