Union guy told me to slow down on a 737 brake job, I ignored him for a month

Back in March at the Orlando hangar, this old-timer named Ray watched me zip through a wheel change and said "you're gonna be redoing that one, kid." I shrugged it off, thought he was just bitter about OT limits. Fast forward 4 weeks, the same aircraft came back with a dragging brake, and sure enough my torque sequence was off by 10 ft-lbs. Cost the company $1,200 in parts and my lead gave me the side-eye for a week. So my question is, do you trust the seasoned guys who give unsolicited advice, or do you stick to your own numbers until you prove them wrong?

2 comments

2 Comments

jamesf411mo ago

Ha! Old Ray basically called it, guess the torque wrench knows best after all.

anthony1291mo ago

gonna play devil's advocate here but honestly that torque wrench just got lucky. Ray's been teaching that method for decades and the math is solid, you can't convince me a digital readout beats years of feel.