Fine tooth 1/4 drive torque wrench?

[2drx4]

Are they actually sold?

I have a snappy QD1R200 that I dislike greatly, and I've been thinking about selling it to one of the apprentices at work. It's 36 tooth, and I think the adjuster on it is goofy, plus the head really seems oversized for only a 36 tooth ratchet.

Does anyone make/sell fine tooth ones? Or is there any flex-head types that I might be able to swap the head on?

I checked Armstrong and Mac, both appear to only offer 36 tooth ones.

 

[Fedwrench]

Gearwrench micrometer torque wrench have 60 tooth ratchet action, thin heads and are US made (probably the only US made tool under the Gearwrench name).
http://www.tooltopia.com/search.aspx?find=85050

 

[mrholeshot]

Gearwrench micrometer torque wrench have 60 tooth ratchet action, thin heads and are US made (probably the only US made tool under the Gearwrench name).
http://www.tooltopia.com/search.aspx?find=85050

Didn't know that, good peice of information

 

[2drx4]

Gearwrench micrometer torque wrench have 60 tooth ratchet action, thin heads and are US made (probably the only US made tool under the Gearwrench name).
http://www.tooltopia.com/search.aspx?find=85050

The plastic handle (or whatever fancy name they'll give it) turns me off, but I'll definitely keep it in mind. Gearwrench's website offers almost zero details on the actual size of it, I wonder if the head is as large/bigger than my QD1R200 or TL72?

 

[Fedwrench]

Disregard my previous post. The 1/4 drive Gearwrench torque wrench linked only has 36 teeth. Ut's the same Armstrong type head. It's their 3/8 drive digital model that has 60 teeth. Sorry for the error.
I did a quick check of the brands I have and they are all 36 tooth. I don't think anyone makes a 1/4 drive with 60 or more teeth yet.
Snap on is the only one to market a 1/4 drive flex head torque wrench and that's their digital techangle wrench.

 

[2drx4]

Digital wrenches don't work in my line of work. Damnit.

 

[cageek]

Utica TCI-150RA (1/4" drive 30–150 in lbs) has 60+ teeth (I would guess 72 from listening). Verify with Utica/Cooper. Mine (from ebay) is marked "Made in U.S.A.". It is available with various heads (including commonly with a 3/8" drive). I don't think there's a flex head in the 1/4" size. It's quite small at 9.5" long.

 

[cageek]

I took my Utica apart - it's 36 tooth, dual pawl action - 72 positions.

 

[doctorschmullus]

who needs a 1/4 torque wrench anyway

 

[mrholeshot]

who needs a 1/4 torque wrench anyway

I use one constanly. Some of the sheet metal (aluminum) oil pans I work with have 6 inch deep holes where the biggest thing that will go in them is a 1/4 drive 5/16 12 point socket. where you have to torque to 84 inch pounds a 1/4 torque wrench is pretty much the only thing with the accuracy you can use. While that may not seem like a very critical application on an oil pan it's a big deal to me because I don't want someone to have to remove and bring me back there engine for an oil leak simple because it didn't seem like a critical step. The devil is in the details

 

[Buckgnarly]

who needs a 1/4 torque wrench anyway

Pinion bearing preload! Though you actually need a dial type or at least beam style, not clicker. Try hooking up a 1 1/4" socket to a 1/4 torque wrench.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

The Seekonk 1/4 drive clicker, 30 to 150 lb/in, uses the same ratchet head as the RHFT Craftsman ratchet. Not sure how many teeth are in it, but they are rather fine.

http://www.seekonk.com/torqstart.html

Use the drop down box to select "Torque Tools-Adjustable Click Type" and click the FIND button.

Model SM-150R25

Charles

 

[Charles (in GA)]

who needs a 1/4 torque wrench anyway

Commonly used in many different trades and industry. As noted, almost anything that involves aluminum in a motor probably is best torqued with a torque wrench.

Charles

 

[2drx4]

who needs a 1/4 torque wrench anyway

Aviation. I use it a lot. My signature goes on work that it was involved with. ***** to have **** come loose in the air, then when you're in court, they ask what you did and you reply (honestly, since you're under oath) "Well, you see, I just give my ratchet a little pull like this, and that's right about 70in-lbs, give or take. Never had nothing fall off before..." Not that I'm going to say a torque wrench hits every bolt (yeah, I'll admit that on the internet), but it hits a lot of them.

