Cheap Starter Torque Wrench List

[Bleugrass]

I wanted a selection of torque wrenches that would cover everything from 15in lbs - 250 ft. lbs, accurately, durably and inexpensive. I decided to go with Beam type mainly, because they stay calibrated (easy fix), are cheap and accurate. Then I filled in what I couldn't find in cheap beams with clickers that have great warranties (The beams also have lifetime warranties). I can test the calibration of the clickers against the beams (not all the way through their range though.)

Gearwrench Beams: 1/4” 60in.lbs $36.48(Tooltopia.com), 3/8” 600in.lbs $46.88(HD) ; Harbor Freight Clickers: 1/4” 200in.lbs $10, 3/8” 80ft.lbs $10 (coupons); Craftsman Beam 1/2” 150ft.lbs $23; Tekton Clicker 1/2” 250ft.lbs $50.50(HD) — Total: ~ $180 (less but tax and shipping)

I posted for other newbs to help with their tool building quest, and also if anyone has anything helpful to add or adjust here that would be appreciated.


Links ( Same order):
http://www.tooltopia.com/kd-tools-2...cse&utm_campaign=sc&scpid=7&scid=scsho6815528
http://www.homedepot.com/p/GearWrench-3-8-in-Drive-Beam-Torque-Wrench-2956D/204622154
http://www.harborfreight.com/1-4-quarter-inch-drive-click-type-torque-wrench-2696.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/3-8-eighth-inch-drive-click-type-torque-wrench-807.html
http://www.sears.com/craftsman-1-2-in-dr-beam-style-torque-wrench/p-00903300000P
http://www.homedepot.com/p/TEKTON-1-2-in-Drive-Click-Torque-Wrench-24340/205539236

P.S. Is there any difference between the harbor freight's two torque wrenches for 3/8 and 1/4? I notice one of both have more stars. My links to the better stars.
http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=torque+Wrench

 

[Rlfd213]

All my torque wrench a are matco. My 1/2 and 3/8 measure in foot pounds and my 1/4 is inch pounds. Personally I would not go cheap on something like this. You could look on Craigslist and probably find a snap on, Mac or matco pretty cheap

 

[bczygan]

All 3 HF ones for $30 total.

 

[619DioFan]

Mine are both ( 1/2 and 3/8 ) usa Husky. they are very good in my opinion. some HD's might still carry the usa made ones.

 

[Tron]

I wanted to get a click type torque wrench from craftsman, but they only warranty 1 year. HF, you can buy all three for dirt cheap, lifetime warranty. The only complaint I've read, and agree with, is the click is quiet. You need to pay attention.

 

[AmishFury]

All 3 HF ones for $30 total.

if you're never going above 150ft-lbs this will do...

 

[frankush]

All 3 HF ones for $30 total.

And that's about how much I'd trust them.

 

[unslow1]

Probably buy the 3 HF for $30 then 1 good 1/2 beam and one clicker that will go to 250 ft lbs. Use the beam for important stuff like rod bolts. You can't read a beam in certain situations.

 

[anndel]

I have Tekton, Snap On, CDI and a 30 year old Craftsman. All work great but if you're on a budget, go with Tekton.

 

[Tinner]

In my world, cheap and torque wrench don't belong in the same sentence. Proto are a great value. You can find them new and like new on eBay for half or less of list. Proto will re-calibrate them for 15 bucks. If they need any parts they are very reasonable.

 

[1982fxr]

I wanted to get a click type torque wrench from craftsman, but they only warranty 1 year. HF, you can buy all three for dirt cheap, lifetime warranty. The only complaint I've read, and agree with, is the click is quiet. You need to pay attention.

imho doesn't matter if the warranty is for 10 lifetimes, these have been proven to be all over the place right out of the box...

in my mind i don't pay for the wrench i pay for the calibration and repeatability. I'd expect neither from those hf.

 

[Bleugrass]

Probably buy the 3 HF for $30 then 1 good 1/2 beam and one clicker that will go to 250 ft lbs. Use the beam for important stuff like rod bolts. You can't read a beam in certain situations.

