What brand of torque wrenches do you all like?

[Chance575]

Snap on, Mac and icon. All seem to work great and similar in torque I’ve found

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[Stan H]

Over the years, I had 2 very good Snap-On dealers. The rest were pieces of shit.

One of the customers I deal with, EQT. They have a van that comes in and calibrates/repairs all of their mechanics torque wrenches. Next time I'm there. I'll try to find out who does it.

There is a Mat o guy that lives within 2 miles of me I always thought about trying to see what kinda stuff they sold.
Most of the trucks like that people always told me was really high.

 

[Stan H]

I have a Matco 1/2 drive clicker for big stuff, and a Husky 3/8 drive clicker for everything else. No problems out of either one, bought both roughly 7 years ago.

What did that Matco run ?

 

[AndyJeeps]

What did that Matco run ?

It was $400, I think full retail is closer to $500 now.

 

[Specifically Vague]

Icon beam style.

 

[Stan H]

Icon beam style.

I haven't seen a beam style in 30 yrs. They still make those

 

[Specifically Vague]

I haven't seen a beam style in 30 yrs. They still make those

I should be more specific and less vague. Split beam.

https://www.harborfreight.com/12-in...fessional-split-beam-torque-wrench-57923.html

Although you can still get beam style torque wrenches like this.

 

[Hootbro]

I haven't seen a beam style in 30 yrs. They still make those

Beams still have a use, especially for torque to turn bearing preloading doing gear setups. Can also couple with an appropriate size 8 point socket to do a poor mans calibration spot check with a clicker torque wrench.

 

[Stan H]

Beams still have a use, especially for torque to turn bearing preloading doing gear setups. Can also couple with an appropriate size 8 point socket to do a poor mans calibration spot check with a clicker torque wrench.

After I said that I went and looked to my amazement they do make them .

So @Hootbro question for you ,
Are you said that a beam style is better for a crush washer on the pinion than a click type ? While a click type not work ?

 

[Caveman]

For a poor man's calibration, I've turned recently to fairly inexpensive digital torque adapters from Amazon. I think I have six clicker type torque wrenches lying around at this point, in 3 different ranges. The couple that felt "off" tested off on the torque adapters. The torque adapters come with bench test results for accuracy for each. I'm not sure how much stock to put in the bench test results, but I've been wrenching for a lot of years, and the digital torque adapters are credible given my feel for various familiar torque settings on the autos, motorcycles, and trailers of mine that I've had for a while. I mostly use torque wrenches to promote consistent torquing in dealing with things like oil pans, valve covers, lug nuts, and similar...

 

[Stan H]

For a poor man's calibration, I've turned recently to fairly inexpensive digital torque adapters from Amazon. I think I have six clicker type torque wrenches lying around at this point, in 3 different ranges. The couple that felt "off" tested off on the torque adapters. The torque adapters come with bench test results for accuracy for each. I'm not sure how much stock to put in the bench test results, but I've been wrenching for a lot of years, and the digital torque adapters are credible given my feel for various familiar torque settings on the autos, motorcycles, and trailers of mine that I've had for a while. I mostly use torque wrenches to promote consistent torquing in dealing with things like oil pans, valve covers, lug nuts, and similar...

Okay so if you use the digital adapter like that and you put in a vise and put the click type on it and ya find it is 5 ft pounds off how do you recalibrate your torque wrench.

 

[Caveman]

An old school way. I write on a piece of tape stuck to the wrench case how far each wrench is off at a particular torque range I use often (the deviation isn't particularly linear over the range of the wrenches I have), and then set the clicker wrench low or high to account for its measured deviation. Or sometimes, I just snap and use the torque adapter to torque bolts directly (but usually only on single bolts, b/c being super consistent with a torque adapter is a PIA).

 

[Stan H]

An old school way. I write on a piece of tape stuck to the wrench case how far each wrench is off at a particular torque range I use often (the deviation isn't particularly linear over the range of the wrenches I have), and then set the clicker wrench low or high to account for its measured deviation. Or sometimes, I just snap and use the torque adapter to torque bolts directly (but usually only on single bolts, b/c being super consistent with a torque adapter is a PIA).

Should be a way to unscrew till the spring comes out . Then stretch and reinsert it .

 

[Hootbro]

So @Hootbro question for you ,
Are you said that a beam style is better for a crush washer on the pinion than a click type ? While a click type not work ?

You really need a (split) beam or dial style torque wrench for this type of application as you are looking for a rotational preload through the whole 360 degree range of motion. A clicker is not ideal for this type of work.

Also, with clicker style that uses a torsion screw, general rule is the bottom 20% and top 10% of the range is the least accurate. That is why over the years I have learned to have multiple styles and range coverage.

 

[Stuntman Mike]

For above 100 NM, I use a Hazet, between 20 and 100 a Rahsol (since more than 30 years) and for bicycle works I have two Proxxons.

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