We had one of those Craftsman 22" 6.75 Eager-1 self-propelled lawn mowers' w/Tecumseh engine. One day it wouldn't start before I discovered it had a blown cylinder head gasket. Found one online at searspartsdirect; OEM; great price (I think approx $7); arrived in a couple days.
I set the mower up on a table I hastily constructed in the garage from sawhorses & half a solid core door blank. My Shining Bride came out to watch my amazing mechanical skills in action.
While cleaning the cylinder head and gasket surfaces, I somewhat smugly showed her my classic Craftsman 1/2" torque wrench I had found at
Hardwick & Sons over 20 years ago, as I confidently explained what it was for, and how important it was to torque bolts to their correct torque values &c!
And saying,
Yeah, Sweetie, I've had this ol' 1/2" Craftsman torque wrench here since I was a mere teenager! Yeah, I've been using this trusty ol' torque wrench for some 20 or 30 years! Yep. Prolly on too many vehicles to even count. *smug sniff & nod of a pro*
She was impressed.
Then I told her she'd have to wait a few moments—while I went to check the torque value specs—before being
even more impressed by witnessing it and me in action as I performed incredible mechanical feats of torqueing.
I took a quick glance at the tech manual; the torque value spec showed: 200 lbs.
After returning to the garage and adjusted the torque wrench up to 200 lbs, I recall saying something like . . .
Hmmm, I haven't torqued anything to this high of a torque setting for a long time, if ever!
Then while ratcheting the head bolts in their torque sequence pattern—several times, over and over, and over without the TW clicking—I recall repeating something like . . .
Hmm, this seems really tight for these bolts!?. . . while my Shining Bride was still watching me, still looking impressed, still with that look of: Oooh! That's
my man. Fixin' our lawnmower!
Then as I continued ratcheting we both heard the sharp report of the aluminum cylinder head crack. ? ? ?
Hmmm, I said, as I noticed the crack.
Um, I think I'll go double-check the torque spec.
200 in-lbs . .
INCH POUNDS ! ? = 16.6 ft-lbs = 22.5 N-m
I didn't even own or know anything about in-lbs & N-m torque wrenches at the time!
New cylinder head . . . $40
Another cylinder head gasket . . . $7
Paying close and proper attention to the specifications, while not being so over-confident you forget to exercise some good ol' common sense for crying out loud, so to avoid looking like a complete and total idiot . . . Priceless !
