Good value torque wrenches without breaking the bank?

[Gym123]

240 inch pounds equals 20 ft/lbs.?

Yes.

 

[13brian]

My recommendation is to grab a digital adapter for your needs. Decent videos on YouTube from at least two different testers that showed AC Delco and Quinn to be quite accurate and very affordable. I own HF 1/2" ft/lb clicker, 3/8" Craftsman in/lb clicker, old Craftsman beam style and just recently AC Delco digital adapter.

 

[biggertv]

I am not building the space shuttle. About the only thing i use a torque wrench on is head bolts, rod bolts and sump covers. I have 1/2" and 3/8" Tekton clicker wrenches that get the same readings as my old beam wrench. If i am off a little it hasn't been a problem yet. It's a

I had been rebuilding a Trek road bike and don't have a torque wrench that can read inch-lb, so I used the 'good and snug' method but last week, I got an Ariens riding mower with a bad head gasket and the torque is more important for reinstalling the head. I had bought a Pittsburgh wrench from Harbor freight but since the bike went on the back burner, never used it until Friday and when I was tightening the first bolt, it never clicked. I have seen a lot of videos showing people using that wrench and they received good reviews, but I don't think customers should have to do Quality Control testing for any manufacturer unless they pay us in some way. I also don't like the need to turn the handle three times through its range from low to high and turning the sleeve felt like I was scraping the thread into a new piece of metal- the first replacement had grease coming out and it was very hard to turn. I tested the first one by putting a 1/4"-3/8" adapter and clamping it in my vise to check it at the lowest torque setting and it never clicked. It actually broke the adapter that I had used for decades- I had ground off some material so it could be used once and it never failed until I was testing the wrench.

I was pretty PO'd- neither of the HF stores is close enough for me to call them 'convenient', but I need to finish the work, so I drove out and exchanged it without any problem from them, even though I had never registered it (can't even see that it was needed until it's opened), but I wasn't going to leave without testing it and since I bought a set of adapters, I was able to use a vise again. The replacement never clicked, the 2nd and 3rd replacements didn't click. I was talking to the store manager after the first exchange and he tried a couple of them, even went to the back room to grab one in a fresh case- none of them worked.

To be honest, I have had very few problems with their tools and have a lot of SnapOn, some Craftsman and other brands but this was ridiculous.

Anyway, I still need a torque wrench that will work between 20-240 inch-pounds. What do you fine people use? I don't expect to need it often.

I would prefer Taiwanese if it's going to come from Asia.

Don't worry about accuracy too much. As long as they are Equal Torque and tight. Harbor freight tools have improved a lot over the years. I've got the 1/2 and 1/4 torque wrenches, never had a problem. Their colored sockets are tough.

 

[RevB]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CP5PDS8H/ref=sspa_mw_detail_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9kZXRhaWw

 

[MikeH62]

I had been rebuilding a Trek road bike and don't have a torque wrench that can read inch-lb, so I used the 'good and snug' method but last week, I got an Ariens riding mower with a bad head gasket and the torque is more important for reinstalling the head. I had bought a Pittsburgh wrench from Harbor freight but since the bike went on the back burner, never used it until Friday and when I was tightening the first bolt, it never clicked. I have seen a lot of videos showing people using that wrench and they received good reviews, but I don't think customers should have to do Quality Control testing for any manufacturer unless they pay us in some way. I also don't like the need to turn the handle three times through its range from low to high and turning the sleeve felt like I was scraping the thread into a new piece of metal- the first replacement had grease coming out and it was very hard to turn. I tested the first one by putting a 1/4"-3/8" adapter and clamping it in my vise to check it at the lowest torque setting and it never clicked. It actually broke the adapter that I had used for decades- I had ground off some material so it could be used once and it never failed until I was testing the wrench.

I was pretty PO'd- neither of the HF stores is close enough for me to call them 'convenient', but I need to finish the work, so I drove out and exchanged it without any problem from them, even though I had never registered it (can't even see that it was needed until it's opened), but I wasn't going to leave without testing it and since I bought a set of adapters, I was able to use a vise again. The replacement never clicked, the 2nd and 3rd replacements didn't click. I was talking to the store manager after the first exchange and he tried a couple of them, even went to the back room to grab one in a fresh case- none of them worked.

To be honest, I have had very few problems with their tools and have a lot of SnapOn, some Craftsman and other brands but this was ridiculous.

Anyway, I still need a torque wrench that will work between 20-240 inch-pounds. What do you fine people use? I don't expect to need it often.

I would prefer Taiwanese if it's going to come from Asia.

I have used the same wrench you're describing for the last 10yrs and have never had a problem with it. Everyone gets a bad tool every once in awhile, just like buying a lemon car, it happens.

 

[Skippydiesel]

That guy couldn't have been older than early- 20s- do schools no longer try to teach the Metric System and how to convert to Imperial measurement?

In my humble opinion, all Imperial measurements are the Devils Work - organically derived over hundreds of years. Illogical & confusing. Why anyone wants to stick with it is beyond my comprehension. GO METRIC!!!!

 

[StarTech]

There was a big push in the US schools back in the 70's to go metric and still the companies keep the SAE standard. Some because they were old school and too stubborn to change, others kept it because it did confuse others, others did both so the tool manufactures could sell a lot more tools, and the fasteners companies just keep new designs just so more tools has to brought by the mechanics. What is more confusing there not just the SAE and Metric systems out there, I have personally ran into the British system here and had to order dies and taps for a tractor I was repairing.

