torque wrench

[mtnwingrider]

I am getting ready to do a water pump change out and after reading the tutorial one of the things I have noticed was that people were having trouble with the torque wrenches from harbor freight. I am REALLY paranoid about stripping bolts in that aluminium lol. Any suggestions on a good torque wrench would be appreciated. I have an old sears wrench but it has been abused a few times and at those low settings I want something that is totally accurate. Thanks in advance Doc.

[tfdeputydawg]

IMO, anything from "Horrible Fright" is not worth having!!! You usually get what you pay for!
MacTools for me!
I rake Sears tools just above HF, since they started importing from China years ago!
If you have an old Sears, might have it checked and recalibrated.

[Viking]

I would consider Mac, Snap On, and Proto to be perfectly acceptable, as they are professional grade. Here in Canada we have Canadian Tire tools and their torque wrenches seem pretty good. One thing about a torque wrench - the easiest way to screw up the calibration is to put it away still set to a torque value. It should be returned to zero every time it is put away. Almost any torque wrench that cost more than about $30 will do the job for 50 lbs of torque and up. For really light torque, a smaller torque wrench or a much more expensive one are pretty much the way to go.

[HawkeyeGL1200]

As MainViking wrote, Snap-On, Proto, Williams and several other brands that escape me at the moment are all well made and of good quality for the job of torquing bolting.

I don't know of any place a person can get a torque wrench calibrated. The calibration is probably at least as important as where the tool is made. I'm sure even a Harbor Freight tool would work just fine, if we could be assured of the accuracy of the scale.

Torque may be the worst indicator of how well a bolt is "clamping" two pieces of a flange together that we have available to us. It is, however, one of the easiest methods to ensure the same amount of force is applied to all bolts within a flanged join.

Condition of the male and female threaded parts, amount and location of lubricant applied and sequence with which the fasteners are "stretched" (because that's really what's important, not how hard it is to rotate the bolt or nut in question) are all far more influential in how well the join will function over time than how much torque (within reason) is applied.

[WingAdmin]

It's relatively easy to calibrate a torque wrench yourself.

Take a foot-long piece of metal, put the torque wrench at one end (cut a slot in the end of the metal so the torque wrench slides into it). At the other end, hang a weight. Say 20 lbs of weight. The torque wrench should then measure 20 ft-lbs.

Make sure the center of the torque wrench drive to the position on the metal that the weight is hung is exactly one foot.

You can test for 40 lbs by making the metal 2 feet instead of one foot long. Hang the 20 lbs on the end, you should measure 40 ft-lbs instead of 20.

Incidentally you can also make a makeshift torque wrench the same way. Put a regular socket wrench on a bolt. Measure from the center of the socket out 12 inches on the wrench handle. Attach a spring scale at that point. Pull up on the spring scale to the torque you want. If you want 10 ft-lbs, pull up on the spring scale until it reads 10 lbs. The bolt is now torqued to 10 ft-lbs.

I do have a set of Harbor Freight torque wrenches, and I regularly test them against a high-precision beam-type torque wrench that I have, and they are consistently within 1-2 ft-lbs at all torque settings. The advice about not putting them away set tight (for "click type" wrenches, at least) is a good advice.

[moneypit]

Cant go wrong with SnapOn..

[Fatwing Chris]

As MainViking wrote, Snap-On, Proto, Williams and several other brands that escape me at the moment are all well made and of good quality for the job of torquing bolting.

I don't know of any place a person can get a torque wrench calibrated. The calibration is probably at least as important as where the tool is made. I'm sure even a Harbor Freight tool would work just fine, if we could be assured of the accuracy of the scale.

Torque may be the worst indicator of how well a bolt is "clamping" two pieces of a flange together that we have available to us. It is, however, one of the easiest methods to ensure the same amount of force is applied to all bolts within a flanged join.

Condition of the male and female threaded parts, amount and location of lubricant applied and sequence with which the fasteners are "stretched" (because that's really what's important, not how hard it is to rotate the bolt or nut in question) are all far more influential in how well the join will function over time than how much torque (within reason) is applied.

