A lot of us couldn't resist the weekly visit of the Snap On guy at our shops especially when he offered credit. In the 70s we bought so much stuff that our rep won a trip. Got to say though almost all that stuff is still in good working order.

They still have credit

The "Car and Driver" test below is really good reading on "clicker" torque wrenches. The HF wrench is good for wheel torque and things that you can afford to be off 5-10%. The comment about resetting the wrench back to zero for storage is interesting due to what it does to the spring. All "click" wrench's are susceptible to this regardless of who makes it. A good note for sure. We have a Snap -On torque wrench in th Porsche Club I belong to using it for lug torque before events. My HF is about 5 lbs shy of that one so I set it accordingly. I would not be building engines with one.

How do you check the accuracy or calibration of an old torque wrench that you've had for years? Don't they go out of calibration over time?

There are companies that do that. I'd try doing a google search for torque wrench calibration "your city" and see what comes up. I found a local place that way. As I bought a couple of torque wrenches on ebay, I wanted to make sure they were good before I used them

You can purchase a certified calibration test unit for several hundred dollars, or send it to places that do it for a few bucks. Snap-On has such a program in house for their tools.

If you have a beam torque wrench, that never needs to be calibrated, you can connect the beam wrench to to the clicker to check the accuracy. As far as adjusting the clickers I don't know how to do it, ,but if you know how far off the clicker is,, you can compensate.

Best torque wrenches are from Germany and Stahlwille.

They are one-way only and if you need to torque something with reverse threads just remove the ratchet head and turn it over.

This means there is no problem using the wrench to loosen fasteners.

It also means you can own 3/8 and 1/2 drive heads for the same wrench and you can also fit heads like crow foots, etc.

Also by design there is no need to zero them when in storage.

I've a BMW motorcycle that requires a factory special tool for the transmission fluid drain plug and it's made to fit this wrench. The wrenches are available from the VW and Mercedes parts systems as well as more normal sources.

Best cars are from Germany and best tools, too. Nothing is "best" from Harbor Freight and the smell in those stores gives me a headache.

I just bought a Husky 3/8" torque wrench from Home Depot. Somewhat pricey at $70, I am actually really impressed. Made in USA, really good build quality. It even came with its own individual calibration certificate showing the torque values they measured on that particular wrench and that it was less than 1% off from perfect.

For general stuff, I imagine Harbor Freight would be fine. But for things like engine rebuilding, timing, etc. you would want to be precise and get the big toys. Good thing about digital is there's no ambiguity compared to most manual ones where it's hard to read the lines.

I wouldn't use an HF or PA torque wrench to do lug nuts. Crap is crap.

I can see where you're going, Mark. Once you use good tools, it's hard to go back. I met a guy who had over half a million dollars worth in tools. One can never have too many tools.

I used my HF torque wrenches to change the oil drain plug and tighten lugs for 12 years with no problems. I never left the wrenches tensioned. Maybe I'll get them re calibrated as they have served me well.

And then you need one of these to keep them in:

http://r1.cygnuspub.com/files/cygnus...5_10931864.jpg

To do most of the work on your car, you'll likely require two torque wrenches ...

6-50 nm 3/8 in drive

40-200 nm 1/2 in drive

Professionals would likely have

Snap-On QD2RN50
http://store.snapon.com/Newton-Meter-Torque-Instruments-Torque-Wrench-Adj-Click-Type-Newton-Meter-Fixed-Ratchet-10-50-N-149-m-3-8-drive-P640978.aspx

Snap-On QD3RN200
http://store.snapon.com/Newton-Meter-Torque-Instruments-Torque-Wrench-Adj-Click-Type-Newton-Meter-Fixed-Ratchet-40-200-N-149-m-1-2-drive-P640982.aspx

Stahlwille 730/5 with 735/5 ratchet head
50180005 Stahlwille 730/5 Torque Wrench 6-50Nm

Stahlwille 730/20 with 735/20 head
50180020 Stahlwille 730/20 Torque Wrench 40-200Nm

Stahlwille catalogue

Stahlwille catalogue

You'll note these are all in the $300-$400 range, so no, $70 is not "pricey" and $10 must be a pet rock. Fasteners on German cars are tightened to newton-meter figures.

What about Armstrong (USA made) torque wrench, anyone have experience with these.

Woah, dude, is that your box? :eek:

All seventeen feet of it..............

Is that an espresso machine in the cubby hole on the right side? :)


No seriously, impressive.

Yes, that is the tool "box" I am talking about! I will have that wall of tools if I ever win the lottery. :)