torque wrench
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What's reasonably priced for you? I ask, because to me, $130-150 is reasonable for a torque wrench. You can get Snap-Ons ion that range. There's also Craftsman models, that can be had for $50-70 that are pretty good. I wouldn't much lower than that though. I've used cheaper, no-name brands, and they were good for "close enough" torque, and typically don't last very long. There may be some hidden gems out there though, maybe someone here has found one.
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I have a high end, digital snap on mode, and it's awesome. The two times I used it, it performed flawlessly.
A person almost needs two. One small model for 0-25lbs and a larger one from 25 and up.
For what it's worth, I also have a ultra cheap harbour freight 6.99 special, 1/4 in drive.
One of my customers has torque wrench testing equipment and we were both anxious to test this post. It's so cheap, the ratchet end barely works. I brought it in to make fun of it,
After testing, the pos was off by 3%, at 75% of its capacity...in other words, Plenty accurate . You could use it to assemble airplanes. However, it's miserable to work with.
Buy the best you can, you won't regret owning good tools.
A person almost needs two. One small model for 0-25lbs and a larger one from 25 and up.
For what it's worth, I also have a ultra cheap harbour freight 6.99 special, 1/4 in drive.
One of my customers has torque wrench testing equipment and we were both anxious to test this post. It's so cheap, the ratchet end barely works. I brought it in to make fun of it,
After testing, the pos was off by 3%, at 75% of its capacity...in other words, Plenty accurate . You could use it to assemble airplanes. However, it's miserable to work with.
Buy the best you can, you won't regret owning good tools.
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202 Posts
Never go cheap on a torque wrench. When you snap that bolt in half you'll know what I mean.
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16,482 Posts
It's worth investing time in finding ot just what proper torque means, and those numbers we see in the manual.
Often times a person's brand new, expensive and accurate torque wrench will end up causing serious damage.
Why is because the listed values are for brand new, unlubricated fasteners. That is hard to accomplish with an oil drain bolt, cams, and many other fittings on the bike.
They are nice to have, and very important to have, at times, but are not a substitute for experience and common sense.
Often times a person's brand new, expensive and accurate torque wrench will end up causing serious damage.
Why is because the listed values are for brand new, unlubricated fasteners. That is hard to accomplish with an oil drain bolt, cams, and many other fittings on the bike.
They are nice to have, and very important to have, at times, but are not a substitute for experience and common sense.
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Good point about the values being for new parts which have not been exposed to lubricants. This I believe is why you read about oil drain plug bolts being stripped more often than most any other bolt or fastener.
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Old, perfect place to use a torque wrench.....can you imagine in the middle of a race????
Hey, did you tighten his axle? Yes...Im sure I probably did.
Tight enough? Im sure I probably did...
Hey, did you tighten his axle? Yes...Im sure I probably did.
Tight enough? Im sure I probably did...
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On a related note, make sure you don’t confuse inch pounds with foot pounds. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people mix them up.
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i have the harbor freight 1/2 ftlbs and 3/8 inch pound one... They are fine and plenty accurate. Just don't expect them to work as fluid or as long as the expensive stuff.
Where you really have to be careful is if you are using a crowes foot wrench attatchment on a torque wrench if your not pulling from a 90 degree angle the torque will be off, if you cant get 90 degree pull you have to measure the angle of the pull and figure in other constants to get the correct torque value. When i was working nuclear power we had engineers calculating the torque values on every pull because the angle changed with every pull in tight areas.
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Mark, that's a great point.
Also, on a motorcycle, things are so packed together, it's about 50/50 if you will end up with a straight, normal pull.
Also, on a motorcycle, things are so packed together, it's about 50/50 if you will end up with a straight, normal pull.
Sorry to wake up an old post. I have a budget of around $400ish for a good torque wrench(s). I was looking at snap on, when I saw the catalog I was a little overwhelmed and didn’t know which to go with. As you can tell I’m not too wrenchy and savvy but would like to start tackling stuff on my own since I have the time and budget now.
Can anyone recommend either an all around, a couple or a holy trinity of torque wrenches to own? Not sure which to go with.
Can anyone recommend either an all around, a couple or a holy trinity of torque wrenches to own? Not sure which to go with.
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Dave, no kidding. We would all buy that one wrench if it were available. 400 is a lot, but it still won't let you into the snap on club unless you buy used.
