Mr.Nutcase
Well-known member
cover your ***. get a quality one !!
pittsburgh tools
- Thread starter DIAZ 87
- Start date
I bought one a few months ago based on the positive reviews I had read. Unfortunately I didn't realize the thing wouldn't click at all until I had half my engine torn apart and needed a torque wrench to put it back together. It may have just been a bad one. Just make sure if you get one to check it out first and make sure the thing works.
Homoudont
Well-known member
Well I actually went out and bought a harbor freight 1/2 inch torque wrench to tighten down my lugnuts. Now I am not a professional mechanic by any means, but I do most of the car repairs myself. The only thing I used the wrench for is to tighten the lugnuts. Well the 2nd time I used it, the little ball that holds the socket on popped out and rolled down the driveway never to be seen again. So now when I use it I have to be sure to keep the socket from falling off the ratchet. I'll exchange it next time I am in HF but that could be 6 months from now.
The 2-3 times I did use it, I was think it did a great job. I have nothing to double check it with other then my breaker bar. And they were on tight enough my wheels haven't fallen off.
So my conclusion is that their a fail, only because the little ball fell out. I'll still use the tool, and will exchange it for a new one when I get around to it and if I had to do over again I'll but it. But take into consideration that I am a weekend warrior and my livelihood doesn't depend on my tools.
The 2-3 times I did use it, I was think it did a great job. I have nothing to double check it with other then my breaker bar. And they were on tight enough my wheels haven't fallen off.
So my conclusion is that their a fail, only because the little ball fell out. I'll still use the tool, and will exchange it for a new one when I get around to it and if I had to do over again I'll but it. But take into consideration that I am a weekend warrior and my livelihood doesn't depend on my tools.
Try pulling an engine, then it gets tougher. I believe you might have brought SO tools to the salvage yard to get what? A headlight assembly!
High end tools are not worth taking to the salvage yard, to risky, and not necessary IMHO.
Yeah no way i would ever take any Snap on tools to a salvage yard, Of course our salvage yards may be different, No asphalt or concrete floors... Im talking Knee deep mud holes.
Oh yeah, mud and more mud, LOL plus creatures!, LOL
Some guys don't get "down and dirty" in neck deep mechanic jobs, they don't understand, you don't always want a high end tool to put in a muddy, greasy mess.....................it doesn't "hurt soo much" when you have to really dirt and grease cake cheap tools, not to mention when they fall in the snow and muddle puddles, now and then.
I have went through alot of trouble pulling blue oval 460's, Chevy 454's and old nickel small blocks, from old junk!, they make nice performance build cores.
What surprises me, most of the time, is how much abuse some of those cheap tools take, and don't break.
One time my travel box tools were so dirty, I dumped them out in the driveway, sprayed simple green on the whole pile, and hosed off the pile of tools, before wiping them clean with a WD40 cloth and putting them back in the travel totes.
The thought of doing that to my Wright, Cornwell, or even some of my GearWrench tools make me cringe, due to the investment amount. LOL
NO DECENT TOOL BOUGHT GOES TO WASTE!, regardless of origin
jteck75
Well-known member
My salvage yard guy is pretty cool,he lets me drive my truck up to whatever I need to pull,so I can kind of put tools back in the truck as I get done with them. Even if he didn't,I wouldn't keep my good truck tools at home,I paid good money for those tools to work the **** out of them without worrying about a tool faliure in the middle of a job. If I lose one,shame one me,they make more. And to respond to the OP,I've used Pittsburgh torque wrenches many times without an issue.I wouldn't be a bit afraid to rebuild a motor with one. There's plenty of other Pittsburgh/HF hand tools that I'd pass on,but they did good with the torque wrenches.
I wonder if anyone who chants "buy American" realizes how many parts in foreign goods are made in by Americans, or how many foreign companies provide American's with jobs.
The world isn't black and white anymore, stop living in the past and upgrade your set to full color and HD.
Thank you drive-thru!
The world isn't black and white anymore, stop living in the past and upgrade your set to full color and HD.
Thank you drive-thru!
Mickey O
Well-known member
What'd I miss I see a lot of people whining about bashing import tools yet I don't see any posts bashing them, were they deleted? Maybe someone could point out the bashing, I don't see it.
Mickey O
Well-known member
We have seen three posts here by three different users that all had problems, I could provide a link to another forum I visit that has many more bad reviews and an actual test. But we all know that they are junk but I doubt that surprises anyone, you just don't get a good torque wrench for $10 -$20.
So lets talk about torque wrenches.
I don't know what you guys use them for but I use them to tighten down motorcycle axles, fork pinch bolts, cylinder head bolts, etc, all very important and crucial fasteners. I spent several thousand dollars on my last motor and I certainly don't want to end up over tightening the nuts/bolts and end up stripping the threads and having to use heli-coils as happened to someone that posted about here earlier, or too loose that I blow out a gasket. It’s important that these nuts/bolts be torqued to the proper specifications. And I’m not going to rely on a $10 or $20 torque wrench from Harbor Freight on an expensive motor. And I will always share that opinion, you don't have to agree.
