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Torque Test Channel Open End Wrench Testing Part 2

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qqzj

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Well, I watched both (why not) to get a better feel for this kind of measurement. In the end, my impression is that buying expensive tools is mostly a waste of money. Craftsman from Lowe's pretty much should suffice for most. If it maxes out, maybe other kind of tools should be used. (PS Also added a third one)




Here is the complete ranking, from lowest. Most European wrenches have horrible quality to price ratio.

stahwille 880
Crescent 911
Olympia
Jetech
Pitts Pro 940
SK 993
Urrea 998
Kingdick 1005
Sunex 1030
Wera 1055
DeWalt 1067
Bahco 1109
Snap On 1125
Husky 1168
Capri 1213
Beta 1208
Heyco 1220
Craftsman Stanley China 1232
Kobalt 1260
Tekton 1273
Gedore 1309
Craftsman USA 1319
Matco 1320
Williams 1320
Hazet 1368
GearWrench 1392
Metrinch 1463
Carlyle 1465
Milwaukee 1492
Snap On plus 1492
Icon 1495
Wright 1540
Proto 1548
 
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CHI_Tool&Die

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What was up with the Stahlwille?! I couldn’t get over that. I have never pushed them that hard but they have seemed really stout to me. Kinda threw me for a loop with that one.

Gearwrench is also surprising. It performed way better than I thought it would.

Not surprised about Wright/Williams/Proto. Mine have been fantastic.
 

qqzj

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GearWrench is better than the YouTuber’s narrative suggests. The ones with higher scores have bells and whistles added features that destroy fasteners. As a plan straight forward wrench, GW is pretty much the best. Just as in ratcheting wrenches test.
 

M6erfan

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I'd be interested to see them test my favorite wrench brand, KTC Japan. Asahi would be interesting too.

Surprised at how poorly both Snap-on and Stahlwille did in the tests.
 
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Fedwrench

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I'd like to see the first generation Dewalt long pattern combination wrench with the Anti Slip open end tested even though they're no longer available.

I'd also like to see how the Die Hard long pattern wrenches from Advance Auto Parts would perform.

Proto's anti slip design doesn't mar fasteners unless you're using the wrong size wrench and it slips :lol:

The original Gearwrench long pattern non ratcheting combination wrenches were great to the point, that many people compared them to MATCO's opti torque series from the same time period. However, current PRC made Gearwrench have too many QC issues for me.

Dan the RBRT Guy just released another RBRT wrench video on You Tube. I swear the boxed end is a reincarnation of the old MAC Edge profile with notches on three sides of the hex. I'm sure those will make an appearance on the TTC soon. :beer:
 

Olafur

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What was up with the Stahlwille?!
These are not designed for max torque, (quite possibly just up to some DIN standard) but more for access where they shine. Just compare the size of the open end to the other wrenches in the video or your collection. I could be wrong but I think the Stahlwille 14 series goes back to around 1970.

I have a set of them and like them, but I have noticed the open end isn't the strongest. I grab my Hazet 600N for such jobs, as confirmed in the video they provide considerably more open end torque.
 

Olafur

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Thanks for the head up on the video.
I like tool tests. They provide about the only hard data points for many tools.
 

Hannahranga

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Was very surprised the king **** spanner snapped, for the price and reputation you'd expect much better. Curious if they'll try a replacement one.
 

dutchgray

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Was very surprised the king **** spanner snapped, for the price and reputation you'd expect much better. Curious if they'll try a replacement one.
An obvious defect for it to break like that, as evidenced by it being way to hard when tested, hopefully they are not all like that. King **** was always one of the cheaper UK manufacturers.

Video totally misses the point though, standard open ends are not intended for high torque use, at least in Europe.
 

dnschmidt

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What was up with the Stahlwille?! I couldn’t get over that. I have never pushed them that hard but they have seemed really stout to me. Kinda threw me for a loop with that one.

Gearwrench is also surprising. It performed way better than I thought it would.

Not surprised about Wright/Williams/Proto. Mine have been fantastic.
I couldn't believe it either. I, and TOPTUL, consider Stahlwille to be the best there is. Then again I seldom use open end wrenches so I don't know how much I really care. Typically you break something loose with the box end and then possibly take it off with the open end the rest of the way. Also the connecting nuts used in these tests are very soft, much softer than the bolts normally encountered on a car. Considering this I don't know how much I care about these results as I don't think they reflect real world usage of open end wrenches. Good testing and science no doubt but does it really matter.
 

