1/4" Dr HF Torque wrench, preloaded when new.

[Blt2Lst]

Recently returned a defective 1/4" drive torque wrench to HF (thats another story) and was given a new one without any issues.
When I got home and opened it up, saw that the torque wrench was set to 50 in/lbs, knowing that torque wrenches should be set to 0 when stored, I said WTF.

Looking in the instructions that came with the wrench, said to set wrench to lowest setting when being stored.

So my question is, would you return or keep it? I could bring it back and try to find one that is not pre-loaded or keep it and hope calibation is not off because of how long it was stored in the pre-loaded condition.

What are your thoughts on this?

 

[noid]

Bring it back, not because of the preload but because precision tools shouldn't be bought from HF.

You know that feeling when you're torquing something, and it hasn't clicked yet, but it seems like it should have clicked.... seeing HF/pittsburgh provides no comfort in that situation.

 

[Blt2Lst]

You know that feeling when you're torquing something, and it hasn't clicked yet, but it seems like it should have clicked.... seeing HF/pittsburgh provides no comfort in that situation.

That's why I returned it, was trying to torque the valve cover bolts on a BMW Z3 to 89 in/lbs. wasn't clicking, I stopped because I thought I was going to snap off the bolt. Then found out it wasn't clicking even on lowest setting.

Good thing I knew enough to stop when it didn't feel right.

 

[sberry]

After you use the torque wrench put a common combo against it and start to learn what all this feels like.

 

[clubairth]

Just some real world experience??

I have been bad about not setting the click type torque wrenches back to zero after each use. I have a buddy who is an helicopter mechanic and the company pays to get his torque wrenches calibrated every year.

He let me in on this and I sent all 3 of mine out to be calibrated when he got his done. Shockingly they were all in spec and the calibration consisted of merely checking and recording the readings taken. All 3 are old to very old like 40 years old.

The 1/4" and 3/8" wrenches are just cheap no brand name wrenches while my 1/2" drive one is a great old American made Proto wrench. I expected that one to be fine and the other 2 to not be able to be calibrated!

The guy told my buddy that while it's still a good practice to set all torque wrenches back to zero after use in his experience it really makes no difference in the real world.
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[jacked_72]

My great old Proto torque wrench reads about 75# lower than the actual torque. My HF stuff is consistent with my beam wrench.

 

[4xdog]

The instructions on my early 1980's Craftsman DigiTork 3/8" wrench say (1) to store the wrench at a setting of 25% or lower of full scale, and (2) to let the spring in the wrench relax for four hours or more at the lowest setting if it's been left unused for a few hours at greater than 50% of full scale tension.

Note that they also say in a production setting to recalibrate after 10,000 torque cycles. At that rate my wrench has a few hundred years more to go before recalibration is indicated...

 

[Wamsutta]

I saw this torque wrench last night and went looking for it again when I saw this thread. The link below is the completed listing. Nobody bid on it. I already bought two of them off eBay exactly like it. They are no longer in production and haven't been in production for quite awhile. They are a Snap-on branded Precision Instruments torque wrench with a Snap-on ratcheting head. Snap-on no longer uses PI to manufacture their torque wrenches since Snap-on bought the CDI company.

The quality is off the chart. I'd compare it to the best Swiss watch ever made. I paid $140 each for the ones I got. They were BIN with free shipping a couple of years ago. I really don't need a 3rd one, although it would be money very well spent.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/034-SNAP-O...=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

[bpjr]

I would return it just to remove any concern. I bought the small hf clicker and it was zeroed...but had to exchange it because it wouldn't hold a socket on tight enough to keep it from dropping off. I checked it against my $Klein$ clicker and it was right on.