Is this torque limiter too limited?

[tak1313]

This vid about a Lisle limiter, here being used for oil pan drain bolts. At first glance, I thought it was interesting, but realized it only does 25Nm, which translates to about 18 ft lbs. All the oil drain bolts on our cars (Prius and Tacoma) are both spec'd at about 27/28 ft lbs., so it would be useless to me, since I can't think of a 'regular use' situation that would make something like this useful.

I COULD use it on the Prius oil filter housing, at that's spec'd at 18, but would still need my torque wrench for the drain bolt.

 

[rlitman]

I don't think that's for drain bolts. It seems to be for the caps for can-less oil filters.

 

[tak1313]

I don't think that's for drain bolts. It seems to be for the caps for can-less oil filters.

Yeah - even IF I got it (no plan to), that's all I would likely use it for (Prius) - but then I would still have a torque wrench for the drain plug. So if I already have a torque wrench under the car with me for the drain plug, I wouldn't even bother with this for the oil filter cap.

The only advantage I can see in using this is if space was really limited, so you can use a ratchet that is shorter/smaller than a torque wrench. But my Precision Instruments split beam (10-50ft lbs) is already pretty small/short.

Perhaps it would be useful for someone where both cap and plug are around 25Nm (or drain plug was around that, so no need for torque wrench at all). If that were the case, I would definitely get one. I THINK my Ranger was around 19 ft lbs (standard filter).

 

[rlitman]

Agreed. I wouldn't use that on my Honda or Subaru crush washers. Too much likelihood of a leak.

Elaborating on my speculation above about it's uses, it might make sense for an oil change shop to include one of these in a set of the shallow sockets you need for can-less filter covers. Just to keep the most junior staff who aren't to be trusted with resetting a torque wrench (or simply using the wrench). It's a VERY limited use case, but still good insurance against damaging customer's parts.

As a general rule, I try to keep "unitaskers" out of my shop, but some are just unavoidable, and when repetitive tasks come up a lot, sometimes they just work better than the more general purpose tools. I actually have a 60-in-lb no-hub torque wrench in my plumbing kit...

Speaking of, this got me thinking that the only impact torque stick I use in my set is the lowest value one (65 ft-lbs IIRC). I really should bury the rest of the kit and free up valuable toolbox space.