Would/do you trust a HF torque wrench?

[Drisco Z71]

I noticed that the 1/2" clicker torque wrench is on sale for $17 at everyone's favorite store so I went in and picked one up. I even got the cashier to scan a 20% off coupon off my phone even so it came out to around $13. Will be using it on suspension components most likely, probably not any motor work though. For $13 I can't really complain either way, just interested in hearing what everyone else has to think.

 

[cderalow]

I trust my $25 craftsman 1/2" drive beam style one for wheels only. since my cars are new enough, there's very little that i've had to do maintenance wise that has required a seriously accurate torque wrench.

 

[Hiball]

Personally NO.. But there are lots of people here who claim they are accurate, like all calibrated tools they require periodic testing and "I" choose to favor a company that specializes in torque applications.

 

[IBJanky]

They've worked fine for me

myke

 

[metal1313]

i use one, but ONLY for wheels, all other fasteners i use a PI, i use the hf for wheels since its well with in the acceptable range for torque, and it lives in my truck

 

[RKA]

Quite simply, no, but that's just me. A coworker asked me about them, and I told him to spend a little more and get a quality brand. Him being ch...errrr, frugal decided to ignore my advice and bought the HF wrench on sale w/coupon. He promptly managed to snap some bolts on his intake manifold which lead to a cascade of events (and money and time). He later tested the wrench and found it wasn't clicking when it reached the torque setting, which is how he managed to overtorque the IM bolts (well, that and poor judgement). After some careful swearing at the tool, he noticed there were plastic pieces of the blow molded case stuck inside the wrench that jammed it up real good. He removed those and gave it another try. Low and behold, it actually does work!

So now I'm eating humble pie. If it doesn't work out of the box, odds are it can be made to work properly...at least once. I'm not a fan of cheap tools, but for tires and suspension work, the HF wrench should be able to sustain a reasonably level of accuracy and consistency to get the job done without any ill effects.

 

[Craftsman_88]

Scooped up HF torque wrench for the box in the truck. Havent used it but I figure if I am stranded a few hundred miles away from home and have a flat in the truck or the trailer, it'll work. If it gets jacked in the truck box, oh well.

 

[Danglerb]

I would not blindly trust ANY torque wrench, none are better than the most recent calibration or incident. I was in a fancy shop once that only did alignment work, and the owner was telling me about the very expensive equipment they used, and the frequent calibration cycle, and just as he said it the mechanic dropped the alignment head. Great shop though.

The HF 1/2" goes on sale for $9.95, I have the set of all three sizes and paid no more than about $33 including tax out the door. I don't trust them, but I do use them with reasonable caution. Always stored with the spring reset to zero, always "exercised" a few times at a slightly lower torque than final to get them lubed up, and I still won't use them to torque head bolts on my next motor, but mostly because its very easy to borrow my friends techangle that gets a regular calibration.

Anytime some tool doesn't feel right, STOP and find out why. Breaking a bolt is pretty bad, breaking more than one I don't blame the tool.

 

[volunteers]

Absolutely no. I have to use another torque wrench to double check HF's. So why bother? just use the trusted wrench directly.

 

[Monte]

DIY or professional work ?

 

[t1r2u3s4t]

I found that the click on these wrenches are very faint compared to other brands. I'd try to familiarize myself with the action first by setting it a very low torque setting and see it clicks.

 

[porphyre]

Quite simply, no, but that's just me. A coworker asked me about them, and I told him to spend a little more and get a quality brand.

I'd like to point out that this is a complete fallacy. "Quality brands" are truck stuff and Precision Instruments (and others, I'm sure - but I consider these brands quality)

You have to remember OP paid 13 dollars for this 1/2" drive TQ wrench. You can't even get a 1/2" drive SOCKET from the SO truck for $13.

A quality brand is not going to be "a little more" than the HF one. It's going to be anywhere from 400-3,000% more.