If you buy a 3/8" drive torque wrench it's range will be somewhere around 10-100lb/ft. The wrenches are not accurate at the extremes. We would want to use this in the 25-85lb/ft range. I'm not sure what the manual says on the axles, but
This means, on this mystery wrench , that a setting of 10 lb/ft or 100lb/ft is basically an educated guess and not very accurate.
The best thing you can do if you are working on motorcycles is to buy a smaller 1/4" drive for the small stuff and the 3/8" drive for the axles and clutch hub. 1/2" is going to be too large for everything but the clutch hub or front sprocket.
If I were spending 400.00, I think I would buy this as my 3/8" wrench. I may not have recommended this, earlier as I don't believe it's been available for too long. Harbour freight markets this Quinn line as being quality.
These digital wrenches are nice because they don't have a spring in them. If you store a spring type wrench where the spring is compressed, it messes up their calibration. This one won't do that. Lots of cheap digital models still have the spring, which doesn't make any sense.
www.harborfreight.com
Now for a 1/4" something. I would prefer a real digital wrench, but nothing is available that isn't $$$$. My latest is this Gear wrench 85060. It's not bad. Way above the Pittsburgh level. Not quite snap-on, but it's a solid 7-8 out of 10. This does have a spring, so store it to where there is just a tiny amount of pressure on the spring and it should last a long time.
As you study the torque table in the manual, notice how useless the large torque wrench is if we can't use it below 20lb/ft. This is how people snap oil drain bolts and strip camshaft oriented fasteners.
Snap On torque wrenches were always scam-ish. The only reason I have one because mine was free, from an old Yamaha promotion. A company named CDI made them and snap on added their sticker. The quality was good, but the cost was crazy high, and still is.
You sold them by comparing to something like that Quinn. I believe that Quinn is decent quality. That Quinn name isn't going to impress your fellow workers. If you are a mechanic living g paycheck to paycheck it's still easier to pay 40.00, per week, for the next 4 months than it would be to spend 164.00 today.
If you buy a 3/8" drive torque wrench it's range will be somewhere around 10-100lb/ft. The wrenches are not accurate at the extremes. We would want to use this in the 25-85lb/ft range. I'm not sure what the manual says on the axles, but
This means, on this mystery wrench , that a setting of 10 lb/ft or 100lb/ft is basically an educated guess and not very accurate.
The best thing you can do if you are working on motorcycles is to buy a smaller 1/4" drive for the small stuff and the 3/8" drive for the axles and clutch hub. 1/2" is going to be too large for everything but the clutch hub or front sprocket.
If I were spending 400.00, I think I would buy this as my 3/8" wrench. I may not have recommended this, earlier as I don't believe it's been available for too long. Harbour freight markets this Quinn line as being quality.
These digital wrenches are nice because they don't have a spring in them. If you store a spring type wrench where the spring is compressed, it messes up their calibration. This one won't do that. Lots of cheap digital models still have the spring, which doesn't make any sense.
3/8 in. Drive 5-100 ft. lb. Digital Angle Torque Wrench
Amazing deals on this 3/8In Dr Digital Angle Torque Wrench at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.
www.harborfreight.com
Now for a 1/4" something. I would prefer a real digital wrench, but nothing is available that isn't $$$$. My latest is this Gear wrench 85060. It's not bad. Way above the Pittsburgh level. Not quite snap-on, but it's a solid 7-8 out of 10. This does have a spring, so store it to where there is just a tiny amount of pressure on the spring and it should last a long time.
As you study the torque table in the manual, notice how useless the large torque wrench is if we can't use it below 20lb/ft. This is how people snap oil drain bolts and strip camshaft oriented fasteners.
Snap On torque wrenches were always scam-ish. The only reason I have one because mine was free, from an old Yamaha promotion. A company named CDI made them and snap on added their sticker. The quality was good, but the cost was crazy high, and still is.
You sold them by comparing to something like that Quinn. I believe that Quinn is decent quality. That Quinn name isn't going to impress your fellow workers. If you are a mechanic living g paycheck to paycheck it's still easier to pay 40.00, per week, for the next 4 months than it would be to spend 164.00 today.
The Quinn appears to be identical to my Craftsman digital(that I love), except molded in blue.3/8 in. Drive 5-100 ft. lb. Digital Angle Torque Wrench
Amazing deals on this 3/8In Dr Digital Angle Torque Wrench at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.
https://www.amazon.com/CRAFTSMAN-Di.../B07VXRRD18/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8
Sears has them on sale for $120 right now. I linked Amazon because there are more reviews there.
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Pmac, just for fun. What was the last item on your motorcycle where you used the torque wrench.