ItsNemo

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An obvious defect for it to break like that, as evidenced by it being way to hard when tested, hopefully they are not all like that. King **** was always one of the cheaper UK manufacturers.

Video totally misses the point though, standard open ends are not intended for high torque use, at least in Europe.

Sometimes you have no choice but to use an open end...nice when they don't slip or break while doing that. Video didn't miss the point at all.
 

qqzj

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I'd like to see the first generation Dewalt long pattern combination wrench with the Anti Slip open end tested even though they're no longer available.

I'd also like to see how the Die Hard long pattern wrenches from Advance Auto Parts would perform.

Proto's anti slip design doesn't mar fasteners unless you're using the wrong size wrench and it slips :lol:

The original Gearwrench long pattern non ratcheting combination wrenches were great to the point, that many people compared them to MATCO's opti torque series from the same time period. However, current PRC made Gearwrench have too many QC issues for me.

Dan the RBRT Guy just released another RBRT wrench video on You Tube. I swear the boxed end is a reincarnation of the old MAC Edge profile with notches on three sides of the hex. I'm sure those will make an appearance on the TTC soon. :beer:

The point of the video is that people's impression/feelings/taste orientation has little to do with actual quality. Given China Craftsman is 100 points below USA Craftsman, if we take 100 away from GearWrench, it still will beat most of all the other wrenches.
 

Benito

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I think you guys are missing their actual ranking and only looking at bolt tension PSI. The Gearwrench comes in 17th! Yes high psi but also the widest jaws by far, 9.5mm. The average is like 7.5-8. Making its performance per its thickness poor
 

jayemm

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I think you guys are missing their actual ranking and only looking at bolt tension PSI. The Gearwrench comes in 17th! Yes high psi but also the widest jaws by far, 9.5mm. The average is like 7.5-8. Making its performance per its thickness poor
I view it as the performance in doing the job, not as a function of it's thickness. If it's not too thick to fit the fastener and doesn't slip off like a thinner wrench might, then I'd say it's the better tool. I don't rate hammer performance as a function of it's weight. I pick one big enough to do the job. I found it amusing that the Torque Test Channel had a rating of ft-lbs/inch of length of impact wrench body, like you'd take a tape measure and calculator when shopping for one. Maybe I just misunderstand.
 

M635_Guy

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Gearwrench is very overpriced for the junk they are shilling these days.
Yeah - I don't get the campaign for GearWrench, or the silly insinuation that TTT has a 'narrative'.

Their test methodology is perfect IMHO - it makes the wrench do all it can before the fastener becomes the failure point.

Anyway, interesting to see Icon up there too... (though our resident GW fan left that one out ;))
 
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Benito

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I view it as the performance in doing the job, not as a function of it's thickness. If it's not too thick to fit the fastener and doesn't slip off like a thinner wrench might, then I'd say it's the better tool. I don't rate hammer performance as a function of it's weight. I pick one big enough to do the job. I found it amusing that the Torque Test Channel had a rating of ft-lbs/inch of length of impact wrench body, like you'd take a tape measure and calculator when shopping for one. Maybe I just misunderstand.
A wrench that grips with a wide jaw and a High Torque impact wrench are both things that are great... when they fit. The same reason you might own a compact or mid torque impact wrench as well is the same reason you might buy an impact that's an inch shorter but makes the same power over another one, to be able to use it in more places.
Same logic can apply with wrenches in some cases, especially since 9.5mm is thicker than the head of a 5/8" or 16mm hex head bolt the wrench works on, making it not super useful anyways. The less fastener thickness you have to work with, you'll be glad you have a wrench that performs well per mm it takes up.
 

dchawk81

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I'd be interested to see them test my favorite wrench brand, KTC Japan. Asahi would be interesting too.

Surprised at how poorly both Snap-on and Stahlwille did in the tests.
I don't put a whole lot of stock in these tests since they're using really soft fasteners.

It's not really what you crank the **** out of in the real world. A grade 5 or better is what you're really torquing into when they're stubborn. And you usually try to use a box end for it.

Soft metal and rusty metal aren't the same thing.
 

