Torque wrenchs

The other day I noticed a tq checker on the Snappy truck so we checked ours. I have a bazilion dollar electronic SnapOn that does everything but windows. Checked right on spec. I have a newer manual click style Snappy for lugnuts and quicker duty, it reads about 5 lbs low at 100. My old beam wrench is ok and really surprising is my very old (30 or more) abused Craftsman twist handle clicker is perfect. Total shock. It is banged, tossed, left wound up and used to loosen crap. You just never know.

I have found that the Snap-On dial type torque wrenches like to fail high. I have retired mine to home use and have them checked often.

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Robert.

"You are way too normal to be on Rally Anarchy." Eddie Fiorelli.

craftsman doesn't warranty their torque wrenches any longer than 60 days anymore. I've broken two of them within that period, They are pretty much crap anymore. The old craftsman torque wrench my father gave me (prolly same age bracket as yours gene) is still spot on. I've broken the craftsman 3/8" drive ratchet probably 20 times in the first year of ownership (till I got lucky and they replaced it with a rebuilt unit that looks like its 20 years old. Haven't broken it since) The half inch drive has been taken back for replacement once or twice, but I rarely use the half incher.

I'm heavily disappointed with newer craftsman stuff. It's what I grew up using, so I saved a grand or two and dumped it all on craftsman about 6 years ago, only to find that the newer ratchets are shit. Haven't broken any sockets though I've snapped a few hex keys and extensions.

while my 15$ harbor freight Pittsburg ratchet that I bought on a whim has been trouble free.

I hate to say it, but the Harbor Freight shit is no worse than the current Sears shit.

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Andrew Steere
Lyndeborough, NH
KB1PJY

I still have some Craftsman from when I was a kid. Their wrenches used to be primarily clubs but never broke. Nowadays you can buy their stuff at Ace hardware. HF is carrying some better stuff and I suspect a lot of everything is made offshore irregardless of labels.

Yeah the new crapsman totally suck. Im now banned from the sears in hayward because of those stupid things. My snapon dial wrench seems spot on or it was when I bought it.

I'm not sure what you guys are talking about? Is this torque wrench some handheld thing for measuring the power output in a VW or something?

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Grant Hughes

It's for measuring the tweaking of the nips.

My engine builder swears by the old school beam-style torque wrenches.





Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/2013 11:25PM by b00sted.

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fiasco
I hate to say it, but the Harbor Freight shit is no worse than the current Sears shit.

This. When I outfitted the rally tool box, I bought a bunch of HF hand tools so I wouldn't have to be raiding the home tool chest. Honestly, I can perceive very little difference in the sockets and box/open wrenches. The vise grips are shit, though.

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SeanP
The vise grips are shit, though.

REAL Vise Grips are shit now. Irwin off-shored production of Vise Grips not that long ago, and my "new" ones that are marked "The ORIGINAL" Vise Grips aren't half the pliers that my old ones are. Don't grip as well, don't lock as tight…grrr.

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Andrew Steere
Lyndeborough, NH
KB1PJY

Lol it's true Gene, my we got my Dad's ancient craftsmen torque wrenches checked before putting the rally engine together, and 3 of them were OK, but 1 was like 15% off. They're probably 30 years old haha

We don't have any newer torque wrenches, save for a little park tools beam in/lb guy.

What brands would you guys recommend for buying a new torque wrench?

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Welcome to the cult of JVL drink the koolaid or be banned.

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fiasco

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SeanP
The vise grips are shit, though.

REAL Vise Grips are shit now. Irwin off-shored production of Vise Grips not that long ago, and my "new" ones that are marked "The ORIGINAL" Vise Grips aren't half the pliers that my old ones are. Don't grip as well, don't lock as tight…grrr.

Maybe your just a wuss now?
I hate vice grips...

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Grant Hughes

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Dazed_Driver
Lol it's true Gene, my we got my Dad's ancient craftsmen torque wrenches checked before putting the rally engine together, and 3 of them were OK, but 1 was like 15% off. They're probably 30 years old haha

We don't have any newer torque wrenches, save for a little park tools beam in/lb guy.

What brands would you guys recommend for buying a new torque wrench?

I've got a 1/2" drive CDI one. Snap on bought them out a while ago. Been happy with it, seems well built but never put it on a tq checker to measure its accuracy. Therefore I will not comment any further on it.