Torque Wrenches

[daverami]

Just searching for a recommendation on a reasonably priced torque wrench. A lot of options and very expensive too. Craftsman has several, but reviews on them are bad. Really don't want to spend $300+ on a Snap On. I guess the usual flavor is 25-250 or 50-250 ft. lbs. Do you ever need more than this. Can you use a regular one for lug nuts, instead of having to buy a long handled one?

Thanks

 

[Streakerfreak]

I have been in the same boat as you. I just could not find anything reasonably priced and decent. If your intent is just for lugs then try this, Gorilla Wrench. I bought one and it works great, but I am still looking for a good Torque Wrench for other needs.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I have a 1/2" regular (like 20-150 ft-lb), a 3/8" regular (something like 5-75 ft-lb) and the 3/8" micro torque (like 20 to 200 in-lb), all of them are the regular Craftsman clicker ones. I got the chance to have them run through a hasty test (i.e. they just ran the test for free, although there's no official paperwork or NIST traceability) on both of the 3/8" ones when the calibration lab was in one day doing the company tools. The micro torque wrench was accurate to 3% CW and 4% CCW mid range and the regular 3/8" was 4% CW and 6% CCW mid range (most torque wrenches have some variation at each end of their range). I can live with that for 1/3 the price of Snap-On.

I keep them in their plastic trays and unwind them when they're in the tool chest. There is a lot of plastic in the tools, but I think for non-professional use, if you are careful there's nothing wrong with them. Neither of the ones I had checked were grossly off at least. So other than the lighter than Snap-On construction, can't complain. Had the micro torque wrench now better than 10 years, the other two at least 6 years now. At the time I didn't have much money and figured that having the 3 major ones covered for the price of just one Snap-On was better than nothing. I assumed that at some point I would replace them with Snap-On as they wore out or broke, just hasn't happened so far.

 

[bigreen505]

I bought mine on sale at Harbor Freight (it used to cost much more) and while I have not tested the accuracy, it has served me well. They also have more expensive ones as well as inch-pound wrenches and several others.

 

[Streakerfreak]

I bought mine on sale at Harbor Freight (it used to cost much more) and while I have not tested the accuracy, it has served me well.

I have looked at that one before. Does it seems to be of good quality and do you know where it is made?

 

[DaveInDenver]

One of the wrenches you linked to Bill says S-K. Is that really an S-K wrench or a knock-off? IOW, where was it made? That 1/2" Pittsburgh for $10 would be good to throw in the truck tools, even if it's not truly 4% accurate like it claims...

 

[IH8RDS]

I own a Snap-On one. Techwrench 5-100 Ft Pounds. The digital display helps out greatly with the nm/inch pounds/foot pounds conversion. It beeps when it reaches torque and vibrates.

The main reason I got it thought is because it shows you running torque. This was invaluable when I was installing my new gears in my axles. If it ever goes out of calibration (Very hard to do with a digital wrench) Snap-On will replace it. Growing up around torque wrenches all my carer taught me. If you drop the torque wrench it will knock the calibration out. Buy just one torque wrench. In the end it would probably cost more to by replacements.

 

[IH8RDS]

DaveInDenver is very correct. Always set the torque wrench to the lowest setting after use. Keep the in the cases to.

 

[nickatnite]

I know that the values you stated are a little different; but, I've got a set of the Proxxon torque wrenches that I bought from Touratech for my GS. I keep the 3/8" in my Jesse Bag for when I go on extended trips (plus use it around the shop for bike maintenance) It has held up well.

3/8 torque wrench can go from 20-100Nm. Made in Germany by Proxxon, same tools used by the Touratech race team for working on bikes in the European enduro and rally races and at the Dakar rally.

* Top quality
* 20 - 100 N-m range
* 175 - 885 inch-lbs range
* 14 - 73 foot-lbs range

Link to the Proxxon Torque Wrench

If you need something smaller (and packs well) I've got the 1/4" Torque wrench (for my MTB kit) also.

The Nashbar Torque Wrench Set includes the wrench and 7 bits (3,4,5,6,8,10mm hex and T25 Torx). The wrench uses a 1/4" drive. Torque values are expressed in Newton Meters (Nm). This tool is an important addition to any home workshop especially when working with carbon frames and components. Now you can confidently execute assembly and maintenance according to manufacturer specs. 1-24Nm range.

Link to Bike Nashbar site

Hope this helps...

 

[bigreen505]

I have looked at that one before. Does it seems to be of good quality and do you know where it is made?

All of the packaging says USA, but there is a rivet that says Taiwan, so that is my guess.

Dave, yes, I think the other wrench is S-K.

 

[madizell]

Can you use a regular one for lug nuts, instead of having to buy a long handled one?

Not sure what you are referencing, but if the wrench is calibrated in the range you intend to torque your lugs to, the handle will be long enough.

As for ever needing one in a range above 150 ft/lb, I find that I do, but usually for things like axle nuts (I have a Jeep with 2-piece D44's), and gland nuts on output shafts and such, but if you don't find yourself doing yokes and axles, probably not. Or, if you can fabricate, you can make a torque doubler out of a high tensile shaft or tube and an old breaker bar, and your 150 ft/lb wrench becomes a 300 ft/lb wrench.

 

[ntsqd]

FWIW as handy as clickers are I do not trust them for casual use. A beam type wrench is easy to tell when the calibration is off, and easy to correct too. Not so easy with a clicker. Loosing rod bolts in a new engine is not the way you want to find out that your torque wrench's calibration is off.

 

[madizell]

FWIW as handy as clickers are I do not trust them for casual use. A beam type wrench is easy to tell when the calibration is off, and easy to correct too. Not so easy with a clicker.

I'll bite...how do you tell when a beam wrench is off calibration?

 

[762X39]

A torque wrench has zero value if it has not been calibrated on a regular basis and cared for like a newborn infant. Buy a good torque wrench, guard it and protect it, have it recalibrated on a regular basis or just guess. Beam wrenches are not worth the money you waste on them.Sorry to be hard *** on this subject but calibration is everything.....In my younger brothers previous life, torque wrench calibration determined whether a multi million dollar fighter jet saved or took the pilots life! Maybe your engine or lug nuts are expendable (I don't know) but an uncalibrated tool is worthless to me. Good enough isn't in my book.

 

[ntsqd]

Assuming the beam wrench is made by a quality mfg the force needed to bend it to any particular amount of deflection is calculatable and extremely repeatable. You know the calibration is off because sitting on the bench the needle doesn't point to zero. Other than the needle getting bent there is nothing to really go wrong with a beam.
They are slow, of that I have no illusions. And they suck when you're up to your armpits in hot 50wt. top alcohol dragster engine oil trying to re-torque the rods & mains between rounds (BT,DT), but I'll take a quality beam over a clicker any day.

With a clicker you have no idea where it is, regardless of who owns it and how it was treated. You have a clue that it might still be in calibration if you trust the owner to have taken care of it and have it calibrated regularly, but you don't actually know that it's good because you don't know that the high school kid shop helper knocked it off the bench last week. Or some other unknown tragedy that befell it.