ItsNemo

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I don't put a whole lot of stock in these tests since they're using really soft fasteners.

It's not really what you crank the **** out of in the real world. A grade 5 or better is what you're really torquing into when they're stubborn. And you usually try to use a box end for it.

Soft metal and rusty metal aren't the same thing.

He explains why in one of the videos but basically the point of the soft fasteners is to show how well the wrench actually grips. A well designed wrench will turn the thing before deforming it, he's not trying to test the failure point of the wrench itself.

A sloppy fitting wrench with bad geometry will round the fastener and hence make less torque than a perfectly sized wrench with the right geometry.
 

dchawk81

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He explains why in one of the videos but basically the point of the soft fasteners is to show how well the wrench actually grips. A well designed wrench will turn the thing before deforming it, he's not trying to test the failure point of the wrench itself.

A sloppy fitting wrench with bad geometry will round the fastener and hence make less torque than a perfectly sized wrench with the right geometry.
Yes I know why he does it.

The point being in the real world we don't crank on these soft nuts that he's using because they aren't made for higher torque applications in the first place.

I'd like to see him do this kind of thing with fasteners that are actually made to take this kind of torque.
 

dchawk81

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Yeah - I don't get the campaign for GearWrench, or the silly insinuation that TTT has a 'narrative'.

Their test methodology is perfect IMHO - it makes the wrench do all it can before the fastener becomes the failure point.

Anyway, interesting to see Icon up there too... (though our resident GW fan left that one out ;))
No test methodology is "perfect."

Part of a scientist's job is to point out real or potential flaws in the testing process.
 

ItsNemo

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Yes I know why he does it.

The point being in the real world we don't crank on these soft nuts that he's using because they aren't made for higher torque applications in the first place.

I'd like to see him do this kind of thing with fasteners that are actually made to take this kind of torque.

Ok, so if he uses some grade 10 fasteners and all the wrenches fail instead...what do we learn? Pretty much nothing.
 

dchawk81

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Ok, so if he uses some grade 10 fasteners and all the wrenches fail instead...what do we learn? Pretty much nothing.
That's why there's no perfect testing method. Your methods are dictated by what you're testing for.

You do learn something from that test though. You learn the point of failure of the wrench itself for each wrench.

The TTC test is currently finding the point of fastener failure for each wrench, on fasteners that aren't really used to the point of their failure with any wrench.

My personal ideal test would be to try it on grade 5 since that's the most common on a car.
 

M635_Guy

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No test methodology is "perfect."

Part of a scientist's job is to point out real or potential flaws in the testing process.
Are you a scientist?

I'm guessing you're not. Elevating to Grade 5 begins a shift to an experiment on the strength of the fastener. In this application, the softer is the more revealing (and challenging) test.

I wasn't using "perfect" in the literal sense. Given budget available and the general limitations on what's possible outside of a funded test lab, those tests are great, and the most-revealing/informative I've seen on YouTube. They're especially well-done in terms of being controlled and repeatable, as well as being able to be used comparatively across separate runs/sessions. The test-to-fail craze seems to have passed, but that kind of thing didn't really tell you much about real-world efficacy.
 
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M635_Guy

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Yes I know why he does it.

The point being in the real world we don't crank on these soft nuts that he's using because they aren't made for higher torque applications in the first place.

I'd like to see him do this kind of thing with fasteners that are actually made to take this kind of torque.
You say you get it, but I really don't think you get it - it isn't a "crank-on-soft-nuts" test. You seem to be really bothered by soft nuts, but it is the test media that takes the strength of the fastener out of the equation and ensures that the design of the wrench head is what is being measured. The transition of that performance to harder fasteners should hold, and you'd lose data on the wrenches as the performance of the fastener mixes in the test.

As far as rust, I agree with you to an extent. I've always wondered if what Project Farm does to replicate rust is all that close to what you experience when it forms naturally, but it's the best he can do and it's almost certainly directionally accurate. It's probably impacted by sample size and I'm not sure it could be made repeatable enough to compare across runs without getting to professional-test-lab requirements.
 