Now, paying $150-$200 for a good torque wrench is perfectly fine. But to say $150 is "a little more" than $13 simply isn't true for those of us not making 6-figures.

 

[Drisco Z71]

DIY or professional work ?

It will be used for personal vehicle maintenance and some tractor maintenance. My 06 GTO has some front end parts that need attention soon which was the main reason I bought it.

Is there any easy methods to check if it's within specs? Would hanging a 50lb weight 1ft out on the handle be an acceptable way to check?

 

[jasonreck71]

my dad and I rebuild an inline 6 for my jeep. we compared the 1/2" TW from snap on and HF. They checked out the same. For a DIYer I am sure it is fine, but I bet the HF won't last in the hands of a pro and the regular use.

 

[Major Ramifications]

I don't trust any clicker torque wrench.

 

[Coach James]

When I read someone that has written "They worked great for me", I always wonder how do you know? Unless you can verify the torque put on the fastener, how does one know a HF torque wrench worked great?

While the first couple uses may be ok, I find it hard to believe that a $10 torque wrench will hold its calibration as long a more highly regarded brand.

Coach

 

[Skin]

Is there any easy methods to check if it's within specs?

Yep, at that price buy 2 and use both to check them against eachother. This is what i would do if i cared about accuracy over the long haul. Sure as heck isnt worth getting it calibrated.

 

[twincam00]

only for wheels

 

[Hiball]

When I read someone that has written "They worked great for me", I always wonder how do you know? Unless you can verify the torque put on the fastener, how does one know a HF torque wrench worked great?

While the first couple uses may be ok, I find it hard to believe that a $10 torque wrench will hold its calibration as long a more highly regarded brand.

Coach

You've been around here long enough to know the answer to that coach, on a side note I Agree 100% with your longevity thoughts.

 

[Drisco Z71]

I'll be sure to give it a check before using it.

On a side note, are there any other manufacturers that offer a lifetime warranty on torque wrenches?

edit: I suppose I will be forever shunned if I admit that I always just buzz the lug nuts on with my impact wrench and call it good after a quick check with a breaker bar.

 

[oldtools]

I have the 1/4 and 3/8. I test the HF 3/8 against my SO 3/8 and they are only different about 1 to 2 ft-lbf at 70 ft-lbf. The HF is more accurate than my hand. I use the 1/4 quite a bit, because I don't have a SO 1/4.

 

[MrMark]

There's no way to give it a check without very expensive equipment. We've been through that. Personally, I wouldn't trust any torque wrench unless it had a calibration sticker on it, and certainly not something from Harbor Freight. I'd rather buy a Craftsman and send it in to be calibrated.

 

[Drisco Z71]

There's no way to give it a check without very expensive equipment. We've been through that. Personally, I wouldn't trust any torque wrench unless it had a calibration sticker on it, and certainly not something from Harbor Freight. I'd rather buy a Craftsman and send it in to be calibrated.

I'm curious as to why going 12" out on the handle and hanging weights won't work. It's all simple physics right? nothing more than that.

 

[MrMark]

There's a difference between dynamic and static torque. It takes more to start a fastener moving than to continue moving a fastener once it's moving. These various tests all proposed (and accuracy via comparison pronouncements) do not take this sizeable difference into account. If a fastener was precisely set to 100 foot pounds it would take more than that (quite a bit) to get it moving again. That is why when you pull on a torque wrench you go slow and don't stop moving until it clicks. To check torque or to retorque you back off and start over. You can't just run around the lugs or whatever clicking off after a tightening and think that tells you anything much.

As to the weights, how are you going to do that? Is this a clicker?

 

[Drisco Z71]

There's a difference between dynamic and static torque. It takes more to start a fastener moving than to continue moving a fastener once it's moving. These various tests all proposed (and accuracy via comparison pronouncements) do not take this sizeable difference into account. If a fastener was precisely set to 100 foot pounds it would take more than that (quite a bit) to get it moving again. That is why when you pull on a torque wrench you go slow and don't stop moving until it clicks. To check torque or to retorque you back off and start over. You can't just run around the lugs or whatever clicking off after a tightening and think that tells you anything much.

