I was wondering how this thread got this long so I took a peek. I wrenched for decades with no torque wrenches. I learned on tractors, and except for head bolts and mower blades, I don't think they ever had torque values on the old iron.

Things changed when they started making stuff out of aluminum. The margin for error is much smaller, and 'too tight' is a real concern. So anything threaded into aluminum gets the torque wrench. I just don't trust my cast-iron trained strength. I also like it for anything secured with a lot of bolts, like valve covers, diff 3rds, oil pans, lug bolts, etc. Uniform tightening fights leaks and misalignment. Uniform is more important than just getting inside of too tight and too loose and hard to do by hand. Also gaskets, like the man said above.

Otherwise, steel on steel, no torquy for me.