Best cheap torque wrench?

[american21]

Looking at the kobalt 3/8 clicker for 60 anything good cheaper? Will be for small engines motorcyle and cars

 

[woody 73]

Best bang for your buck and made in America!

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-3-8-in-Click-Torque-Wrench-H3DTW/202916179

 

[Davefr]

I'd suggest the Husky torque wrenches from HD vs Kobalt if you want fairly cheap. They're made in the US by Armstrong and get good reviews here.

However my favorite is the PI but they're >$100.

 

[nieuport17]

+1 on husky.
They actually tested the torque before shipment.

 

[zbyler]

I would highly recommend Precision Instruments torque wrenches. They are a bit more expensive than the Husky/Kobalt (can be had for around $100-$120) but the build quality is fantastic IMO.

 

[Kirbot]

The $10 (on sale) harborfreight torque wrenches are generally quite well received.
At least the older Taiwan ones are. You might only be able to find Chinese stock by now.

The Husky looks like a nice step up. Rebranded Gearwrench/Matco for a fraction of the price.

 

[lightning02]

i have a husky 3/8s thats 10-15 years old. VERY well made.

i need go get a new 1/2 but up the air what to get still.

 

[Super Sport]

I'll add another vote to the USA-made Husky. I have the Gearwrench versions, and I have been very happy with them. I paid about $100 each from an online vendor that had a promo where they came with free socket sets.

 

[erty67]

The $10 (on sale) harborfreight torque wrenches are generally quite well received.
At least the older Taiwan ones are. You might only be able to find Chinese stock by now.

I just bought a Taiwan 3/8" a couple days ago for $9.99

 

[Buckgnarly]

For the price, Husky for sure. "Cheap" and torque wrench should not be used together...if you're bothering to torque something, it's probably smart to use something good. All my opinion, so no ******* matches please.

 

[MattPSC]

Depends what you're using it for. Wheel lugs? Hard to beat the HF 9.99 one. Engine building? A flex beam style, probably. Accurate and cheap, just need the room and visibility to use it.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

I've never paid more than $35 for a truck brand torque wrench on ebay. Just look for something like new in a case and 99% of the time they will be just fine. Torque wrenches are one of those tools that either never gets used or constantly gets used, so it's pretty obvious what kind of life it's lived. For peace of mind you can have it tested locally.

 

[QwikKotaTx]

I also have bought several nice torque wrenches on eBay. I like the Proto ones.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Craftsman on CL. 3/8" not that common, but they are out there. Of course, no guarantee that the PO did not drop it.

 

[Wizzard]

I would highly recommend Precision Instruments torque wrenches. They are a bit more expensive than the Husky/Kobalt (can be had for around $100-$120) but the build quality is fantastic IMO.

My vote as well. Precision Instruments used to make the split beam torque wrenches for Snap On for many years, same exact wrench just different colored label insert. Funny watching people on eBay pay almost $300 for a used Snap On branded wrench they could of bought brand new from PI for half the price.

 

[jacked_72]

The harbor freight ones work well for me and at $10 you can't beat the price. I've also got a dial wrench, I think made by Uitca, for $20, but who knows about the last calibration date. Also a used beam wrench would work good in many applications and they say you never need to calibrate them. I'm not the expert on that, but that's what I've read.

 

[lightning02]

i tryed the HF ones and they didnt work for me. handle was always jamming. the Husky is worth the extra money by far.

 

[sunshineFC3s]

I would have gotten the Husky if I had found GJ in time. I ended up getting the Craftsman clicker on deep sale. But I only use it for general duty, such as lug nuts.
-a

 

[Olafur]

I had about 20 bolts to torque to 50 nm and the place I was working for had "Sonic" branded 3/8 clicker wrench I used. Probably a year old. Just for fun I placed my digital torque adaptor on the wrench and set it to read the max torque - testing the wrench on each bolt. I was rather impressed, the readings were almost spot on every time, ranging between 49,8-50,1

My guess is the wrench is Taiwan made.

Similar test - about a year ago sent two top Euro brand wrenches to the trash bin. To be fair both of them had seen lots of bolts in a busy diesel shop.

 

[n8n]

My vote as well. Precision Instruments used to make the split beam torque wrenches for Snap On for many years, same exact wrench just different colored label insert. Funny watching people on eBay pay almost $300 for a used Snap On branded wrench they could of bought brand new from PI for half the price.

Same is true for CDI and micrometer type.

 

[Davefr]

The harbor freight ones work well for me and at $10 you can't beat the price.

They are cheap and accurate but here's the rest of the story.

1. The click is real wimpy and you might not even hear/feel it. If you don't you could shear or over torque the fastener.

2. The adjustment range is real small. You go from low to max. in around 1" on the scale. The scale is really hard to read it's so small.

3. The adjustment knob goes from real loose to real tight and has a rough feel. It just doesn't feel right. I think they use a real short spring.

 

[pi_guy]

They are cheap and accurate but here's the rest of the story.

1. The click is real wimpy and you might not even hear/feel it. If you don't you could shear or over torque the fastener.

2. The adjustment range is real small. You go from low to max. in around 1" on the scale. The scale is really hard to read it's so small.

3. The adjustment knob goes from real loose to real tight and has a rough feel. It just doesn't feel right. I think they use a real short spring.

4 The HF torque wrenches I tested were all over the place none matched the setting on the wrench. Where other wrenches were off 10 lbs consistently vs the setting HF numbers on one wrench were 10 to 40lbs off the other followed similar patterns.

If you going to bother to torque fasteners you should try for a degree of accuracy otherwise it is pointless.

 

[SantaAna12]

I have an older Husky that has held up much better than I thought it would. Comes with hard case too. But its.adjusting lock ring is plastic. My Utica is.all metal and feels like my larger SO. Dont know what they go for these days.
Cheap=Husky. The hard case ftw.

