Help! What are these...

Eldi_Dos

Rodders53 said:

Eldi_Dos said:

If torque wrenches are only meant to be used for tightening bolts why do they have a switch for reversing direction

Left hand threads!

Or when you make your final adjustments after checking with a level, if you are working in a confined space or at height or remote location you do not take the whole workshop with you but the tools required to do the job and it is perfectly acceptable to use a torque wrench to undo bolts, anyone who suggested they were going to walk two miles back to the van to get a wrench to slacken off a bolt would have got short shrift.

BadgerMother

Thanks all. Some helpful suggestions and ideas to try there. 

Section62

Eldi_Dos said:

Or when you make your final adjustments after checking with a level, if you are working in a confined space or at height or remote location you do not take the whole workshop with you but the tools required to do the job and it is perfectly acceptable to use a torque wrench to undo bolts, anyone who suggested they were going to walk two miles back to the van to get a wrench to slacken off a bolt would have got short shrift.

The "short shrift" would be for failing to plan the job properly and not taking the correct tools with you.

Abusing tools by using them for something they aren't designed for is likely to damage them. Damaging a torque wrench through abuse means it probably won't accurately set torque on fasteners. Over or under torquing fasteners can have catastrophic results, and preventing that is why an accurate torque wrench is needed.

A professional using a torque wrench in one of the locations you mention would know this, and have the right tools with them every time.

Anyone using a torque wrench to undo bolts in one of those locations is not a professional.

Niv

Eldi_Dos said:

Rodders53 said:

Eldi_Dos said:

If torque wrenches are only meant to be used for tightening bolts why do they have a switch for reversing direction

Left hand threads!

Or when you make your final adjustments after checking with a level, if you are working in a confined space or at height or remote location you do not take the whole workshop with you but the tools required to do the job and it is perfectly acceptable to use a torque wrench to undo bolts, anyone who suggested they were going to walk two miles back to the van to get a wrench to slacken off a bolt would have got short shrift.

After your defense of using torque wrenches to loosen bolts I did a quick google. Like others have said, they should not be used to loosen, my source here:

https://www.cp.com/en-uk/tools/expert-corner/blog/7-things-you-should-know-about-torque-wrenches