As to the weights, how are you going to do that? Is this a clicker?

The funny thing is that in physics class today we discussed the EXACT thing you described. I guess I should have paid more attention...

It's a clicker unit, 20-150ft/lbs

 

[Snappy]

No HF wrenches for me

 

[oldtools]

I'll be sure to give it a check before using it.

On a side note, are there any other manufacturers that offer a lifetime warranty on torque wrenches?

edit: I suppose I will be forever shunned if I admit that I always just buzz the lug nuts on with my impact wrench and call it good after a quick check with a breaker bar.

Not sure if there is a lifetime torque wrench, but Eclatorq (Taiwan) make digital torque wrench where you can calibrate online.

http://cens.com/cens/html/en/news/news_inner_26779.html

"......The company attaches more valuable components to A-category tools, with the most notable being a CD carrying a drive program, a calibration program and a cable for connecting the tools to personal computer for on-line calibration. The two software pieces are developed by Eclatorq in-house and compatible with only Windows XP and Windows 2000...."

http://www.eclatorq.com/

 

[Seanbev24]

I use the HF 1/2" at work only for lug nuts so I don't beat up my TechAngle wrench.

 

[browntown]

The beam style crapsman's are lifetime warranty, the clickers are not. Personally, unless it is something super important, German torque get's used: "Güt-n-tight"

Another question, although maybe better answered in another thread, is whether those fancy snapon dial torque's are as reliable / better / worse than a click type? I think the torq-o-meter is the coolest looking thing ever.

 

[pipsters]

I have a 3/8" drive beam torque wrench. I put a 3/8" drive 3/8" 8 pt socket on it, and put my PI 10-50 ft-lbs torque wrench in. Seems to check within 1 ft-lb or so.

Did the same with a 3/8" drive 1/2" 8 pt socket w/ my "Ampro" 1/2" 10-150 ft-lbs clicker (really the exact same as the HF one, looking at in in store). At 30 ft-lbs, which is 20% of scale, it was nuts on. Same with 50 ft-lbs. Also very consistent. Keep in mind this torque wrench is roughly 5 years old, has been stored in a garage, and almost always zeroed out, but not always. I will probably pick up the 3/8" Harbor Freight clicker and test it the same way.

I'd trust 'em. But a cheap 3/8 beam torque wrench, $25 from Sears, and two 8 pt sockets in 3/8" drive, the 3/8" and 1/2", and you can check them yourself and save a bundle of money vs. buying a real expensive one. If you were **** you could also buy a 1/2" beam and go up to 150 ft-lbs or so, but IMO I don't really care about super close accuracy that far up the scale.

Youtube video of the PI set at 15 ft-lbs against the Craftsman 3/8" beam:

 

[crashbumper]

OP:

You can send the wrench in get calibrated, for around $50 @ teamtorque.com and they supply paperwork verifying their work. Other members on here have used them before (I haven't yet; my wrench isn't used much and always checks out ok on the Snap-On truck)

Even with the cost of calibration, it will be less than Craftsman models.

Sometime ago, a person posted that they sent a brand new HF torque wrench along with his Mac (or Matco?) and Snap-On torque wrenches for calibration, and when they returned, the paperwork stated the HF was already within spec and didn't require calibration.

I'm not sure if ALL of them are like that or if he got lucky. But for the price, there is nothing wrong with keeping one on hand.

 

[Danglerb]

There's a difference between dynamic and static torque. It takes more to start a fastener moving than to continue moving a fastener once it's moving. These various tests all proposed (and accuracy via comparison pronouncements) do not take this sizeable difference into account. If a fastener was precisely set to 100 foot pounds it would take more than that (quite a bit) to get it moving again. That is why when you pull on a torque wrench you go slow and don't stop moving until it clicks. To check torque or to retorque you back off and start over. You can't just run around the lugs or whatever clicking off after a tightening and think that tells you anything much.

