Thank God for torque seal

[Maxrate]

After helping a friend complete his condition inspection to include replacement of all fluid lines and overhauling the fuel injection system I discovered the throttle cable to fuel injection control arm nut loose. The only thing that raised my awareness was the lack of torque seal applied! We double checked every nut and bolt FWF after finding that little revelation. I think the additional step of adding a swipe of torque seal after final tightening quite possibly saved our bacon. Maybe the AP would have discovered on his final inspection, and maybe not! When multiple guys are working on a project, having a procedure in place of torque sealing after final torquing is vital, imho.

[DanH]

Originally Posted by Maxrate

When multiple guys are working on a project, having a procedure in place of torque sealing after final torquing is vital, imho.

You mean like "Physically check all the nuts and bolts"?

Seriously, torque seal only proves somebody put torque seal on it. A wrench proves they are tight. The stuff is akin to sending new guys for a bucket of propwash.

[rocketman1988]

^^^ what he said ^^^

[snopercod]

I use torque seal religiously after putting a wrench on a nut/bolt. It's important because my annual condition inspections take weeks to complete and, being old, sometimes I forget what I did last week. I change colors every year. This year was blue. Oh, how rude of me. You RV guys won't know what this is. It's called a "Retractable Landing Gear". (The devil made me post that.) ROFL!

[Kyle Boatright]

I'm a fan of having a system. Some systems include torque seal, some don't.

My "system" is based around checking torque on one subassembly at a time, beginning at one point, and ending at the far end.

For instance, if checking the FWF fuel system, I'll start at the firewall penetration and sequentially check the torque on every fuel fitting between the firewall and the carburetor on my RV-6.

On controls, I'll start the aileron controls with the nut/bolt between the aileron on one side and the pushrod, then check the other end of the pushrod on the bellcrank, then the other pushrod on the bellcrank, then... ending up all the way on the other side of the airplane, finishing with the nut holding the pushrod to that aileron.

In general, I don't use torque seal.

[Maxrate]

Seriously, torque seal only proves somebody put torque seal on

True Dan. The theory having multiple guys turning wrenches on a project is that if anyone sees the paint, the final torque was applied. We found that there was too many times one guy had to leave and the next morning the other guy picked up where the last text message said to continue. I found that in our case the TS gave a positive indicator of when someone completed a task. BTW we all got the idea from a local repair shop that does everything from 150s to jets. In our case it may have saved the day. Just thought id share. YMMV.

[PilotjohnS]

I use torque seal to show the bolt or nut has been torque. But this is only as good as the process. So the torque seal goes on as the bolts are torqued if there is any doubt the bolt/nut was torqued I do it again. So if I see torque strip Then it is torqued. Often times the torque strip comes off, so I retorque before stripping.

[Wunderon]

could not torque seal in some cases be an indicator that rotation has occurred after the seal was applied?

[Ron B.]

Curiousity question, I was taught that the true way to torque a nut is to have the torque reached while the nut is in motion. If you stop to ratchet the wrench and then apply torque and before the nut moves again the wrench clicks then you probably never reach the true torque value on the nut. My question is now at annual time, when you are checking torque do you all loosen all bolts and re-torque or just put a wrench on each nut and apply some torque (hoping not to go over the original torque) to see if they are really loose and are in need of re-torqueing?

[Tim Lewis]

Originally Posted by PilotjohnS

I use torque seal to show the bolt or nut has been torque. But this is only as good as the process. So the torque seal goes on as the bolts are torqued if there is any doubt the bolt/nut was torqued I do it again. So if I see torque strip Then it is torqued. Often times the torque strip comes off, so I retorque before stripping.

That?s my process, too. Torque seal used this way is a valuable aid to ensure no fastener torque steps were missed.