Torque Wrench
- Thread starter fg4oz
- Start date
pugslyyy
Expedition Vehicle Engineer Guy
Mine came off the snap-on truck. Definitely not the cheapest option. You need to get a split beam wrench that will will torque left and right hand threads. Be sure you can do the left hand threads, a lot only will do standard threads.
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stingray1300
Explorer
After having my 250# Craftsman for 30+ years and wearing it out, I got a used-but-pristine Snap-On for $160 on eBay ($400 new from Snap-On). BTW, a good quality click-type t-wrench will torque either direction, on/off, left/right, as they are ratcheting. The beam type are such a pain. Cheaper: yes. But such a pain.
SkiFreak
Crazy Person
Quite some time ago I bought myself a Precision C4D600F split beam torque wrench from the States. I believe that these are identical to the Snap-On wrenches and normally cost pretty much the same.
My advice... let your fingers do the walking. From memory I got mine when I found a stupid cheap special on them and it cost me about AU$250 (delivered), which is significantly less than the advertised US$600 RRP. The guy I got it from was selling the imperial version, but I convinced him to order in and supply the metric version at the same price. But before you ask... no, I cannot remember exactly where I got it; sorry.
I should also add that not all torque wrenches are created equal.
The wrench I have can be set at the desired torque setting and left there while in storage. With some other brands/designs you must back off the torque setting, or the calibration will be affected over time.
Also be aware that these suckers are definitely not small. Mine breaks down into three parts, but the blow-mould case is still about 700mm x 200mm x 100mm.
My advice... let your fingers do the walking. From memory I got mine when I found a stupid cheap special on them and it cost me about AU$250 (delivered), which is significantly less than the advertised US$600 RRP. The guy I got it from was selling the imperial version, but I convinced him to order in and supply the metric version at the same price. But before you ask... no, I cannot remember exactly where I got it; sorry.
I should also add that not all torque wrenches are created equal.
The wrench I have can be set at the desired torque setting and left there while in storage. With some other brands/designs you must back off the torque setting, or the calibration will be affected over time.
Also be aware that these suckers are definitely not small. Mine breaks down into three parts, but the blow-mould case is still about 700mm x 200mm x 100mm.
pugslyyy
Expedition Vehicle Engineer Guy
Yep that's the one I have, just mine says snap on.
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skippythedog
Observer
Just watch Craigslist.....I got a very decent 4 foot long MAC Tools wrench from a former army tank mechanic for $150....
SkiFreak
Crazy Person
Cragslist is good for those of you in the US, but for us down under there is always the issue of freight, which can sometimes be psychotically high.
In my experience, Amazon is one of the few companies that offers pseudo reasonable freight charges. Unless you find someone (or a company) that is used to shipping to Australia, the freight is normally the killer.
A quick check on Amazon and I found the wrench that I have for a delivered price just over AU$400, which is not cheap, but it's still about half the price that you would pay buying a similar tool here in Australia (from a tool store, not eBay).
Recently I bought some torque hinges off Amazon that were 70% off RRP. Even with the exchange rate and shipping costs, they were a great deal. You just have to keep your eyes open...
In my experience, Amazon is one of the few companies that offers pseudo reasonable freight charges. Unless you find someone (or a company) that is used to shipping to Australia, the freight is normally the killer.
A quick check on Amazon and I found the wrench that I have for a delivered price just over AU$400, which is not cheap, but it's still about half the price that you would pay buying a similar tool here in Australia (from a tool store, not eBay).
Recently I bought some torque hinges off Amazon that were 70% off RRP. Even with the exchange rate and shipping costs, they were a great deal. You just have to keep your eyes open...
unkamonkey
Explorer
My neighbor went through 2 of them, admittedly they were a cheap version and him and his son never returned the torque knobs back to 0 when they were done. We were putting his transfer case back together and we could tell that they weren't doing the job right. I shuffled home and got my old Craftsman twin beam out of my tool box. Its hard to screw one of those up.
unkamonkey
Explorer
It's not your leg, it's your weight that has to be checked. I have had to have a 5' cheater to break loose the lug nuts my MF. Let's see 5' pipe with a 300 lb guy on the end of the pipe and I had to jump on it a bit. Over 1,500 Lb/ft. They may have been over torqued a bit. My neighbor was concerned that I didn't borrow his impact wrench to change the wheels on my Volvo. Nope, you use the same tools to put them on as you will need to take them off to change a tire. A master mechanic was sitting there and he just nodded.
SkiFreak
Crazy Person
Although this device is not ideally suited to being carried in my truck (as it's quite large), a while back I modified a vehicle moving jack so I could use it when I rotated my tyres.
The modifications I made were to extend the opening distance (to allow for the 900mm diameter tyres) and to replace the original plastic rollers with conveyor rollers, that rotate effortlessly.
On my truck I have ATW alloy rims (not the ones in the image) which use a straight shanked nut, so it is important to get the studs centred in the holes when refitting the wheels. This device makes that task very simple.
I just use the standard OEM supplied bottle jack with a wide board under it and that works fine for me. I have however considered getting an air over hydraulic bottle jack, as I have on board air and this would make jacking a bit faster and easier.
The modifications I made were to extend the opening distance (to allow for the 900mm diameter tyres) and to replace the original plastic rollers with conveyor rollers, that rotate effortlessly.
On my truck I have ATW alloy rims (not the ones in the image) which use a straight shanked nut, so it is important to get the studs centred in the holes when refitting the wheels. This device makes that task very simple.
I just use the standard OEM supplied bottle jack with a wide board under it and that works fine for me. I have however considered getting an air over hydraulic bottle jack, as I have on board air and this would make jacking a bit faster and easier.