For most heavy equipment applications, design engineers have focused on a stable, consistently tight joint for long-term durability and vibration resistance. For years, torque has been the standard by which the tightness—and maybe even the overall integrity—of a joint were measured. This conventional thinking was based on the idea that the more power applied to a nut and bolt assembly in the form of torque, the tighter, more secure, and vibration resistant the joint. And as it turns out, the belief that higher torque resulted in a more secure and durable joint was wrong.