From the reviews here and several other threads some of you say that the Harbor Freight is fine for the homeowner but not the professional mechanic (by proxy), are the nuts/bolts and the things they use their torque wrenches on more forgiving? Can a homeowner or weekend warrior over torque the head bolts on their project with no fear of stripping them? I suspect most applications where a torque wrench is used require the same amount of accuracy be it a weekend warrior of a professional auto mechanic. Most of the reviews here on the Harbor Freight torque wrench are based on them not falling apart, not how accurate they really are or accuracy over time. Putting aside my dislike for Chinese products, a torque wrench is not the place to skimp. To suggest a $10 or $20 torque wrench from Harbor Freight is equivalent to or more accurate than a well maintained high quality more expensive one is simply not credible. I’m sure 1 in 50 or so checks out okay on occasion. If a $10 or $20 torque wrench from Harbor Freight was that great and so much more accurate than the high end ones, NASA, aerospace companies, auto mechanics, professional engine builders and race teams would all be using them, they don’t because they are not.
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So lets talk about torque wrenches.
I don't know what you guys use them for but I use them to tighten down motorcycle axles, fork pinch bolts, cylinder head bolts, etc, all very important and crucial fasteners. I spent several thousand dollars on my last motor and I certainly don't want to end up over tightening the nuts/bolts and end up stripping the threads and having to use heli-coils as happened to someone that posted about here earlier, or too loose that I blow out a gasket. It’s important that these nuts/bolts be torqued to the proper specifications. And I’m not going to rely on a $10 or $20 torque wrench from Harbor Freight on an expensive motor. And I will always share that opinion, you don't have to agree.
From the reviews here and several other threads some of you say that the Harbor Freight is fine for the homeowner but not the professional mechanic (by proxy), are the nuts/bolts and the things they use their torque wrenches on more forgiving? Can a homeowner or weekend warrior over torque the head bolts on their project with no fear of stripping them? I suspect most applications where a torque wrench is used require the same amount of accuracy be it a weekend warrior of a professional auto mechanic. Most of the reviews here on the Harbor Freight torque wrench are based on them not falling apart, not how accurate they really are or accuracy over time. Putting aside my dislike for Chinese products, a torque wrench is not the place to skimp. To suggest a $10 or $20 torque wrench from Harbor Freight is equivalent to or more accurate than a well maintained high quality more expensive one is simply not credible. I’m sure 1 in 50 or so checks out okay on occasion. If a $10 or $20 torque wrench from Harbor Freight was that great and so much more accurate than the high end ones, NASA, aerospace companies, auto mechanics, professional engine builders and race teams would all be using them, they don’t because they are not.
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Precison Instruments is my prefered torque wrench brand. What really got me, is Cornwell was selling Taiwan torque wrenches for more money than the PI ones were.
My bolt stretch gage I think is imported,even though it was recommended by ARP, not a cheap import, but imported none the less.
I want a Snap-on Tech Angle wrench, I here the exclusive rights SO has to it, is up real soon.
My bolt stretch gage I think is imported,even though it was recommended by ARP,
not a cheap import, but imported none the less.I want a Snap-on Tech Angle wrench, I here the exclusive rights SO has to it, is up real soon.
jteck75
Well-known member
I agree with you about the HF torque wrenches not being the best,that's why my HF torque wrenches are used as backups now. I stated what my own experience was with them and it wasn't a bad one. If they had jacked up a bunch of threads in a block,I'd be bashing them as loud as anybody. After several rebuilds,they never gave me any trouble. Later on I had a chance on to upgrade to an Armstrong torque wrench and it has been great as well. In all fairness,this was many years ago,the HF torque wrenches may be junk now,or maybe I just got lucky and got a good one back in the 90's,the OP was asking for an opinion on them,and I gave mine. I do respect your (and everyone else on GJ's)opinion 100% though,that's why we get on here to talk about this stuff and maybe learn something along the way.
X1 Mike
Well-known member
I agree with Mickey O but would even go further to say a good torque wrench is more important for a casual user. A proffessional user is going to have more of a calibrated elbow and if his torque wrench is off by 50 ft lbs he will feel it where an hobbyist may not. Personally a torque wrench is my favorite tool to pick up, I love to know that something is dead on accurate. 
If you are not sure of your torque wrench be sure of your thread repair skills.
If you are not sure of your torque wrench be sure of your thread repair skills.
I dont recall anyone saying that a "Harbor Freight" Torque Wrench was better than a Precision Intrument/Snap on etc... The closest we got to that discussion was NissanCrawler voicing his opinion on actual tests that had been done on a variety of different manufacturers. Although I did have to pick myself up off the floor... and My side still hurts....
What'd I miss I see a lot of people whining about bashing import tools yet I don't see any posts bashing them, were they deleted? Maybe someone could point out the bashing, I don't see it.
Thats good stuff Mickey.
What'd I miss I see a lot of people whining about bashing import tools yet I don't see any posts bashing them, were they deleted? Maybe someone could point out the bashing, I don't see it.
Thats good stuff Mickey.
