Proper Care and Feeding of a Torque Wrench

I bought a very nice (at least to me) click-style Kobalt 1/2"-drive torque wrench on sale last weekend. It actually has a lifetime warranty (like Craftsman tools used to).

In the interests of keeping this thing working properly for a long time, how should it be taken care of? Would storing it in the climate-controlled basement be better for it than in the garage? How often does it really need to be calibrated, and where do I take it to get calibrated?

Always reset it to zero after your work. Calibration is based more on usage than time (as the spring mechanism inside wears). I have my personal wrenches done about every 5 years at a local industrial tool supply store.

I've never reset mine to zero, whats that do and why should I do it?

I think the manual on my S-K torque wrenches say to reset to zero so the spring doesn't take a set...

Not sure if that is true or not, but I do it.

A friend is a nuclear missile tech, and he noted that it is imperative that you never adjust it lower than zero as that will affect the calibration. They calibrate their wrenches weekly or something ridiculous.

One thing: reset to zero OR the lowest shown value. Many wrenches don't actually go to zero.

Lowers or removes the spring tension inside the wrench.

I set mine to just under 50 lb-ft, which is the lowest setting. (It's a 50-250 lb-ft range.)

Would storing it in a lower-humidity, climate-controlled house keep it calibrated longer?

Sky_Render wrote: I set mine to just under 50 lb-ft, which is the lowest setting. (It's a 50-250 lb-ft range.) Would storing it in a lower-humidity, climate-controlled house keep it calibrated longer?

I don't think it would make any difference as long as there is no actual corrosion occuring on it when stored in the garage.

You can usually find a place that has a torque reader to make sure the thing is staying in specs. I have one outside my office door and most of my guys check theirs every morning(I of course have the checker checked every ten months or so)

More important, where was it on sale, can I still get it and how much? I'm in the market.

fritzsch wrote: I've never reset mine to zero, whats that do and why should I do it?

It hurts the accuracy over time, the longer you leave it that way the worse it gets.

Car Craft magazine had an interesting tech article on torque wrenches a few months ago: http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/ccrp_1304_torque_wrench_testing/

Thanks for the answers, guys. This, plus the electric impact wrench I got using a coupon at Autostoned, sure makes swapping my wheels easier.

Strizzo wrote: More important, where was it on sale, can I still get it and how much? I'm in the market.

Lowe's had it for right around $70. It has a lifetime warranty. If it breaks, take it into Lowe's, and they hand you a new one.

Never loosen a bolt with it. You can torque a left-hand thread with it, but NEVER loosen a bolt. The break away torque is very high adn will damage it.