having problems grasping this, so my U bolts are to be torqed to 90 ft/lb that would be 1080 in/lb ???????? help me out here and please give an example. or let me know if Im right.

 

one inch-pound is 1/12 of a foot-pound so multiply your 90 foot-pounds by 12 and yes, you have 1080 inch-pounds

 

torque is an expression of a force at a certain distance from a fulcrum. A greater distance OR a greater force results in a greater torque.

An expression of foot-pounds means literally the amount of torque when that much weight is applied on that long of an arm.

To convert from feet to inches, multiply by 12.

To convert from ft-lb to in-lb, multiply by 12

 

A easy way to remember and one I use is..........

1 foot pound = 12 inch pounds.

 

Typically, most 3/8" torque wrenches have in-lbs scales on them, and have an upper limit somewhere around 240 in-lbs (which is 20 ft-lbs), and most 1/2" torque wrenches have a ft-lbs scale on them, and have a lower limit of around the same torque, so you typically won't hear somebody quoting a number like 1080 in-lbs (they would say 90 ft-lbs... even though they're the same thing). For the most part, if you're under 20 ft-lbs, you talk in-lbs, and if you're over 20 ft-lbs, you talk ft-lbs, but the conversion between the two is a multiple of 12 like others have mentioned.

 

I could have swore that there was actually a more complicated conversion than that :\

 

nope, 1 foot = 12 inches, so 1 pound applied at 1 foot away (aka 1 foot-pound) is the same was 1 pound applied 12 inches away (aka 12 inch-pounds)