torque wrench question.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 2,668
Likes: 43
From: Eastern US XX
we have a $300 snap on torque wrench at the shop we have mainly been using it on deisel head bolts @ 170 ft pounds. I used it this weekend on a 289 overhaul and torqued my mains to 70 ft pounds and the crank would not even turn. rechecked everything and realized it may be off. bought one at walmart (my only option on Sunday) it worked fine 
Pro
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 624
Likes: 1
From: Melbourne, Fla. 6 months- New Middletown, Ohio 6 months
Red71.... Click-type wrenches "appear" to be easier to use and people think they are more accurate because they click. Neither is true. Click-types are notorious for being inaccurate and there is a tendency for folks who use them to think they can't put too much torque on a bolt because of its design. Fact is, many folks overtorque them...they hear the click and pull "just a little more". With a dial type you can ease up on the right value, because you know what torque you are applying..ALL the time. And the dial/scale has no mechanism to wear/fail. If it reads, it reads right. Only my opinion [but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night....].
The problem with all of them (as shown be the replies) is that without being checked against a known 'standard" we do not know if they are off. I have had two clickers for years and have always handled and stored them properly. I worked at a semicinductor manufacturer that had a calibration lab and had my two wrenches checked for accuracy once back in the mid 80's. I have used both since I retired in 99 but would not bet that they are both still accurate.
A friend of mine needs some surgery, let me know when you next stay at Holiday Inn Express!!!!
Last edited by Red 71; May 29, 2007 at 12:44 PM.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 9,192
Likes: 27
From: Boca Raton Florida
Red71.... Click-type wrenches "appear" to be easier to use and people think they are more accurate because they click. Neither is true. Click-types are notorious for being inaccurate and there is a tendency for folks who use them to think they can't put too much torque on a bolt because of its design. Fact is, many folks overtorque them...they hear the click and pull "just a little more". With a dial type you can ease up on the right value, because you know what torque you are applying..ALL the time. And the dial/scale has no mechanism to wear/fail. If it reads, it reads right. Only my opinion [but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night....].
Dial type wrenches have a little more easy to use resolution because of the gauge but are no more accurite, and they can be off or fail for exactly the same reasons other wrenches fail, your pulling on a spring.
ALL Torq wrenches need to be checked periodically to make sure they are correct and adjusted if necessary. When I managed that particular function for the company I worked for I talked to the calibration agency we used (HP in Richardson Texas) their bench techs told me that they had to actually adjust less than half the wrenches that came in for calibration and that the bulk of the business was click types.
All that said a cheap wrench might get you by, but the more it cost generally indicates quality and the better quality wrench you get dictates how long it will stay in spec.
Abuse of course negates all that
