Thanks for all the help.
A lot more help than I expected.
I'm an obsolete 'sparkey' who spent nearly all
of my career in programming.
I was hoping for a much simpler solution. Here's the source of the problem.
I was reading one of those Haynes Techbooks from Autozone on overhauling your own transmission.
They present 5 or 6 different models to work on.
ON each one they require special, expensive factory tools to make measurements. I'm wondering
how I might make work-around homemade tools for the process.
In one case the movement of a clutch band piston is made by directly applying a known force, with a special tool,
to the piston, and measuring the movement. The duplication of this tool is not possible without the original specs.
In another case, the movement of a clutch band piston is made by applying a screw to the piston through a special cap, using
a specified torque, and aqain measuring the movement. The tool for this method is easily duplicated.
In each case a return spring of unknown specifications is under the piston.
So I'm wondering, is the method for one applicable to the other.
The bolt would screw through the cap by hand until contact with the piston, then tightened with a torque wrench to a specified value. A dial indicator would be set on the piston and measure movement as the screw is backed out.
Without getting into impossible to measure parameters such as friction coefficients, is there a simple equation to give
me the force applied to the piston, given the size of the bolt, and the torque applied to it?
Thanks again for your input.