As to the weights, how are you going to do that? Is this a clicker?

True, but the poster suggested putting the 1/2" drive in a vise and with the handle straight out hanging weights until it clicks, which sounds like a fine basic test of calibration.

Official calibration is MUCH stickier, requiring traceability to standards, and I forget either 4x or 10x the accuracy of the tool you are calibrating.

Practical use of a torque wrench OTOH does not require precise absolute accuracy, just reasonable absolute accuracy and a bit more precise repeatability. With a lug nut 5% absolute accuracy should be fine, spec 94 ftlbs, 90 to 100 should be OK, but all of them should be within a pound or so of each other like 92-93 or 97 - 98 ftlbs.

BTW I don't care which torque wrench you use, expecting actual clamping force on the fastener to be within 5% of spec is highly unlikely due to variations in threads, friction etc.

 

[tyndall]

Yes. Hell, yes.

I'm in aviation and the company I work for has Snap-on, Proto, HF and a couple of other brands. Mainly 1/4" and 3/8", all clicker type. As it's law that they have to be calibrated yearly, and the fact that we have a crapload of them, we have the equipment to do our calibration checks in-house.

The HF and Proto hold their accuracy the best. No failures in three years. We won't even consider buying another S-o due to them always failing. Well, not always, we had one that passed but the user was on sick leave most of the year. We don't do adjustments in-house so those are out of service for a while while they get repaired.

The S-o's feel the best in your hand. Proto's seem large and heavy and the HF feels a bit clunky. Price wise, having a bunch of HF's means we don't have people standing around waiting for one. If you can get over where it came from, the HF's are the best value out there. Same can't be said for other imports brought in by other companies or the junk from Craftsman or Husky. The only reason we don't switch exclusively to HF is the stigma. People think they are junk and expect them to fail.

So for all of you that wouldn't trust a HF torque wrench to do your wheels, try to forget this post next time you fly.

 

[Outlawmws]

There are a lot for variables for torque, and the most important, after thread condition and lubrication (or lack there of... Some applications require DRY threads, some lightly lubricated), is the application. For everyday torque requirements, few (other than possibly specialized industries) require a precise torque so much as an equal torque across the pattern of bolts/nuts/studs involved.

For almost every automotive application I can think of, + or - "x" for a given set of bolts (Head, Lug nuts etc) is not a big factor, so much as getting all of them in a set equally. This is to prevent warping during temperature cycling.

For some apps it's more important to not exceed a specific torque value, either to keep from snapping fasteners, or from stripping them out. (i.e. - small oil pan bolts in aluminum vs. CI)

Only a few applications require an EXACT torque (within a small tolerance) and most of these involve very small fasteners that simply have very little tolerance band width to begin with.

70 lbs for a head bolt? 65? (yawn) probably makes no difference so long as all the bolts on that particular head are close. With all the manufacturing variables, it has to be that way.

Most car torque specs are set to a middle ground, well below potential failure, but well above the minimum required for the use.

Having an accurate torque is nice to have, however having the SAME torque value repeatable over and over, is far more critical for most applications.

I have to say it bothers me that I've heard repeated stories here on GJ about Snap On TWs needing calibration adjustments fairly often. Any insights as to why this is so? Why are they so touchy? or is this the same person repeating in multiple threads?

ps: My ~35 yo Central Tool (USA, not Asia) Clicker has always been spot on compared to a beam TW, and repeatable every time. Certainly I'm not worried about it for the (mostly) Automotive apps I have.

 

[robmarch]

Yes. Hell, yes.

I'm in aviation and the company I work for has Snap-on, Proto, HF and a couple of other brands. Mainly 1/4" and 3/8", all clicker type. As it's law that they have to be calibrated yearly, and the fact that we have a crapload of them, we have the equipment to do our calibration checks in-house.

