Torque wrenches.

NewHavenMike

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OK so Im in the market for a new torque wrench.. Maybe two of them.

I have used/owned both click-type and beam style wrenches. Both were from Sears and I was happy about them.

My place of employment uses Proto wrenches and those are sadly, out of my price range. They would never get used enough to justify the cost... But man they are really nice.

What is the average garage builder using these days?

Honestly, Id like to stick with Craftsman as I think they are pretty OK quality for the prices and everything else is out of my price range. I want to avoid ordering online because you dont know how the package has been handled during shipping and personally, Ive seen the worst when I worked at Fed Ex briefly.

I would like to get a 3/8 drive for inch pounds to covert the smaller value Ft. pounds to inches. Also a 1/2" drive or possibly 3/8 for other Ft. Lbs. values.

Basically, I know I need two wrenches...

What have you guys used and had success with?
 
OK so Im in the market for a new torque wrench.. Maybe two of them.

I have used/owned both click-type and beam style wrenches. Both were from Sears and I was happy about them.

My place of employment uses Proto wrenches and those are sadly, out of my price range. They would never get used enough to justify the cost... But man they are really nice.

What is the average garage builder using these days?

Honestly, Id like to stick with Craftsman as I think they are pretty OK quality for the prices and everything else is out of my price range. I want to avoid ordering online because you dont know how the package has been handled during shipping and personally, Ive seen the worst when I worked at Fed Ex briefly.

I would like to get a 3/8 drive for inch pounds to covert the smaller value Ft. pounds to inches. Also a 1/2" drive or possibly 3/8 for other Ft. Lbs. values.

Basically, I know I need two wrenches...

What have you guys used and had success with?

Well I'd probably scare you if I mentioned what brand I have, first part of the name is the same as the first guy in the Rice Crispys advertisement! You know, Crackle and Pop's friend!

Guess I would say buy the best you can afford while taking into account the damage that you could due if the wrench was way off. Does you place of employment have their wrenches calibrated to conform with ISO 9000 or other things? If so any chance of having them run one or two of yours through the process? I would not be too worried about Craftsman, especially if calibration is available!
 
I know Snap-Ons are the best... With the little amount of work I do, its just not practical for me.

The ones I use at work are sent out for ISO and theres no way I could bring in one of my own to be sent out.. I operate CNC machines for a firearms manufacturer and we use these on the fixtures for parts castings.

I do know that the Craftsman can be brought to Sears for calibration though. I know Craftsman isnt perfect but I believe it is sufficient for the job..


I guess an easier question would be, Which one of the click-types would I want to get.

Should I bother getting a 1/2" drive for Ft. Lbs.? Or should I just get two 3/8" drives for In. Lbs. and another for Ft. Lbs.?
 
Most 3/8 inch wrenches go up to about 75 ft/lb and also most are marked in both ft/lb and inch/lb plus all you need to do is multiply ft/lb by 12 to get inch/lb 12 ft/lb equals 144 inch/lb. So if the highest reading in ft/lb you need is 75 or less the 3/8 should be fine. If you need 80 to 150 ft/lb then a second wrench in 1/2 drive would be a good choice.

I understand the quality control system not wanting to let you slip personal tools in the system. One of the problems of modern manufacturing systems. Back in the day my first wife who worked for a medical instrument company in QC could slip my micrometers and calipers in with the company tools and get them cleaned and re-calibrated. I doubt if the Craftsman tools will be a problem your not working on a aerospace assembly and having things within 0.05% of spec's is not critical.

If you are bored and want to check your wrench yourself read this:

http://www.wikihow.com/Calibrate-a-Torque-Wrench

Or Google Calibrate Torque wrench , a few YouTube videos to watch.
 
Snap-on does make great stuff, but other than their basic forged tools most of it is re-branded or outsourced... not necessarily overseas, just not made by Snap-On.

For a good wrench I would look into Precision Instruments. They made almost all of Snap-on's torque wrenches up until a few years ago.

The top wrench is a Precision Instruments split-beam.

0403ec_tool01_z.jpg



snaptorqnew.jpg


That red insert somehow costs an extra $200
 
Well I guess I can go back to bed, learned something new today. Never heard of this company before despite owning and using several of their products over the last 40+ years!

http://www.torqwrench.com/home.php

The prices listed on the web page look very good, been a few years since I priced the Snappy ones I currently own. If I was looking for a replacement this would be my first place to consider.:thumbsup:
 
A standard beam torque wrench works for me. No calibration required. Does the full range of torques for the bike.
 
I need one to do engine internals.

My engine was seized so I had to buy a used jug and had it bored/honed with new pistons, rings, pins, and clips.

I had to split the crank case and ended up removing the connecting rods. This is partly the main reason why I want to stay away from a beam style wrench. At least I will have clearance and visibility so I don't absolutely need a clicker type..

Ive also been reading up on torquing and tightening sequences, the couple that Ive come across seem to have different torque values. I wasnt sure if the values are different between the 360 and 400 blocks???

The guides Ive found are also a bit hard to read and sometimes not well enough clarification to me... I really dont want to mess anything up in the engine!


I know one of the guides, the part where you have to tighten the con-rod caps evenly and then on the final step you have to tighten all the way to the final value.... I am confused because it seems not to mention anything about the tightening steps are to keep the torque even?

I know theres people on here that build these engines in and out all the time, someone has to know exactly whats going on here!

Thanks for the help, Im looking into a PI split beam now.
 
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