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Hi Art;
I saw one of those torque sticks for the first time over twenty years ago. I know the theory, but I have never used them. For alloy wheels I zip the nuts up with the gun, then torque by hand. For steel wheels I use the gun.
It doesn't take long to get the feel of the impact gun, and practice on steel wheels helps.
Far too much is said about warping disc brakes with guns - it would take a lot of rattling, way past reasonable to do that. And even then I wonder. Old drum brakes ( front axle drums on 60's domestics) could be warped far more easily. So it does happen, but a small amount of skill avoids it.
Remember the physics regarding sliding and static friction? That's why getting a tightened fastener moving again will always take more torque than it was first tightened with. So checking with another wrench, from stationary, doesn't tell much. Just get a feel for what 75 ft. lbs. is like with the beam, and duplicate it with a breaker bar.
An older buddy of mine, great flat-rate mechanic, once decided to assemble an entire engine with an impact gun ( he was doing lots of taxi engine rebuilds, in-frame, back in the 60's, Dodges mostly). So he did everything, rods, mains, heads, manifolds, the works. Ran fine for many years. He had feel....
Rhys
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