Zewnten

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I think you guys are missing their actual ranking and only looking at bolt tension PSI. The Gearwrench comes in 17th! Yes high psi but also the widest jaws by far, 9.5mm. The average is like 7.5-8. Making its performance per its thickness poor
One can quickly tell professionals who use tools vs DIY vs the air chair users. "thickness doesn't matter", "I don't ever use the open end", etc. I enjoyed the test. It's confirmed imperically something I decided a long time ago; GW long pattern bang for the buck is pretty great but when you get serious about wrenching there are worthwhile upgrades and unfortunatly SO probably isn't worth the price were as Proto ASD and WrightGrip2 definetly are.
 

dchawk81

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You say you get it, but I really don't think you get it - it isn't a "crank-on-soft-nuts" test. You seem to be really bothered by soft nuts, but it is the test media that takes the strength of the fastener out of the equation and ensures that the design of the wrench head is what is being measured. The transition of that performance to harder fasteners should hold, and you'd lose data on the wrenches as the performance of the fastener mixes in the test.

As far as rust, I agree with you to an extent. I've always wondered if what Project Farm does to replicate rust is all that close to what you experience when it forms naturally, but it's the best he can do and it's almost certainly directionally accurate. It's probably impacted by sample size and I'm not sure it could be made repeatable enough to compare across runs without getting to professional-test-lab requirements.
That's why I initially said I don't find the TTC testing useful. I didn't say it wasn't valid.

It's not what I'm looking for to determine what wrenches to purchase.

There is a difference.
 

bwringer

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The whole point of using those "soft" coupling nuts is that they're unlikely (aside from the broken ****...) to damage the wrench, thereby making multiple tests possible. He doesn't show the whole process, or the video would be hours long, but he mentioned a few times that they do three tests with each wrench, using a new nut for each, and that the results are very repeatable.

And they also acknowledge that the tester has a certain upper limit to the torque. Since only the top few wrenches could achieve this, I'd say it's very well-designed and well-chosen. I'm sure a lot of thought and experimentation went into this.

If you used harder fasteners, then you'd need to buy multiple wrenches for repeatability because the wrench would spread or break.

Overall, this is a perfectly valid method for ranking open-end wrenches, and I'd say produces far more useful and reliable information than simply testing for ultimate torque until the wrench fails. That's one criticism of the Project Farm channel; he often tests to failure in a way that doesn't relate to actual usage but does make for entertaining video. And sometimes PF's abuse does produce some interesting information.
 

dchawk81

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The whole point of using those "soft" coupling nuts is that they're unlikely (aside from the broken ****...) to damage the wrench, thereby making multiple tests possible. He doesn't show the whole process, or the video would be hours long, but he mentioned a few times that they do three tests with each wrench, using a new nut for each, and that the results are very repeatable.

And they also acknowledge that the tester has a certain upper limit to the torque. Since only the top few wrenches could achieve this, I'd say it's very well-designed and well-chosen. I'm sure a lot of thought and experimentation went into this.

If you used harder fasteners, then you'd need to buy multiple wrenches for repeatability because the wrench would spread or break.

Overall, this is a perfectly valid method for ranking open-end wrenches, and I'd say produces far more useful and reliable information than simply testing for ultimate torque until the wrench fails. That's one criticism of the Project Farm channel; he often tests to failure in a way that doesn't relate to actual usage but does make for entertaining video. And sometimes PF's abuse does produce some interesting information.
That's why testing is expensive. If you want to cover everything you buy multiples and get them to fail in different ways. You don't try to use the same one to failure over and over.

Take crash tests on vehicles as an easy example. They don't crash a car offset then crash the same car head on then t-bone it. They use a new copy of each car for every test.
 

dchawk81

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Let's look at it another way. The wrench bites until the nut gives out then they spit out a PSI number based on that.

They use really soft nuts.

Okay so let's try Grade 5 nuts for the same test and see what PSI the wrench can hit.

Maybe all the wrenches would grab better on nuts that have a higher threshold before they round off, and since the PSI can be converted to torque with the multiplication factor, you might see more wrenches that would handle more torque before slipping.

People are going to run to proto when they see it's the only one that can handle xxxx psi, not considering they're all slipping BECAUSE the nut is soft. If the nut isn't so soft, the wrench can hang on longer.

All the numbers for every wrench would be skewed upwards, but viewers might see numbers on lower end wrenches that indicate they're actually adequate.
 

M635_Guy

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Let's look at it another way. The wrench bites until the nut gives out then they spit out a PSI number based on that.

