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?
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I think I have a Porsche problem...
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“Anything really new is invented only in one’s youth. Later, one becomes more experienced, more famous – and more stupid.” - Albert Einstein
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...………."
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“Anything really new is invented only in one’s youth. Later, one becomes more experienced, more famous – and more stupid.” - Albert Einstein
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
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2004 Boxster S 6 speed - DRL relay hack, Polaris AutoTop DIY
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2014 Porsche Performance Driving School
2020 BMW X3, 2013 Ram 1500, 2016 Cmax, 2004 F-150 "Big Red"
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!
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I think I have a Porsche problem...
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.
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99 Boxster sold
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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.