 

[american21]

The current husky is still us? And what makes it better then the kobalt which is probably Taiwan. Same as a matco?

 

[jwvess00]

Hi there!

I just bought the 1/2" drive Husky and 3/8" drive Husky. 1/2" goes 50-250 ft.lbs, and the 3/8" is 20-100 ft.lbs (I think). Both were made in the U.S. and came with a calibration report.

 

[american21]

Hi there!

I just bought the 1/2" drive Husky and 3/8" drive Husky. 1/2" goes 50-250 ft.lbs, and the 3/8" is 20-100 ft.lbs (I think). Both were made in the U.S. and came with a calibration report.

I was looking at the 1/2 kobalt since it goes 20ft pounds all the way up to 250 as my only torque wrench but I'm really wanting the husky now.

 

[JDon99]

Precision Instruments TQ wrenches really aren't that expensive, nowhere near truck prices, and they are high quality, USA made.

http://www.tooltopia.com/precision-instruments-c3fr250f.aspx

 

[brouser01]

HF unit matched my brother's (he is a professional mechanic) SnapOn exactly.

 

[Flivver250]

You ever wonder if your surgeon looks for cheap scalpels? I can understand cheap drain pans and funnels, but precision instruments? Looking for best of the bottom is still bottom feeding. Why bother? Just grab a ratchet and guess.

 

[pi_guy]

HF unit matched my brother's (he is a professional mechanic) SnapOn exactly.

That is funny.
I had a torque tester for a few weeks and tested a number of different torque wrenches with a number of different operators. Several of the guys had over 30 years torquing wheels on race cars and other critical items.
None of them were able to get consistent results with a HF, yet with craftsman, CDI and Snap On the results were plotable and consistent.

It is real hard to accept that at 9.95 the out come is going to be good.

 

[ATK305]

I had about 20 bolts to torque to 50 nm and the place I was working for had "Sonic" branded 3/8 clicker wrench I used. Probably a year old. Just for fun I placed my digital torque adaptor on the wrench and set it to read the max torque - testing the wrench on each bolt. I was rather impressed, the readings were almost spot on every time, ranging between 49,8-50,1

My guess is the wrench is Taiwan made.

Similar test - about a year ago sent two top Euro brand wrenches to the trash bin. To be fair both of them had seen lots of bolts in a busy diesel shop.

There is one of those Sonic branded torque wrenches in 1/2" bouncing around our shop. Nobody will use it and nobody knows where it came from. None of us had heard of that brand. Now I'm thinking that maybe one of the Sweedes brought it over and left it behind.

By the way, my daughter spent two weeks in Iceland last November. She loved it. She sent a lot of pictures. You have a beautiful country.

 

[ducatiti]

Surprised no one has mentioned the Craftsman torque wrench. $30 when on sale with points. Snapped bolts with HF torque wrenches before. Never again.

 

[Danglerb]

Lots of HF stuff varies in quality. Don't shop there unless you can judge a poor quality tool form one that at least seems to work OK before buying it.

 

[OxJaw]

Depends on what you want to spend really. I have several of the HF torque wrenches and they are okay. The 1/4" one has a very light click that is easy to miss. Other than that though I haven't had any problems with them. Tested them on a digital Guage and they all fell in the tolerance every time.

With that said I like my 1/2" Wright torque wrench much better. It's easier to adjust and longer than the HF which makes it easier to use at higher settings.

If you don't want to spend much money HF are okay. If you're going to step up in quality I'd go with one of the big name brands (PI/CDI), they aren't much more than the GW/Husky ones. I personally would skip the CMAN and Kobalt ones. It seems to me you're just paying mark up one those, you can get similar wrenches for less than they charge.

 

[gungatim]

Surprised no one has mentioned the Craftsman torque wrench. $30 when on sale with points. Snapped bolts with HF torque wrenches before. Never again.

Ditto. he said best cheap, so to me, cheap is $30 or less. Craftsman (I have both 1/2 and 3/8) are, IMO, a little better quality than the HF (of which I have a couple 1/2 I use just for lug nuts). regularly on sale for $39...

Built many an engine with those and never let me down...

 

[bczygan]

Cheap as in inexpensive?

Then.....

HF!

End of story.

 

[brouser01]

That is funny.

I had a torque tester for a few weeks and tested a number of different torque wrenches with a number of different operators. Several of the guys had over 30 years torquing wheels on race cars and other critical items.

None of them were able to get consistent results with a HF, yet with craftsman, CDI and Snap On the results were plotable and consistent.



It is real hard to accept that at 9.95 the out come is going to be good.

I was surprised by the results also, it clicked correctly EVERY TIME! We weren't torquing on wheels either, all the work was under the hood inside the engine. I felt so confident on this unit, after testing it I used the HF for the job while the SnapOn was left sitting on the bench.

 

[pi_guy]

I was surprised by the results also, it clicked correctly EVERY TIME! We weren't torquing on wheels either, all the work was under the hood inside the engine. I felt so confident on this unit, after testing it I used the HF for the job while the SnapOn was left sitting on the bench.

How would you know if you were not using a torque tester?

 

[lightning02]

Hi there!

I just bought the 1/2" drive Husky and 3/8" drive Husky. 1/2" goes 50-250 ft.lbs, and the 3/8" is 20-100 ft.lbs (I think). Both were made in the U.S. and came with a calibration report.

Have a link to the 1/2in? I'm needing a new one. Love my 3/8 husky.

Always wanted a digital one but seems like people are yay or nah on them and the good ones cost a ton.

 

[brouser01]

How would you know if you were not using a torque tester?

I never said it was exactly accurate to a certified torque tester, I said it matched my brothers professional + more expensive + more respected brand tool.