$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

[rdass623]

generally a torque wrench is going to be hit or miss. either it is good or bad. i have purchased a few cheap torque wrenches which i had calibration checks done on them and they were fine. just remember a torque wrench is NOT a breaker bar, don't drop them (they can be knocked out of calibration), and release the tension on them during storage (set to lowest possible setting). if you follow these simple steps a torque wrench will last forever. FYI, i am a former aviation mechanic and used torque wrenches more than ratchet wrenches on most days wrenching on aircraft.