$10 Torque Wrench

[JayG]

Originally Posted by mikeman

There are some decent tools at HF (and Princess Auto, the equivalent here in Canada..). I own quite a few, but this isn't one I would put in my box.

I've had an expensive torque wrench fail which caused me to overtighten (and snap the heads off) some sensitive bolts. It hadn't been checked for accuracy in a while. This is one of those tools that you need to be exact or there's no point to even using one. The difference in a few inch-pounds was enough to ruin what I was working on.

no way I would trust a cheap one to be accurate straight out of the box, the quality control of the place building them for $10 can't be up to par...

For wheel bolts/nuts? Sure , probably okay. For something like a head bolt? no freakin' way.

with all due respect, a few inch pounds torqued off the bolt heads? Really? So the expensive tool did not do such a good job.

As a DIY would I do a engine rebuild with a low cost tool, maybe , if it was checked and calibrated, why not? As a pro mechanic who used the tool all day every day, I would probably invest in the best tools I could find

For most DIY, it is better to have a reasonably accurate low cost torque wrench than not have one at all. Even if it is off a bit, its better than a butt torque wrench

[jdraupp]

Originally Posted by Pdwight

I never got to use mine. At the time my Stepson was a Master Mechanic for Toyota and had 200 Grand in tools. He loved Snap ON, thought Craftsman was OK for a home Mechanic and disliked Kobalt outright along with Blue Point.

I have harbor freight 3/8 wrench and a lot of kobalt tools. Fwiw, the torque has gotten me through all my box repairs as has the low pro 3 ton jack. Kobalt tools will actually stand by their warranty and replace a tool no questions asked. Its interesting that he likes snap on yet hates kobalt, since from what I understand kobalt is manufactured by snap on.