The Seekonk looks alright, not badly priced. The Utica comes in at about the exact same price, from what I've found. Seekonk ships to Canada, they might win out because of that.

Anything else out there?

 

[Charles (in GA)]

I know I said the RHFT Craftsman 1/4 drive ratchet was "fine" tooth, it seems like it using it, but indeed, I went out to the shop this evening and counted, it appears to have 36 clicks in a full turn, still the Seekonk is a nice torque wrench.

Another thought is a Sturtevant-Richmont interchangable head clicker.....

Now, the SR ratchet heads are not particularly fine tooth, but with the interchangable head, you can get a square drive ratchet head............

and also get a standard tooling head you can weld to.............. see where I'm going with this? Buy the standard tooling head....................

and then buy your favorite 1/4 drive fine tooth snappy ratchet in black finish..................

Cut off the handle to the right length and TIG weld the ratchet head to the standard tooling head and you have your fine tooth ratchet.

I must warn you, this makes for a slightly longer than normal torque wrench, but not by much.

Charles

 

[2drx4]

Cut off the handle to the right length and TIG weld the ratchet head to the standard tooling head and you have your fine tooth ratchet.

I must warn you, this makes for a slightly longer than normal torque wrench, but not by much.

Charles

I actually like this idea... I have some home-built stuff in my box that makes people go I've even had people ask me when craftsman sold a raised panel slim wrench before

Only thing is I lack in the TIG welding department, but I could probably get it done... Unless I could find a torque wrench that takes a different style of interchangeable head, that would more readily accept a ratchet that was only machined down to size.

 

[cageek]

The Utica also sells a "blank" style head (they call it a head adapter). But you'd have to keep your add-on a standard length to center - same as other components (about an 1/2 inch to an inch depending on model) - unless you want to adjust all your torque settings. I don't know if you could re-calibrate enough to accommodate - maybe.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

OK, to add to this, I got out my quarter drive clickers.

In the pic, the one on the right is a quite old Utica, made when Utica/Bonney was owned by the Triangle Corporation, and is marked Orangeburg, SC. I have seven of these, I bought one 1/4 and one 3/8 ratchet head for them, and when we attempted to calibrate the first one (calibration room at work), it had NON-linear errors and could not be fixed, we quit and I've never checked the other six. The ratchet head you see is a 72 tooth, and Utica made it by welding a regular ratchet head to their blank head adapter. They make an A and a B size adapters, this is the smaller A size, they are not interchangeable. The hole in the torque wrench for the adapter is round, even though the adapter has flats on it.

The one to the right of the tape measure is my Seekonk. It has a 36 tooth ratchet mechanism and will take replacement kits made for Craftsman and Allen, KD and other Danaher manufactured 1/4" RHFT ratchets.

To the left of the tape is a Sturtevant-Richmont (www.srtorque.com) with a round head, fine tooth (60 tooth) ratchet on it. Attachments on these attach with a dovetail and all ratchet heads and open and box end heads and other stuff has the same offset to the middle of the fastener, so the calibration stays the same. Next to the torque wrench are my other ratchet heads, a 1/4 square head that is a 24 tooth ratchet, and square and round head 3/8 and a 1/2 drive head. I have two other interchangeable head S-R torque wrenches so this works out well. One feature of the SR torque wrenches is that they have an adjustment that allows for removing most non-linear errors. The SR model with a permanent ratchet head is shorter, but I don't think you can get it with the fine tooth ratchet.

The Utica only allows the head to be installed one way, I'm not sure if the torque mechanism inside will allow for LH torquing or not. The SR is non-reversible and will not click or torque in the LH direction. If you want to torque LH then you remove the head and flip it over and reinstall it. The tool is marked with arrows to indicate the direction it will torque.

Charles

 

[Indy_500]

who needs a 1/4 torque wrench anyway

buy a snowmobile and you might just need one

 

[Mr.Nutcase]

who needs a 1/4 torque wrench anyway

you havealot to learn...............CYA