So do you think gearwrench is a bad beam? Seems like Armstrong rebrands it. How do you get a bad beam? I'm not going with the cheapest at least. Some people exclusively use beams, they're harder to read but I can deal with the hassle for awhile. Then when I upgrade I can use these to test calibration of the other ones down the road.

I have Tekton, Snap On, CDI and a 30 year old Craftsman. All work great but if you're on a budget, go with Tekton.

I am going with Tekton for the 1/2".

imho doesn't matter if the warranty is for 10 lifetimes, these have been proven to be all over the place right out of the box...

in my mind i don't pay for the wrench i pay for the calibration and repeatability. I'd expect neither from those hf.

The reviews for HF torque wrenches I've seen are decent. Plus HF is a few blocks from my house, on the way to everywhere for me. But I'm considering going with Tekton for the 1/4" clicker, if they are such ****.
I can test the HF's right out the box against the beam wrenches. It'd be a little hassle to test them every time I use them though, and use the warranty often.

 

[unslow1]

I have a few beams that I mostly use to check calibration on the clickers. I wouldn't say Gearwrench is a bad beam. Never had one. The one I use most is an SK.

 

[SuzukiGS750EZ]

I've been happy with the husky wrenches I got at lowes, used them for gasket replacements in many engines. They're made by kd tools (gear wrench maker) but branded husky. I have both 10-100 and 25-250 ft lb. My uncle gave me my inch lb wrench, it's a craftsman. Unless you're doing intricate precision engine work, which in guessing your aren't because in that profession, you'd spend the money for them, a moderately proceed wrench will get you within a lb or two. I set move 1lb more than what I need, it doesn't hurt anything and I feel it makes up for the socket.

 

[blown94conv]

There are some areas you need a good quaility tool, not the "Best value" you can find. My opionion (And it's worth what you pay for it) is get a quality one. And if I go to my professional engine guy, and open his torque wrench drawer I will bet $1,000 I won't find any Harbor Freight ones in his box, and I have a Harbor Freight mess then a mile from here. I'll bet Joe Hobby has them though.

And I doubt the calibrations are a lifetime warranty item, altough I could be wrong on that.

 

[d.mcfarland]

I have the HF 1/2" drive clicker and I trust it for the lug nuts that I use it on. I wouldn't doubt it's accuracy, but if I needed them for a living, I would probably get something "better".

 

[PureLeaf]

I initially bought cheap (craftsman) torque wrenches. One of them eventually had the clicker handle stop working, and I ended up buying precision instrument split beams. Haven't looked back. Buy good quality now, and then you won't have to spend more later.

Another plus of the split beams is that you don't have to set them to zero when you're done using them.

 

[goforride57]

All 3 HF ones for $30 total.

When you're not using them as a torque wrench, you can use them as a hammer.

 

[frankush]

When you're not using them as a torque wrench, you can use them as a hammer.

Best laugh I've had to start the new year!

 

[motofool33]

cdi torque wrenchs from amazon or zoro on coupons are had to beat

the warranty is not the same as the calibration or precison or accuracy...

id take the craftsman over the HF, but these days the gear wrench is probably better and many more.

 

[flmng42]

In my opinion, if you are going to buy a torque wrench, you certainly should not buy cheap tools. With the lack of reliability and accuracy, you may as well be guesstimating your final torque anyway.

Buying quality used snap on, mac, matco, proto, kd, easco, armstrong, or cdi from craigslist, ebay, or pawn shops and then getting them calibrated would be the "best" way to go, both for your wallet and for assurances of accuracy.

I have bought three snap on torque wrenches (40-200 in lb and 200-1000 in lb and 25-250 ft lb, i think) from pawn shops, each for less than $100, and got them calibrated for less than $20 each. Keep your eyes peeled and you will find deals. Don't settle for **** tools, you will get **** results.

 

[Bleugrass]

In my opinion, if you are going to buy a torque wrench, you certainly should not buy cheap tools. With the lack of reliability and accuracy, you may as well be guesstimating your final torque anyway.

Yeah I dont wanna guesstimate. Beam torque wrenches should be fairly reliable and accurate though, would you agree on Gearwrench 0-60in.lbs and Craftsman's beam's probably a good bet? I want a large range, low budget. I am gonna get the Precision instruments 40-200in. lbs 1/4" drive clicker new though. Altogether I'm paying less than 200$ for a range from 10in-150ft.lbs, fairly accurate and reliable. Although the beams will be harder to use.

