Torque Wrench

[Gladman]

3/4" drive, perfect for setting up AMC rear axles. I could use my 3/4 drive sockets and get 250 pound/feet easily. If I could get that for $100, I'd be all in.

I paid 600 Canadian for one of these Snap-on in 1987. Sold it after I went off the wrenches for 500.

Sponsored

 

[Gladman]

? Amazon was willing to sell it to me for just over $100, they sell it new for ~350! I definitely don’t need that range of torquing power either...

Buy it for 100 and I bet you can sell it for 300 easy. Just go to a tractor or farm dealer and hit up the mechanics and apprentices.

 

[firemedic2714]

I'm not going to read through seven pages of comments, so I apologize if it's already been said, but look for a used Snap-On, Matco, Mac Tools, etc. wrench on any of your local swap ans sell sites. Even if looks well used, it's probably been well taken care of. Also, my True Value Hardware store repairs and calibrates tools. Yours might, too.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Fastenal has tool calibration of all types - I don't know how you calibrate a steel rule but they say they do!

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I thought about this thread - and torque - and back to the definition of torque that one of my college instructors gave years ago when I was in college for automotive technology stuff.
Sorry, mixed forum here, can't repeat it........... I wonder if he still told that definition for the next group- the first female to go through the program there.........

 

[Blade1668]

Dang long time since I've seen them dog bones ?
During Christmas sales H.D. had up to 250 Ft LBS ones for less than $100 with cert. I picked up one.
I've had Mac, Snap on, Craftsman S&K still have many of the latter still. Thourson was a brand I liked in past too.

 

[ALVagabond]

HF Icon vs. Snap-On.

 

[jbehrn]

HF Icon vs. Snap-On.

My uncle just retired from a large air carrier as a mechanic. Their shop purchased a few Icon torque wrenches and had the same experience! Glad to see it’s repeatable. I neglected to mention in my original post that the torque wrench I was replacing is from HF’s Pittsburg line. I ultimately went with a PI torque wrench due to reviews and in an effort to support US workers.

 

[Gladman]

That repeatability from the Icon is impressive!

 

[kevman65]

Was going to recommend ICON, someone beat me to it.

It IS Chinese made, they ARE quality tools. They are NOT Harbor Freight, Harbor Freight has the rights to sell in the States.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

From the web -
The ICON tools brand is made by and distributed through Harbor Freight Tools. ICON tools are available in-person and on-line. In 2018, Harbor Freight introduced two ICON torque wrenches. Then, the following year, the company launched its full line of premium ICON hand tools

But that seems fishy too when I find this -

Icon ratcheting wrenches appear to be made by Hi-Five and have the same appearance as DeWalt ratcheting wrenches. But the Icon wrench box says designed in the USA, made in Taiwan.

Who knows - they are getting decent reviews, the price is good although on bobistheoilguy forums they say the Icon stuff is over-priced junk, basically. But then most of the stuff you see on his forum is ordinary people that don't have a clue so I don't trust anything in their forums anyway. Bob himself may know stuff but he dilutes it with people talking BS in the forums.

 

[freebird_78]

I must have a dozen different torque wrenches, in various sizes and price points. Have a cheap digital torque meter. One day, I decided to take them all into work, where we have a NIST traceable torque calibration standard. You see, on top of our work torque wrenches needing to be calibrated by NIST traceable cal lab, they have to be checked on site, periodically. The cal standard is used to check the wrenches at various points up and down it's scale to check for hysteresis.

Anyway, on a slow day, I had the techs run all my wrenches through the cal standard. The results were about as backwards from my expectations as possible. My several years old cheap HF were actually the closest (off a little, but not a bunch), while my more expensive digital setpoint wrenches were pretty pathetic. The HF ones were actually all close enough that I didn't bother adjusting, just wrote the error on each case. I'm not building race engines, so +/- 5% is close enough for me. A lot of my more expensive wrenches could not meet that. All of the HF ones did.

YMMV.

 

[JeepRitz]

Just buy a 12 inch ratchet and a dumbbell set from 5 to 150lbs. Hang what ever torque( dumbbell lb) you need it to be at the 12inch mark of the handle. PROBLEM SOLVED, will never need adjustment?

That's like $800 worth of dumbells.

 

[SelfmodJT]

That's like $800 worth of dumbells.

800? Where you buying dumbbells from? More like 2000 lol

 

[IamAlan]

Fastenal has tool calibration of all types - I don't know how you calibrate a steel rule but they say they do!

Unfortunately, I do. Steel rules are subject to misuse and impact which can shorten the rule by as much as a 64th. Tape measures can also require calibration. They are only intended for "guesstimates", and the "calibration" is the amount of slop in the hook. They're built with a slotted rivet to obtain "accurate" inside or outside measurements. The slop should be equal to the thickness of the hook. This slop increases over time as the rivet stretches the slot.
In both cases, they're either right or they're trashed.

Sponsored