The HF and Proto hold their accuracy the best. No failures in three years. We won't even consider buying another S-o due to them always failing. Well, not always, we had one that passed but the user was on sick leave most of the year. We don't do adjustments in-house so those are out of service for a while while they get repaired.

The S-o's feel the best in your hand. Proto's seem large and heavy and the HF feels a bit clunky. Price wise, having a bunch of HF's means we don't have people standing around waiting for one. If you can get over where it came from, the HF's are the best value out there. Same can't be said for other imports brought in by other companies or the junk from Craftsman or Husky. The only reason we don't switch exclusively to HF is the stigma. People think they are junk and expect them to fail.

So for all of you that wouldn't trust a HF torque wrench to do your wheels, try to forget this post next time you fly.

good info

I think a lot of people think a low price means too good to be true, so it's nice that you have some actual calibration history to share.

I will say that I've had good luck with mine, and I encourage many diy people I know to buy one for lugs, etc., if they have no torque wrench. better than guessing

 

[brianpgriset]

Remember that most clicker type torque wrenches still aren't terribly accurate. There are many factors that go into determining how to achieve a certain torque. Nut factors, lubricant types (if any), washers, etc... Where I work we had a coop do a big study on bolt torque methods for process equipment for various installation methods (clicker wrench, hydraulic torque etc...) and found none of them were very accurate. This was for very critical applications.

The most accurate and repeatable method for bolt torquing is bolt stretch. So I wouldn't sweat the hf wrench so long as it doesn't fall off your work bench.

That said I have one for lug nuts.

 

[Butters]

Trust? Hmmm, I think it might all be relative.

Trust it in a pro environment? No.
Trust it to build an engine? No.
Trust it more than my GW Torque wrenches? No.
Trust it to hold its calibration? Probably not.
Trust it more than my $75 POS Craftsman? Probably so.
Trust it more than any brand uncalibrated, used TW? Probably so.
Trust it more than my hand? Definitely.

So, for me, if I didn't own a TW and didn't have $100+ to spend on one (or maybe $40 for a beam type) I would definitely buy one. But I'm not a pro, I sometimes don't torque things to spec, and I will likely never have any of my wrenches calibrated. I would expect a professional wrench to answer differently.

 

[GoBlue]

I turned in a one year old H.F 3/8 to my Matco guy for calibration. It belonged to a non mechanic but do it yourselfer friend of mine. He was building an engine for his dune buggy and i convinced him to at least calibrate his wrench. Turned out the wrench was still within specification. He got a new calibration sticker anyways of course. I would trust one no problem so long as it was stored properly and had proof of calibration.

 

[GoBlue]

Yes. Hell, yes.

I'm in aviation and the company I work for has Snap-on, Proto, HF and a couple of other brands. Mainly 1/4" and 3/8", all clicker type. As it's law that they have to be calibrated yearly, and the fact that we have a crapload of them, we have the equipment to do our calibration checks in-house.

The HF and Proto hold their accuracy the best. No failures in three years. We won't even consider buying another S-o due to them always failing. Well, not always, we had one that passed but the user was on sick leave most of the year. We don't do adjustments in-house so those are out of service for a while while they get repaired.

The S-o's feel the best in your hand. Proto's seem large and heavy and the HF feels a bit clunky. Price wise, having a bunch of HF's means we don't have people standing around waiting for one. If you can get over where it came from, the HF's are the best value out there. Same can't be said for other imports brought in by other companies or the junk from Craftsman or Husky. The only reason we don't switch exclusively to HF is the stigma. People think they are junk and expect them to fail.

So for all of you that wouldn't trust a HF torque wrench to do your wheels, try to forget this post next time you fly.

 

[Chrislols]

I bought one a while ago for $7.99, tried it on some lugs and felt like the internals were going to literally snap or at least grind together, returned it for another, same thing. Did I get bad ones? Or they just **** for me or what