Mine was the 47 lb/ft to clamp the chain adjustment eccentrics. Left to my own guestimates, I always leave these too loose and they will slip.
That 1/4" model I linked is the same in that it's available under several different brand names as well. Just buy whatever one is on sale. Does Lowes have the craftsman wrench or did you have to order it?
Did you notice the Snap On offering that would be similar? 634.00, on sale. Normally 715.00. Maybe it's better, but even if you were using it, daily, that price is high.
My older snap-on digital wrench does not do angles. No big deal on the bike, but the cars need this feature.
ttps://shop.snapon.com/product/supplemental/3-8%22-Drive-TechAngle-Quick-Release-Flex-Head-Torque-Wrench-(5-125-ft-lb)/ATECH2FQ125B
Mine was the 47 lb/ft to clamp the chain adjustment eccentrics. Left to my own guestimates, I always leave these too loose and they will slip.
That 1/4" model I linked is the same in that it's available under several different brand names as well. Just buy whatever one is on sale. Does Lowes have the craftsman wrench or did you have to order it?
Did you notice the Snap On offering that would be similar? 634.00, on sale. Normally 715.00. Maybe it's better, but even if you were using it, daily, that price is high.
My older snap-on digital wrench does not do angles. No big deal on the bike, but the cars need this feature.
ttps://shop.snapon.com/product/supplemental/3-8%22-Drive-TechAngle-Quick-Release-Flex-Head-Torque-Wrench-(5-125-ft-lb)/ATECH2FQ125B
Front axle(72ft/lb) and caliper bolts(18 ft/lb) on one of my Ninja 400 track bikes.
The 3/8 craftsman is actually 5-100 ft/lb, not 20-100 as some sites show.
I keep my torque wrench, a 3/8 to 1/2 drive adapter, and 3/8 and 1/2 socket sets handy whenever I am working on a bike.
The 3/8 craftsman is actually 5-100 ft/lb, not 20-100 as some sites show.
I keep my torque wrench, a 3/8 to 1/2 drive adapter, and 3/8 and 1/2 socket sets handy whenever I am working on a bike.
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419 Posts
So crazy you brought this up. I watch the youTube Den of Tools channel and the digital torque testers are within like a hundredth of a % accurate. So without having to spend a fortune you can be VERY confident in buying the Harbor Freight or Amazon digital torque adapter. Now the $300+ SnapOn is sweet but for the budget friendly option there are VERY good alternatives.
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16,482 Posts
You know what's funny about the accuracy is that real accuracy spec vs real life. If someone hasn't used one before, these are two different things.
The digital wrenches will set off the alarm and they will remember the actual torque applied.
This happened to me a few days ago as I tightened lug nuts. The spec was 70 as I recall. With my snap on it will give a short alarm at 90% of 70 and the real alarm at 70 in this case.
Step 1 is set wrench to 70. You would assume the wrench is the expert and will take care of the thinking and technique. Not so much.
The wrench alarms and the real spec you applied will be 72, 75, 82, 77. All over the place. The old ones that clicked were the same. You just didn't know it. Way more variance than the wrench is capable of.
If you really have to be accurate, it takes skill and practice. It would be mostly impossible to see 70 on all five nuts. Probably impossible being they are used fasteners and bei g in different positions around the wheel. You would need some sort of machine to do this precision like. With real dedicated effort, I think I could stay within the 70-75 range. Half assing it
Is more in the 70-80 area. It sounds crazy, but you'll see when you use it.
The digital wrenches will set off the alarm and they will remember the actual torque applied.
This happened to me a few days ago as I tightened lug nuts. The spec was 70 as I recall. With my snap on it will give a short alarm at 90% of 70 and the real alarm at 70 in this case.
Step 1 is set wrench to 70. You would assume the wrench is the expert and will take care of the thinking and technique. Not so much.
The wrench alarms and the real spec you applied will be 72, 75, 82, 77. All over the place. The old ones that clicked were the same. You just didn't know it. Way more variance than the wrench is capable of.
If you really have to be accurate, it takes skill and practice. It would be mostly impossible to see 70 on all five nuts. Probably impossible being they are used fasteners and bei g in different positions around the wheel. You would need some sort of machine to do this precision like. With real dedicated effort, I think I could stay within the 70-75 range. Half assing it
Is more in the 70-80 area. It sounds crazy, but you'll see when you use it.
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419 Posts
That is so true. The real torque we apply with out click wrenches which I almost always use is probably quite the variance.
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