Torque Wrench

When we cleaned up my grandparents' duplex, we found some old tools. My grandpa had moved them twice before that, but then couldn't take them with him to assisted living. At that point, he wanted us to store the tools for him in case he moved back to a house again later.

What I noticed first about the torque wrench was that it was still in the box. Some of his tools were in toolboxes, and well used. Others were rusty or mixed up in the bottom of a plastic bin. There was even a screwdriver that appeared to be melted by a solvent. The torque wrench, on the other hand, was in pristine condition.

At the time, I didn't need a torque wrench. I kept it because I knew it might be useful. Last weekend, I finally got a chance to use it. I replaced the differential fluid in our pickup truck. The fluid hadn't been changed more than once in 100,000 miles. I used my impact wrench with a new 3/8 drive 1/2 inch impact socket to remove the differential cover. Then I drained the old fluid into a drain pan. It didn't look too bad, but was definitely time to change it. I used a premade gasket to seal it. I used the torque wrench with a 1/2in drive 1/2in socket to tighten the bolts in a star pattern to 30 ft-lbs of torque. Then I refilled with the recommended fluid and put the fill plug back in.