Torque wrenches

Where do y'all get torque wrenches and which style do you use? I have a HF click type and a Craftsmen bending beam one. Snap on and MAC Tools are out of my budget.

I use a Northern click type. Nothing has fallen off yet so it must do the job.

I only have HF ones. They are in my budget.

96DXCivic, why did you have to go and get so formal anyway?

i really love my Precision Instruments split-beam type 3/8 wrench. i'd like their 1/2 too at some point. theyre not too much more than craftsman either if you find em online and a lot less than snapon.

I sprang for a 3/8-drive Craftsman click-type a few, well okay, maybe 15 years ago. The 1/2-drive Craftsman click-type I got a few years later as a gift. Most of my stuff is Craftsman, but I'll confess to a set of Harbor Freight impact sockets.

I have a friend that bought a H-F torque wrench. He ended up stripping out some fastener or other because the wrench didn't click when it was supposed to. He later bought a different brand and tested them side by side and found that on low torque settings, the HF tool was off by like 100%. This was no beat-up old wrench either, the thing was brand new.

If I hook my cheap HF up to my old man's snap-on they read identical. Bonus me.

I have a proto brand click type my dad gave me. I love it. Used to have a craftsman click type. Both work great. I traded the craftsman for a Miata rollbar with a friend (which both I and my friend thought was a hardcore, it wasn't. Just ask paanta. (sorry again!)) and he is still using it. I recommend the craftsman for price, and it's a bit easier to set than the proto.

Joey

I have a 1/2 click type from Lowes- Kobalt. Lifetime warranty, seems to torque right up with pricier wrenches I've used. I do need to add a 3/8" to that pile, but for now, the 1/2" and a reducer do the trick.

I've got an S-K click type one in 1/2" and a craftsman 3/8" clicky. The S-K is perfect. The craftsman is accurate, but absolute junk in every other way (numbers are all but unreadable after a couple years of use, hard to get it to hold its setting, etc). Both were purchased used on ebay. The 3/8" especially reaaaaaally needs to be accurate or you'll be stripping stuff left.

It's all good, Joey. I broke even on the whole thing, and got to know you better in the process!

I have Sears beam type that I used up till I bought a Sears clicker type from my uncle's estate sale. He had bought it quite a few years ago, so I hope its better that the current ones they sell. I will say I broke a brand new head stud with it reassembling my Spitfire engine. Not sure if that was a stud problem or a wrench problem.

I have a kobalt one as well, if you check CL I'm sure you can find a snappy, mac, or matco one for nearly HF prices.

Andrew

I don't like the Snap-On electronic ones, if you're in any environment that has any noise, its impossible to hear. I have a Craftsman click type as well as everyone else, it is awesome. Although I was torquing the center nut on my Dad's Formula Continental, 130lbs/ft, and the plastic handle snapped to pieces. It works fine for normal, un-herculean torque specs though.

Steven

Craftsman 3/8" beam type and a Craftsman 1/2 click. one thing I've learned with the click type is always store them with the setting to zero ft/lbs.

I've assembled a few engines with the beam type with no problems, this winter will be the first engine built with the clicker.

I have to use the click type. For one, it's too noisy to hear the electronic beep, and it's hard to read a bar type when I'm straining like hell to put 600 ft/lbs on something.

I was going to get one of the electronic ones, because they have a gyroscope that will measure your torque angle. Awesome! But $500 with a one year warranty. Not awesome.

I use a $10 Great Neck 1/2" beam wrench from AutoZone. I want a good clicky wrench.

I also have Craftsman wrenches in lo 3/8, med-3/4 and hi 1/2. Plus a 3/4" H-F. They have workede well enough for the tasks I've needed them for. I do think I'll spring for a new version in a year or two when I have to do the TB on the TDI again. Gearwrench sells a version that adds a torque-angle function which would make tighening the mounting bracket bolts a bit easier.

The most important thing about a torque wrench is to treat it like the delicate measuring tool that it is.

Knurled wrote: I was going to get one of the electronic ones, because they have a gyroscope that will measure your torque angle. Awesome! But $500 with a one year warranty. Not awesome.

http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/p-9653-k-d-tools-85074.aspx

Less than $500, but still not cheap...

Was using an old Craftsman beam style 1/2-drive. Recently won an Advance Torque Products 1/2 drive click-type in a drawing at a conference I attended.

I have two beam ones from NAPA, 1/4" drive 0-60 in/lbs and a 3/8" drive 0-100 ft/lbs. I then also have an old Craftsman 1/2" drive 0-150 ft/lbs clicker plus a Husky 1/2" drive 0-250 ft/lbs clicker I bought in a store closing sale.

I don't like the click type or electronic wrenches as it is very easy to overtorque and you'll never know. Plus if you drop it, it is out of spec and who calibrates it afterwards? Nobody.

Brian