Apeks mechanical advice

[ChrisA]

What is the prefered way to tighten the 3/4 inch hex bolt the keeps the yoke attached to the body of an Apeks ATX50 first stange
WHen I say "preffered" I mean
1) What kind of tool
2) How tight to torque it down
3) What size is the hex? Eye bals says "3/4 inch" or 18mm.

Some more details...

I turned on the tank k-valve and heard an air leak, sound like a missing o-ring. I looked and o-rinf was OK. Tried again and noticed air leaking between yoke and main 1st stange body. I tighted the 3/4 inch nut that holds the yoke on my hand as good as I could and that stopped the leak but no, I didn't dive like that. This luckyly happened after last dive of the day as I was checking and cleaning gear.

I have a lot of wrenches but none would fit the nut as the yoke was in the way. Looks like I either need an open end wrech with _very_ thin
"arms" or a big cresent wrench so the "amrs" can reach over the yoke.
Maybe a box end (closed end) wrench with a very thin "ring" would fit?

Should this have gotten loose? How to prevent it from becomming loose in the future. Do I need to carry a big wrench in my dive bag?

Yes the "nut" is the one that buts up to the tank valve, has a screen inside of it and an o-ring seal inside the reg and holds the yoke in place.

 

[rescuediver009]

There is a specialty tool like there is for everything else, but a 12" adjustable crescent wrench will do you fine. IT is long enough to reach around the yoke arm. As far as ho tight to tighten it, Some regs bottom out but you want it tight enough so that it doesn't come off but loose enough so that it won't kill someone to get it off.
Since you mentioned that you checked the o-ring, be sure not to pinch it when re installing the nut. If it is pinched, it could cause the persistant leak. R010 if you did pinch it...