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In 1981 I bought a 'Sears Finest' 'Digitork' 1/2" drive 18", 0 to 150 ft lbs torque wrench. I only used it on vehicle lug nuts a few times over the years and not at all in the last 30 years. I recently had some brake work by an old retired mechanic (but nowhere near as old as me ) and he tightened the wheel lugs with an impact driver. I questioned the torque and he said he knew when it was at 90 lbs and every so often he checked back on it. Okay, but I still didn't trust it. So I took my torque wrench out, set it on 100 and the nut didn't budge before the wrench clicked. I got out my breaker bar, put a jack handle section on it and broke it loose but it had to be at least 125. I proceeded to loosen them all and reset at 85, one at a time. My car's spec is 79 to 94 and it has aluminum wheels.
Okay, but is my old torque wrench accurate? I went to Harbor Freight and bought the 1/2" drive Torque Adapter. Brought it home, put it in the vise, set my wrench to 75 (mid point and close to my lug torque), and when the wrench 'broke' the adapter was sitting right on 75 - I couldn't believe it! So I tried it at 50 and the wrench 'broke' at 49.5. As far as I'm concerned, this 'Digitork' wrench is still on the money and plenty good enough for wheel lugs.
The wrench still looks new and spends its time in the lower section of my Craftsman rolling tool chest in its original case, in my attached garage.
The wrench also does Newton Meters which is pretty cool for 1981. Its not electronic - the display is read from a colored indicating band under a little magnifying lens. All you have to do is set it back to '10' Ft Lbs after use and never 'unwind' it past the word 'STOP' on the indicating band. Its lifetime lubricated and has ball bearings to reduce friction in the works. Its 'Made In The USA' and has a serial number!
So, I'll be letting that mechanic know the needs to check on his lug nut torque more often because he is getting dangerous amounts of torque for aluminum wheels.
I had a shop years ago do the annual safety on my truck. Later, like a few weeks I was going to do the brakes myself as the mechanic said it was close. Tried to take the lugs off. First broke a socket, after putting a 4 foot bar on the end of my lug bar. The broke an extension same way. Drove back the shop, sorry, we will redo them. Watched the guy. Took the impact and undid the lugs. Then using a torque stick spun the lugs on. Took his Snap on wrench and checked it to 110 ft/lbs. Yep all good. Asked if I could check with mine before leaving. At 160 ft/lbs the lug moved every so slightly. Must be something wrong with your wrench was the response. Asked my son (a mechanic but out of town)about that. He says that lots of guys will over run the torque sticks, going full bore. You are to go slow and then finish with a torque wrench. That and a couple of other mistakes' and I never went back to that shop. Now they are sending my coupons and flyers asking me to come back.
Have that same Craftsman torque wrench , still in the case. Loaned it to a friend who backed it off too far.. The little pieces fell out of place and locked up the wrench. Was able to take it apart and get the pieces back where they belonged. Bought another adjustable torque wrench from NAPA and compared it with the repaired one. Lucked out Also in sync with my Snap-on dial indicator one.
I don't know about now, but years ago local Walmart stores who did tires, had the mechanics torque the wheels down. Then drive around the parking lot then recheck the torque
Remember the beam deflection torque wrench? I was amazed when my dad pulled that out if his tool box and used it.
Back in my military days we used "clicker" torque wrenches on pretty much everything on the helicopter. Ever seen a torque wrench screwdriver? Anyway they had to be calibrated every 12 months and HAD to have the sticker proving it. If you dropped it, the tool shack had to send it back off to get recalibrated.
I have 2 Craftsman torque wrenches that I use in my shop, one is Ft lbs, one is inch lbs. Thanks for the mention of the "Harbor Freight 1/2" drive Torque Adapter". I was always curious about just how good/correctly set mine were. I always set mine back to "0" before putting them back in their storage box and back in the roller tool box.
I'm poor. I just use a clicking torque wrench. I'm not spending more on a tool I use once every few years. I've got 3/8" and 1/2" for different applications. I haven't bought a 1/4" yet. But it's probably the small fasteners that I'm over torquing by hand and stripping.
That's ok for the most jobs we do on our trucks. I have an ancient "beam" type 2 "snap-on" dial indicator type (ft pounds and inch pounds) The ones that get used the most are the click types. As mentioned, don't back off past zero.
Thanks for this thread, I went to get my old faithful tq wrench and it was no where to be found. That is until I cleaned up my garage lol, found a lot of things that went missing over the years.
I've used both of these over the past 40+ years in a professional setting, sent them in for a calibration check and they were sent back with little to no adjustments needed, they simply cleaned up the inards and sent them back.
Both made in "Murica" Yes both are serialized, and yes they both still work perfectly.
Got one. Delegated to "antique" status now. Along with my Snap-on dial indicator ones. The Snap-on inch pound one is still handy for setting the pre-load on rear end pinion bearings.
) and he tightened the wheel lugs with an impact driver. I questioned the torque and he said he knew when it was at 90 lbs and every so often he checked back on it. Okay, but I still didn't trust it. So I took my torque wrench out, set it on 100 and the nut didn't budge before the wrench clicked. I got out my breaker bar, put a jack handle section on it and broke it loose but it had to be at least 125. I proceeded to loosen them all and reset at 85, one at a time. My car's spec is 79 to 94 and it has aluminum wheels.
The little pieces fell out of place and locked up the wrench. Was able to take it apart and get the pieces back where they belonged. Bought another adjustable torque wrench from NAPA and compared it with the repaired one. Lucked out 
Also in sync with my Snap-on dial indicator one.
