I?d be willing to bet that the guys on vans airforce are not the target audience for this article. Your average pilot of a certified would never even think of removing a cylinder themselves and would rely on the local A&P . Let?s face it most people here do things themselves, because if they brought it to someone else it probably wouldn?t get done to their liking,
I remember an old merc outboard mechanic watching a guy pick up a set of needle bearings with a magnet just cringing. Everything has its idiosyncrasies the difference is the guys here do research ? before ? they do anything.
Now maybe, I read a different article but the one I read stated most of his info comes from continentals. Right off the bat.
It also said that many mechanics don?t use wet torque, went into detail on differences of frictional losses, most don?t use all new nuts and bolts with perfect plating. (Having built car race engines you always use new bolts And nuts on reciprocating parts and fasteners.) the cheapest insurance you can buy.
He then goes on to say even if the mechanic THINKS they did it right that the MFGs own manuals say nothing of replacing the bolts,nuts etc, toque to click in one continuous motion, or disassemble / remove the through bolts to replace/ retorque the bottom nuts properly. So even the best intentioned likely will not get proper preload even if they try to do it 100% right.
I found the article to be a real eye opener and from what I?ve seen for work from A&Ps I doubt most A&Ps are doing this correctly, I?d bet 9 out of 10 get the clamping force wrong. Heck I?d bet half the over haul shops get it wrong,
Many mechanics I see when in the field, (construction equip, race cars etc) when they get a click stop then re click with a slight move even after the click, that?s probably saving them. I always thought it was a bad practice, but now I?m not so sure.