Originally Posted by
Trakhak
Or weld the spindle in place in the bottom bracket, if you're going to go the reductio ad absurdum route. The question is whether there could be a significant difference between the resultant torque setting of the bolts in a bike. The answer, obviously, is "no." (My guess, though it's only that, is that the difference would be well-nigh immeasurably small.)
All that is required is for the bolts to be tightened to the point where they give good service. And, after all, torque specs are given in ranges for crank bolts and in other applications where the exact value is noncritical.
Kontact clearly understood the principle instantly, since his objections have been confined to the need for an expensive torque wrench for the home mechanic.
For another and very clear explanation, see Base2's post above yours.
Finally, please clear something up for me:
Are you suggesting that, even if you had a suitable torque wrench and a suitable socket wrench ready to hand, you would never try the two-wrench technique, for fear of ending up with one or both of the crank bolts at an inappropriate torque setting?
Well, the need for two expensive torque wrenches.
I torque cranks by leaning over the top tube and grabbing the opposite arm and the wrench and using a push/pull motion from directly above the centerline between them. It really doesn't take much strength at all since all you're doing is keeping the crank arm from moving, which is pretty easy considering that arm is locked at the elbow. I think a lot of this kind of discussion comes from a lack of good technique - (for instance) I have never found a crank I couldn't extract, no matter how difficult, by arranging myself so I have a foot on one crank.