I have come to conclusion that all this is done to prevent civilians from working on their own equipment so they have come to shops for repairs. I do have to admit some civilians don't need to any where near tools. Some don't even know which end of a screwdriver to use.

BTW Kawasaki uses a 1/8-28 pipe thread tap and die for the oil pressure senders which is British threading. And their tap hole is smaller than the SAE 1/8-27 hole.

And I am beginning to see the new Pentagon (five sided) head screws, more dang tools I have to buy. 10K in tools and still don't all that I need.

I used to live near Huntsville, AL, a NASA located city. You would think with NASA using metrics you could find metric fasteners and tools easily but you can't so end up ordering my tools and fasteners out of state.

And what worst is the tool sets that I buy are missing certain sizes, making me have pay more to get them. I only got one set of wrenches that goes from 8 to 30mm without skipping a size and it does comes in handy too.

 

[Gym123]

There was a big push in the US schools back in the 70's to go metric and still the companies keep the SAE standard. Some because they were old school and too stubborn to change, others kept it because it did confuse others, others did both so the tool manufactures could sell a lot more tools, and the fasteners companies just keep new designs just so more tools has to brought by the mechanics. What is more confusing there not just the SAE and Metric systems out there, I have personally ran into the British system here and had to order dies and taps for a tractor I was repairing.

I have come to conclusion that all this is done to prevent civilians from working on their own equipment so they have come to shops for repairs. I do have to admit some civilians don't need to any where near tools. Some don't even know which end of a screwdriver to use.

BTW Kawasaki uses a 1/8-28 pipe thread tap and die for the oil pressure senders which is British threading. And their tap hole is smaller than the SAE 1/8-27 hole.

And I am beginning to see the new Pentagon (five sided) head screws, more dang tools I have to buy. 10K in tools and still don't all that I need.

I used to live near Huntsville, AL, a NASA located city. You would think with NASA using metrics you could find metric fasteners and tools easily but you can't so end up ordering my tools and fasteners out of state.

And what worst is the tool sets that I buy are missing certain sizes, making me have pay more to get them. I only got one set of wrenches that goes from 8 to 30mm without skipping a size and it does comes in handy too.

Metric was introduced as a way to prevent people working on their own stuff? Recent 'right to repair' legislation is an attempt to change that but it's beyond late.

'Shade tree mechanics' have, and will always, exist. People who are mechanically inclined have always been able to figure out how to repair things, but DIY shows have made people think "If they can do it, I can, too" without remembering that they had no background in it and not only do they not know which screwdriver to use, they don't know which end to pound on. I have worked with people like that and seeing them try to use tools is like, well, it's hard to describe- the way they hold and handle tools just looks weird.

I was one of the kids who was taught Metric, starting in 1970. I use it all the time, along with SAE/Imperial measurement and we were taught to be open-minded about it, which makes us the polar opposite of the factory workers who were absolutely against it. My dad was one of those and he would invite some of the guys from where he worked to the house to shoot pool and drink beer- they were all against it and there I was, trying to explain why it's good and how it's useful. Crickets. Angry crickets. I gave up. I have a big problem when someone decides that they don't want to learn something.

I don't know why anyone would use a five-sided head, but I have seen conical heads with three small slots- Chrysler used those for securing the radios in their vehicles, so I bought one after getting tired of using my side-cutter.

Aside from the in-lb torque wrench, I'm at the point where I don't need to run out for additional tools unless I see something and it catches my tool-addict eye.

The US is one of only a few countries that hasn't officially adopted the Metric system, although those units are used frequently- our speedometers, bottles and cans, etc have Metric units and they're seen as some kind of strange language by people who just don't understand.

 

[Gym123]

In my humble opinion, all Imperial measurements are the Devils Work - organically derived over hundreds of years. Illogical & confusing. Why anyone wants to stick with it is beyond my comprehension. GO METRIC!!!!

But if you think about it, fractional measurements came about when most people couldn't read and many couldn't write, but they could make marks on a stick and divide it, visually- no calculations needed. Decide on a unit (usually by the King), in feet or inches, use it until a smaller increment is needed, then make a mark in the middle and see if it's correct. Divide it a few times more and pretty soon, someone has made it accurate to 1/64 of an inch.

WRT "sticking with it"- when the fastener sizes are used often enough, some people can look at it and grab the correct size the first time- I do that frequently and it's possible that in the back of my mind, I know it will be SAE or Metric, so I just grab one or the other. With the American auto manufacturers, all bets are off- they still use both.

Fractions are for seein', Metric is for thinkin' (paraphrased from Abe Simpson's comment, "This eye is for seein' and this one is for winkin' ") when he was talking with a woman.

If the tool fits the fastener, it really doesn't matter which system is used- one won't work better than the other. It really makes us spend a lot more money for tools, though.

 

[Skippydiesel]

Not just extras $$ on tools also weird fastener (nuts/bolts/screws) sizes in Imperial.

Check out aviator grade fasteners - keep your exposure short - too long and you will definitely go insane. Even those who use it all the time need to refer to charts & gauges to know for sure what fastener they need/are looking at.