They use really soft nuts.

Okay so let's try Grade 5 nuts for the same test and see what PSI the wrench can hit.

Maybe all the wrenches would grab better on nuts that have a higher threshold before they round off, and since the PSI can be converted to torque with the multiplication factor, you might see more wrenches that would handle more torque before slipping.

People are going to run to proto when they see it's the only one that can handle xxxx psi, not considering they're all slipping BECAUSE the nut is soft. If the nut isn't so soft, the wrench can hang on longer.

All the numbers for every wrench would be skewed upwards, but viewers might see numbers on lower end wrenches that indicate they're actually adequate.
You're missing it. I don't know why you don't see that using grade 5 compromises the test and becomes partially about the fastener and muddies the result.

It's directly analogous to sharpness testing media isn't trying to replicate the surface of a tomato or a piece of steak - you're not testing the media, you're testing the performance of the tool itself.
 

M635_Guy

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People are going to run to proto when they see it's the only one that can handle xxxx psi, not considering they're all slipping BECAUSE the nut is soft. If the nut isn't so soft, the wrench can hang on longer.
They're not slipping because the nut is soft. They're slipping because the design has reached it's limit to generate PSI on the test media. From there, you're relying on the strength of the fastener.
 

dchawk81

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They're not slipping because the nut is soft. They're slipping because the design has reached it's limit to generate PSI on the test media. From there, you're relying on the strength of the fastener.
The nut is rounding off. It's biting into the nut so hard is tearing right through it.

The test compares wrenches to each other but doesn't test their real world usefulness.

Harder fasteners will have a higher limit before they round off.
 

dchawk81

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You're missing it. I don't know why you don't see that using grade 5 compromises the test and becomes partially about the fastener and muddies the result.

It's directly analogous to sharpness testing media isn't trying to replicate the surface of a tomato or a piece of steak - you're not testing the media, you're testing the performance of the tool itself.
Grade 5 simulates the real world better because that's what the real world uses, among even harder fasteners.

Testing is supposed to simulate the real world as closely as possible in a controlled setting.

Like I said, it's my opinion about how useful the information from TTC is based on what they're testing.
 

ItsNemo

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The nut is rounding off. It's biting into the nut so hard is tearing right through it.

The test compares wrenches to each other but doesn't test their real world usefulness.

Harder fasteners will have a higher limit before they round off.

Grade 5 simulates the real world better because that's what the real world uses, among even harder fasteners.

Testing is supposed to simulate the real world as closely as possible in a controlled setting.

Like I said, it's my opinion about how useful the information from TTC is based on what they're testing.

You really don't get it...the point isn't that the nut is deforming and limiting the testing, the point is that the wrench DESIGN is being tested by seeing how much they can turn the nut before deforming it. This then can be extrapolated to harder nuts or anything else the wrench is used for in the real world. If the nuts were harder, then you'd be testing wrench STRENGTH which is a less useful test as this is failure mode testing of the wrench itself. Imagine all the wrenches did what the kingdick did, what would we have learned? Nothing, other than the breaking strength (see that word again) of the wrench, which is far less correlated with real world situations...I personally have never broken an open end wrench, but I sure have had fasteners deform (round off) from them.
 

dchawk81

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You really don't get it...the point isn't that the nut is deforming and limiting the testing, the point is that the wrench DESIGN is being tested by seeing how much they can turn the nut before deforming it. This then can be extrapolated to harder nuts or anything else the wrench is used for in the real world. If the nuts were harder, then you'd be testing wrench STRENGTH which is a less useful test as this is failure mode testing of the wrench itself. Imagine all the wrenches did what the kingdick did, what would we have learned? Nothing, other than the breaking strength (see that word again) of the wrench, which is far less correlated with real world situations...I personally have never broken an open end wrench, but I sure have had fasteners deform (round off) from them.
Like I said I'm not interested in this particular type of test on a fastener we never use.

A harder fastener should take more before it rounds off. It's partly why they exist. You're going to eventually get those corners whether you want to or not when you reach the limit of the wrench, so stronger corners should hold longer before the wrench grip is lost for whatever reason..be it spread, poor fitment, no grippy features, etc.

Agree to disagree. You're cool with this test and I'm only watching it for entertainment.
 
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