Torque Wrenches?!?!?

[psycho6cyl]

Well soon I will be doing heads etc on my car and I will need a tq wrench. I am leaning towards Snap ons techangle. Its a bit pricey but worth it. I cant see this tool have a lot of use. Any feed back on any other brands? Looking for 1/2 drive. Thx

 

[TexasT]

I use a craftsman beam type wrench that was handed down to me from my father. It isn't an everyday tool so I keep it in its box in the back of a drawer in my box. I see nothing wrong with a snapon or any other brand as long as it is accurate. Plenty of cheaper ones out there that are just as accurate if fundage is an issue. Though shinny chrome is cool no matter the brand.

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[Pronto]

I had never used an electronic torque wrench before a couple of weeks ago. I have to say the Techangle was impressive. Then again it was owned by a professional mechanic that uses it often enough to justify it's price. It's over $500!

 

[tlap]

I have worked in metrology in the aerospace industry for about 30 years and have calibrated thousands of torque wrenches.
Snap-On has very good equipment and the accuracy depends on which model you have. The statement above about accuracy is true, however, how do you know if its truly accurate if it is not tested on a consistant/regular basis?
If it has not been stored corectly (at its minimum setting) or if it has been dropped, or over torqued, will definately effect its accuracy.
Most click type torque wrenches are manufactured to an acuracy of +/-4% of indicated value in the C.W. direction, and +/-6% of indicated value in the C.C.W dir. Some of Snap-On's dial type wrenches have an accuracy of +/-2% ind.
Those mfg. accuracies are from 20% to 100% of their range, so in other words they are not intended to be used in the bottom 20% of their range.
Deflecting beam torque wrenches are OK, but like any wrench, you never really know unless you get it on a high quality, highly accurate load cell torque calibrating machine that is at least 4 time more accurate than what you are testing. Even then, they (deflecting beam wrenches) are not very repeatable.
I know its all relative, and most people dont get into this kind of detail, but it is my job, and the wrenches I calibrate are used on multi billion dollar launch vehicles and satelites.
Bottom line, get them calibrated if you really want to know that they are accurate.

 

[ttaowner]

whats it cost to get 1 calibrated? just curious? i have 3 diffrent craftsman ones the click type and i dont even think i have used them yet. i know i let 2 others borrow them.

 

[notacarlo]

Last time I had mine calibrated it was $60. That was 6 years ago.

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[psycho6cyl]

From what I read snapon charges 100

 

[notacarlo]

I went to an independent hydraulic shop.

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[ttaowner]

I think my wrenches were only $70-90 each on sale at Christmas time.

 

[novaderrik]

one of the magazines did a test on torque wrenches not too long ago... the $15 Harbor Freight one was as accurate and repeatable as a $200 Snap On one..

they also did a test on ratchets and how much torque they could take before breaking, with similar results..

regarding torque wrenches: i like the $60 Craftsman one that i bought 13 or 14 years ago... never been calibrated and i don't know how far off it might be, but i've never had bolts come loose from too little torque or heads crack from too much torque..

 

[psycho6cyl]

I wanted to use a craftsman one but reviews on the newer ones werent that good. Breaking in a year etc..

 

[Turbo38V6]

I literally just bought one on Amazon. For my price range it came down to Precision Instruments or CDI Torque. Was looking for a 3/8". Splitting hairs at this point with these two, I went with the Precision Instruments. Both at one point made the torque wrenches for Snap-On and CDI I believe was bought by Snap-On. IMO real quality at a great price. Id trust them over Craftsmen any day.


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[XLR8ONU]

I have worked in metrology in the aerospace industry for about 30 years and have calibrated thousands of torque wrenches.
Snap-On has very good equipment and the accuracy depends on which model you have. The statement above about accuracy is true, however, how do you know if its truly accurate if it is not tested on a consistant/regular basis?
If it has not been stored corectly (at its minimum setting) or if it has been dropped, or over torqued, will definately effect its accuracy.
Most click type torque wrenches are manufactured to an acuracy of +/-4% of indicated value in the C.W. direction, and +/-6% of indicated value in the C.C.W dir. Some of Snap-On's dial type wrenches have an accuracy of +/-2% ind.
Those mfg. accuracies are from 20% to 100% of their range, so in other words they are not intended to be used in the bottom 20% of their range.
Deflecting beam torque wrenches are OK, but like any wrench, you never really know unless you get it on a high quality, highly accurate load cell torque calibrating machine that is at least 4 time more accurate than what you are testing. Even then, they (deflecting beam wrenches) are not very repeatable.
I know its all relative, and most people dont get into this kind of detail, but it is my job, and the wrenches I calibrate are used on multi billion dollar launch vehicles and satelites.
Bottom line, get them calibrated if you really want to know that they are accurate.

I work nuclear power and agree with everything he said. We calibrate everything we use minimum once a year or everytime we use it on critical equipment. Unless it's calibrated it's just a good general guess(which for automotive is usually more than enough)
Also using a torque wrench in bottom 20 percent will have your largest inaccuracy. And storing with that spring tight destroys accuracy.

If any of you are in Arizona and want a wrench checked shoot me a PM and I'll get it taken care of.

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