The tool guys(Snappy,Mac,Matco etc...) will take your wrench and have it calibrated for a fee.

[HawkeyeGL1200]

I should have noted that I wasn't thinking about the beam type torque wrenches. They work fine, as long as you can situate your head to see the beam and scale, and as WingAdmin pointed out, you *can* calibrate them yourself with some patience and weight.

Most of the torque wrenches we use these days are the ones that "click" or break over when the torque is reached. I've seen a lot of people "jerk" the handle on higher torque values, which doesn't give you an accurate torque applied to the fastener.

The place I work has a calibration lab, where we send all of our measuring and test equipment for calibration once a year, or if we suspect the tool (it could be anything from a torque wrench to a pressure gauge) has been damaged in some way. I'm a little spoiled as the lab will actually "check" my personal tools (which I am not allowed to use at work) to see if they're accurate.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I don't use a torque wrench much when I'm working on my own stuff. After 40 years of pulling wrenches, I've got a pretty good sense for how to take things apart and put them back together again. There are a couple of simple truths about bolting where humans are involved in the tightening... Most people over-tighten small diameter bolts and under-tighten large diameter bolts. That's the beauty of having a calibrated device to ensure the fasteners are all the same amount of tight. Again, the trouble with using torque as a reference to determine how much tension the body of the fastener is placed in is, the condition of the threads and location and amount of lubrication applied to the threads if a far greater determiner of how much we've stretched a bolt than how hard it is (torque) to rotate the bold or nut... So, cleaning and de-burring threads, proper type, amount and location of application of lubricant are more important (To me) than how accurate my torque wrench is..

of course, bolting in great condition, with lubrication, and a properly calibrated torque wrench is a home-run...

[WingAdmin]

In the spirit of full disclosure, I don't use a torque wrench much when I'm working on my own stuff. After 40 years of pulling wrenches, I've got a pretty good sense for how to take things apart and put them back together again. There are a couple of simple truths about bolting where humans are involved in the tightening... Most people over-tighten small diameter bolts and under-tighten large diameter bolts. That's the beauty of having a calibrated device to ensure the fasteners are all the same amount of tight. Again, the trouble with using torque as a reference to determine how much tension the body of the fastener is placed in is, the condition of the threads and location and amount of lubrication applied to the threads if a far greater determiner of how much we've stretched a bolt than how hard it is (torque) to rotate the bold or nut... So, cleaning and de-burring threads, proper type, amount and location of application of lubricant are more important (To me) than how accurate my torque wrench is..

Me too. I use the "internal torque wrench" for a large majority of fasteners, which was developed from years of wrenching. That said, I always use a torque wrench for:

- Critical fasteners, i.e. fasteners that hold wheels on, steering bearings, etc.
- Automotive lug nuts (overtorqued lug nuts are one of the most common causes of warped brake rotors today)
- Fasteners going into aluminum, particularly expensive aluminum (i.e. forks, engine block)

[littlebeaver]

I feel so cheated, I bought a Craftsmen torque wrench thinking of course it's American made,, it always has been......What..... I went to see the lable,, Made in China in the fine print..... this is Craftsmen Sears... Man.. I am shocked.....I'm getting old when I don't notice or think of this sorta stuff,,, I paid alot for the freakin tool ... I'm testing it with the other torque wrenches I have to see if they click at the same torque if they do, I'm calling it good.. I expect they will....Someone tell me they have American Quality Control to meet our Standards for craftsmen tools...I'm not going to sleep until someone tells me this...

[Viking]

Someone tell me they have American Quality Control to meet our Standards for craftsmen tools...I'm not going to sleep until someone tells me this...

As long as you back it off before putting it away (if it is a click or break torque wrench) you should be alright. Although some of Sears tools suffered from being made in china (like sockets) most are adequate for the home fixit person. With the sockets, I would just buy two sets instead of one so even if I broke one, while waiting for a replacement, I would still have another of the same size. Same thing with ratchets. Every set of sockets comes with a ratchet, so a person could have five or six of those as backups. Made in China does not necessarily say garbage, only probability of breaking rather than possibility. Sleep well.