Torque wrench recommendations?
 

School me please.

When young I'd grab one from my Dads toolbox at the shop. Now I've been borrowing ours from work when needed, but it's decades past time for me to invest in my own.

Under the hood work, suspension work.

Most of my toolboxes are full of Craftsman tools with an occasional Snap On set, so that's the price/quality level I'm looking at.

What do you guys use?

I use craftsman
I think it is more important that it is calibration checked used and stored properly more than what brand it is.

Hi Rick... GRM? https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/choosing-torque-wrench/

If you're locked in quarantine and have an hour...
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+1 on craftsman

also +1 on calibration and the way it's stored. after use, set it back to 0 ft/lbs and back in the box.

Snap-On...

I think you'd have more consensus if you'd have asked opinions on tires, oil or IMS bearing :D:D

Any brand is better than not using a torque wrench at all. If that means Harbor Freight, then so be it.

Purely a matter of how you intend to use the tool; if you are just putting wheels back on, just about any torque wrench will do because some accuracy variance does not really matter. If you are assembling engines, you definitely want a tool that you can count on its long term accuracy and reproducibility.

As someone once commented, "If you have a $10 head, buy a $10 helmet. But if your head is more valuable to you, expect to spend more...………."

If you assemble engines for a living, then yes the higher-end wrenches are the way to go, Snap-on, etc. IF your tools are your livelyhood, get the best you can buy and they'll eventually pay for themselves. But if you wrench for a hobby, you'll never get back that investment.

HF, Craftsman, Kobalt, etc. are all perfectly fine wrenches.

The important thing, as has already been mentioned, is how you store them. ALWAYS run them back to zero, and always in their case.

HF also has a low cost ~$30 digital torque adaptor that comes with a calibration sheet. You can use that to check and adjust the reading on their $12 torque wrench.

As others have said, if you wrench for a living or are building an engine, you need high quality very accurate tools. For most DIY, HF is fine.

As a side note, I checked my el-cheapo HF torque wrench against my indy's expensive just calibrated snap-on and was within 1%

HF also has a lifetime warranty, so if it breaks or is too far off, they will replace it free

After about a year, I buy new and my old HF Tq wrenches become cheap hammers and bars.

I've been quite pleased with my gearwrench torque wrenches and the prices are reasonable.

That works too :rolleyes:
Or you could just take them back and get a replacement for free

Steerage/suspension/brakes I just count the uga dugas. and I'm a "pro". LOL

Inside the engine/transmission/rear end I will either use my HF wrench or I steal a snapon wrench from work.

I don't believe its so much the wrench or the quality of it. Its all about the calibration and when the calibration was done last. I know the snapon wrenches at my work get calibrated often so I can trust them. NOW if I had the choice between a NEW Harbor freight tool and a rusty ancient Mac tool... I'll take the HF one.

Thanks guys - I appreciate your answers. I heard from the guys I was hoping to hear from.
Jon - thanks for the video. I now remember that article from GRM a while back.
Now to go shopping. You guys rock - thanks!

I just use my calibrated arms :D

Craftsman 1/2 drive. They did have a lifetime warranty ? Sears is gone in Canada so no warranty here.Mines seen better days but is still within a lb as compared to my neighbours Snap On.

Sears is gone everywhere. Try Lowes. They now sell Craftsman. Maybe you can get a warranty replacement there.

Lowes doesn't honor craftsman warranties. They tell you to mail it in.

I've tried a few stores and eventually gave up with my 1/2" extension.

I think they will accept warranties if you bought it from Lowes, but that seems kind of dirty IMO.

Mailing it in wouldn't be a bad option, I guess. How much is a new 1/2" extension vs. the price of postage?

If they didn't benefit from the original purchase, it's hard to hold them responsible for the warranty. So I can't say I blame them for that. But hopefully they will, in fact, accept warranties for the ones they sold. But then you'd probably have to produce a receipt, whereas you never had to when Sears had them.