Im looking for a good torque wrench that does ft/lbs and in/lbs. Im not looking to spend high dollar for a snap on. But I want a good quality one that I know is calibrated correctly. Anybody have any ideas.

 

O and im looking for a 3/8

 

No torque wrench stays in calibration indefinitely, not even the high-dollar ones. That said, for automotive work, most torque specs are within a range, so choosing a number in the middle to upper end of that range is usually "good enough". Always return the wrench to its lowest torque setting (if it's the "click" type) when you're done with it.

I have a couple torque wrenches from Sears (Craftsman) that have served me well. One is larger, 25-250 ft-lbs, I think, and was about $100 several years ago (ten, maybe?). The other is smaller, up to 250 in-lbs, I think, and was more like $60 or so. At some point, I intend to add one that is between the two, say up to 100 ft-lbs.

Jason

 

Gotcha. Im bidding on a Cornwell digital 3/8 now. Well see how it goes. It does 4 of the major settings. It dosent do angle, but I dont think I will need that for my needs.

 

My neighbor is an engineer. He has been working on his Honda car for a couple of weeks now. He bought the cheap Harbor Freight ones. He took them to work and had a fellow engineer check them for accuracy.

The results were pretty much dead on. If he is happy, it has to be good.

 

I used to calibrate torque wrenches (among other things) when I was in the military, and Jroehl is right......no torque wrench stays within tolerance forever. Between abuse (dropping, banging, etc.), jerking motion of the user, and just wear itself, most torque wrenches will eventually fall out of tolerance, and need to be adjusted. Now the ones I did in the service, we'd either throw a lead, wax, or sticker seal over the adjuster, to keep the monkeys out on the flight line from messing with it. We would still have to have the wrenches come back to us at the lab on a yearly basis for calibration checks anyway.

Basically, if you don't want to go high dollar, and don't want to get it calibrated, Jroehl pretty much called it right by using 'Kentucky windage' to ballpark the correct torque. The only danger there is if the wrench falls out of calibration on the high end, and you end up overtorquing everything, which on aluminum items could end up costing you big time. Torque wrenches don't age like engines.....they don't necessarily produce lower torque readings the older they get, so it's best to really pay attention to the feel of a wrench when you're pulling on it. If it feels like you're pulling too hard to get 80 ft/lbs (or any reading), you probably are, and could do some damage if you're not careful.

I guess my point is that if you're willing to protect your investment by using a torque wrench in the first place when it calls for it (instead of just ballparking with a ratchet), then you should probably just bite the bullet and get a decent wrench, and have it checked for accuracy from time to time if there's a service for that in your area. It'll save you stripped threads, and money in the long run.

 

I ended up winning the cornwell digital torque wrench for 167.50 shipped. Seller said it was used four tines and it looked to be in real good condition. Fugire cornwell has been around, they sell it my area and they one of the first quality tool companies made. And thats a great price for a digital wrench. I wish it had the angle cayse you do never no when you need it but should be ok without it

 

Someone described a crude calibration tested over on garage and workshop a couple of years ago. Involved a weight and a lever arm (so you could use a smaller weight). Had some kind of trip mechanism so that when the weight just moved you'd know it.

That's all I remember about it. You could probably find it just by searching torque wrench in that section. (There probably aren't too many threads on the topic).

hj

 

saw a guy in youtube use milk jugs. he had a whole explination as to how they figure out how they set the ft/lbs. gotta take the length and this and that and times and subtract lol.