Down the line I'll get some really nice ones and then I can use the old beams to test the calibration of those every once in awhile. No loss.

 

[flmng42]

Honestly, ive never used beam style torque wrenches. I worked for a detroit diesel distributor as a tech, and i had a lot of repeated torqueing to do in a production environment, so the beam style was just too inefficient for me. I would save my pennies and scour the pawn shops and craigslist.

The big question is what do you expect to torque most? I would put my first bit of money on the most used. Like are you planning on doing mostly tire and suspension work? Maybe a 1/2" 25-250 ft lb may be the best. Or if precision work is what you do, then an in lb may be the best first move. My first two torque wrenches were new matcos, 1/2" 25-250ftlb and 3/8" 5-75ft lb. I bought a crappy craftsman 3/8" 25-250 inlb for the occasional time i ran into the need until i found the inlb wrenches at pawn shops.

 

[Banshee365]

I have all 4 HF torque wrenches. I started with one for grins and found it to be very accurate in the range clickers are supposed to be accurate. So I tried another, accurate as well. Then the 1/4, also very accurate. I just bought the 3/4 and it's great as well. I also have the HF digital torque adapter. Many have tested against some of the highest wuLity and most expensive torque calibration machines out there and it's usually within 0.1 ft/lb. I test my torque wrenches against this thing fairly often and they rarely need adjustment.

These are pretty much the only HF tools I own. There is one thing you need to be careful of. This may be true with most clickers, but when your set towards the bottom of my 3/8 clicker the click isn't really even audible. There isn't enough tension in the tool to give it a good click. The head just sort of gives to the side. So watch out for that. If you had a 9 ft/lb torque with that wrench you may not notice the click and keep pulling, possibly breaking the bolt or stripping threads.

 

[demolitionman]

I've personally watched new-hire help use our shops torque wrenches as breaker bars simply because they didn't know the difference. Ever sense then, I vowed never to buy a used torque wrench. Just my input.

 

[flmng42]

I've personally watched new-hire help use our shops torque wrenches as breaker bars simply because they didn't know the difference. Ever sense then, I vowed never to buy a used torque wrench. Just my input.

I agree with that to an extent. I bought my own 3/4" drive torque wrench because ALMOST EVERYONE at the shop i worked in used the shop's 3/4" drive to torque turn the ddc s60 cam bolt (i think the torque was something like 60 ftlbs plus 120 degrees or something, which amounted to 400 or 500+ ftlb). Using a torque wrench as a breaker bar or as a long ratchet in and of itself is not a bad thing, as long as you run the wrench all the way up and don't surpass it's rated scale in torque applied. I CERTAINLY DO NOT ADVOCATE THIS PRACTICE, but as long as you do it intelligently there isn't anything too terribly wrong with it (except that it is setting a bad example for younger or less experienced techs).

You have to be smart when buying used. If it looks good and unabused, at a good price, and from an established company with good service/parts availability then all you need to do is get the calibration checked. Often they are not harmed and just need to be adjusted up.

 

[cludwin]

If $135 doesn't break the bank I'd recommend looking at this guy:

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

PI is the OEM for a lot of the tool truck brand torque wrenches.

 

[guy48065]

imho doesn't matter if the warranty is for 10 lifetimes, these have been proven to be all over the place right out of the box...

in my mind i don't pay for the wrench i pay for the calibration and repeatability. I'd expect neither from those hf.

I'd like to see this proof.
Their torque wrenches feel and look like **** but I calibrate all brands & types and I have to grudgingly state that I haven't found any yet that didn't meet spec when new.

Of course how do you really know the wrench you brought to the check-out is really new & not a return? They don't come in boxes, you know...

If you really rely on torque accuracy that $30 HF digital torque adapter might be the best money you ever spent. I don't see how it's very handy for its intended purpose of turning any ratchet into a digital torque wrench--BUT clamped in a vise it's a dead-accurate standard with a useful peak-capture display that you can check all your other torque tools against (up to its limit).