Hello,

I am looking for Torque wrench suggestions from experienced users.

Thanks,
for your time and help



spanky13

 

Lots of people like the clicker type and I have one but for me the old school pointer types are more functional. You can check break away torque with those and you can see the actual torque as you close in on it. Cant do that with a clicker. The click type need to be calibrated and if you miss hearing a click for any reason you can strip out a thread.

Some odd times you will need a really high torque setting and for those times I would try to rent one from the Autozone rather than buy one.

 

Mine's a Craftsman and I've had it for eons.

 

I gotta have my Snap-On "click"! It's been good to me for over 30 years!

 

i too have a Craftsman torque wrench that I’ve had for a long time. Still works great.

 

I use a Kobalt click type from Lowes, it works for most things but the needle type is usable for all things. As for missing a click mine isnt only audible you feel it, if you arent paying attention you may even scare yourself thinking you broke the bolt.

 

I had a harbor freight 3/8 and 1/2 " click types that looks just like the lowes and home depot ones. The 3/8 lasted one engine build then failed. I would find a good used Mac or Snap On type and have the calibraton checked. Their quality will always be reliable

I replaced mine with craftsman. I have 2 new electronic click types now that work great, but they have alot of plastic on them. I keep an eye out for good snap on deals

 

I use a Craftsman I've had for 40 years and it still works great.

I bought a Harbor Fright for my boat toolbox and it was a real piece of $hit. First major problem was it wasn't accurate when I compared it to a couple other torque wrenches

 

CDI from Amazon. CDI makes/used to make Snap-On's TQ wrenches.

 

I have the same one Sug has. It vibrates as you are about to hit your torque setting. When you hit it the beep starts which is a big help if the bolt is in a bad place. It measure SAE and metric. The best part is it measures torque angles. On a lot of newer engines you torque it then pull another 30 degrees for example. More than I planned on spending but I absolutely love it. A tool you will have for life.

 

Fancy is as fancy does. Bells and whistles aren't where it's at with torque control. The most repeatable torque wrenches are "beam" type. The least reliable torque wrenches are "click" type...because the variable which is not controlled is the way in which it is used by the operator. Without proper training, click wrench accuracy is a crap shoot.

Digital wrenches? Well, the readout gives you "numbers" down to a fraction of a foot-pound. But that is an issue of 'readability'..not accuracy or repeatability. There are too many things to go wrong with a digital wrench...not to mention that the battery needs to be good.

 

Been a lurker for a while, but you've inspired me to my first post...

I work at an R&D facility where we employ 40-50 torque wrenches on a daily basis. Nearly all of ours are the CDI/Snap On click type. We have a very few older Craftsmans, and a couple of high accuracy beam types. We do not use any digital units.

We send the units out for calibration yearly, and check them against a calibrated tester weekly. Any unit that is more than 5% out across it's operating range is sent out for calibration or R&R. The CDI's do not tend to need repairs until they fail mechanically, at which point we just buy a new one rather than repair them.

A few considerations that we've found over several years of doing this...
1.) Click types are not as accurate, repeatable or precise as beam types.
2.) Click types are much easier to use in awkward positions or at odd angles.
3.) Digital units are not durable enough for OUR use. Likely there are very good digital units out there, we just haven't used/found/purchased them.
4.) ALL non beam types are subject to drift or sudden inaccuracy. Like almost everything else in life, the more expensive units TEND to be better.
5.) Beam types are subject to physical damage that will render them inaccurate.
6.) Click types must be stored correctly (i.e. returned to zero after use)
7.) Nearly all of the click types will be off by 2-5%, even the expensive ones.
and
8.) Your technique matters more than anything. With a click type wrench, different techniques can vary the output by 10-15% when measured against a calibrated test fixture. (See 7T1Vette's post above)

All that said, the wrench I have at home is a Harbor Freight special. I'm comfortable with its accuracy (10% or so) and at the price point, it's essentially disposable. However, I do have the luxury of testing mine against our test fixture any time I like. If not for that, I would likely buy the CDI.

DWW

 

The click type work good when dealing with bolts in tight spaces, such as working under the car or in blind spaces. Beam type work good in open "bench top" locations. Frankly, the accuracy of the cheap ones are well within the range of most applications. Proper lubrication techniques and sequencing is the key to accurate torquing techniques.

 

Just an FYI, Costco uses a very high quality torque wrench in their tire centers. They run about $200 from a company called Westesco. They check the calibration of their wrenches monthly using their in house torque wrench tester. If you stop by and ask nicely, I'm pretty sure they'll let you check the accuracy of your wrench.

 

dw....
My time in metrology was over 40 years ago; but the results were similar to your description. In shop environments, click-type wrenches are common..because that are 'perceived' to be the easiest to use (don't need to look at a readout or measurement scale). However, when we asked various experienced assemblers to torque some bolts with the same click wrench, we got fairly consistent numbers from each individual. But, the average readings from individual to individual varied widely. It appeared that each person had their own "method" for how much they pulled on the wrench AFTER they felt the click. Some stopped the instant they felt the click (the correct method). Others gave another little (or not so little) tug on the wrench, "just for good measure!" Thus, my comment that proper training is required for click-types to give good results.

 

I have used my clicker Craftsman very often for the past 22 years.

 

I have a Snap-On clicker that I bought in 1971. I've had it calibrated to NIST standards several times over the years and it's never failed to pass with flying colors. Admittedly, I don't use it near as much as I used to, but it's still the "go-to". I tried one of those digital ones a year or so ago. Never again. As others pointed out, you can't check breakaway torque with a clicker. A dial type with a memory needle works great for that.

 

Dial-type torque wrenches are basically beam-type wrenches with a gauge which measures the amount of beam deflection; and that is proportional to the applied torque. If there is no binding or lost motion in the rack/pinion or indicator mechanism, it's pretty good. And, the fact that you can retain the reading is a good 'double-check' that the correct torque was applied.

 

Thanks for all the input gentlemen, greatly appreciated

very informative