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If you look at a HF torque wrench and any element of it strikes you as "quality" I'd be very surprised. They look like junk, casting etc all look cheap, lowest cost etc. We are talking about a fair sized tool, selling for $12 that combines most of the function of a large ratchet with the adjustable clicker mechanism for measuring torque. How they can sell that cheap and it works is a bit amazing. Personal experience of them working is hard to argue with.
HF sells worthless junk, tools that work fine, and everything in between including tools that in general work fine, but individual units may be junk. Look carefully before you buy, and if you live far away from the store test everything out. HF has the easiest warranty exchange of any tool vendor I know of, so don't expect me to be concerned when your specific tool has problem when most don't.
Brand loyalty or brand bashing is just wasting our time.
Wow am I sick of the "you get what you pay for" and the oats stuff. If you get what you pay for, why not tip your Snapon truck guy an extra 10 or 20%, why buy anything on sale? I'm pretty sure the oats I buy are both BETTER and CHEAPER than the oats most people buy, because I know how and where to buy oats.
HF sells worthless junk, tools that work fine, and everything in between including tools that in general work fine, but individual units may be junk. Look carefully before you buy, and if you live far away from the store test everything out. HF has the easiest warranty exchange of any tool vendor I know of, so don't expect me to be concerned when your specific tool has problem when most don't.
Brand loyalty or brand bashing is just wasting our time.
Wow am I sick of the "you get what you pay for" and the oats stuff. If you get what you pay for, why not tip your Snapon truck guy an extra 10 or 20%, why buy anything on sale? I'm pretty sure the oats I buy are both BETTER and CHEAPER than the oats most people buy, because I know how and where to buy oats.
vc-onthepc
Well-known member
Ok so who are we ignoring ? pm me
oh wait is it me ?
oh wait is it me ?
Just for the sake of it, I did a little torque wrench test.
I would tighten a fastener with a PI wrench, then use the HF wrench, and vice versa, in both cases neither wrench tried to tighten the fastener anymore, after the other wrench torqued it. I also turned the torque up about 5 ft. lbs. to make sure the first wrench didn't over torque, resulting in no further tightening. Then in both cases, the fastener did turn until the extra torque was achieved.
I varied the setting from 30 ft. lbs. to 120 ft. lbs., same results every time.
This tells me, the HF wrench is pretty much, dead on
The PI wrench is a much nicer tool, flex head, nicer ratcheting action, easier to set torque and a better lock mechanism to secure setting.
My conclusion, if my HF wrenches are the "norm" (both the 3/8 and 1/2 inch drive) they are accurate. They are not the most pleasant to use, and are crude in comparison to the Precision Instrument torque wrenches.
If you are a bargain hunter, it seems as though the HF wrench will be accurate, just not ideal in comparison with the fine name brands.
I would tighten a fastener with a PI wrench, then use the HF wrench, and vice versa, in both cases neither wrench tried to tighten the fastener anymore, after the other wrench torqued it.
I also turned the torque up about 5 ft. lbs. to make sure the first wrench didn't over torque, resulting in no further tightening. Then in both cases, the fastener did turn until the extra torque was achieved. I varied the setting from 30 ft. lbs. to 120 ft. lbs., same results every time.
This tells me, the HF wrench is pretty much, dead on
The PI wrench is a much nicer tool, flex head, nicer ratcheting action, easier to set torque and a better lock mechanism to secure setting.
My conclusion, if my HF wrenches are the "norm" (both the 3/8 and 1/2 inch drive) they are accurate. They are not the most pleasant to use, and are crude in comparison to the Precision Instrument torque wrenches.
If you are a bargain hunter, it seems as though the HF wrench will be accurate, just not ideal in comparison with the fine name brands.
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sheslostcontrol
Well-known member
There should be a law against naming tools/companies to fool buyers into thinking they are supporting American manufacturing.
that may be, but anyone who thinks that a pittsburgh tool in a harbor freight is american made must be pretty naive. if you can't figure that out you maybe should not be trying to fix something.
X1 Mike
Well-known member
Just for the sake of it, I did a little torque wrench test.
I would tighten a fastener with a PI wrench, then use the HF wrench, and vice versa, in both cases neither wrench tried to tighten the fastener anymore, after the other wrench torqued it.
I varied the setting from 30 ft. lbs. to 120 ft. lbs., same results every time.
This tells me, the HF wrench is pretty much, dead on
The PI wrench is a much nicer tool, flex head, nicer ratcheting action, easier to set torque and a better lock mechanism to secure setting.
My conclusion, if my HF wrenches are the "norm" (both the 3/8 and 1/2 inch drive) they are accurate. They are not the most pleasant to use, and are crude in comparison to the Precision Instrument torque wrenches.
If you are a bargain hunter, it seems as though the HF wrench will be accurate, just not ideal in comparison with the fine name brands.
Your conclusion is statistically insignificant, it is mearly an observation. The problem isn't with the accuracy of one tool. One of the main problems with China tools is the quality control measures are not consistant across the board or tool to tool. Your tool may have checked perfect but what will it check in six months? What would the next one in line check? If I had to purchase China tools I would not want that purchase to be something I was depending on to be accurate.
isn't most (if not every) tool "use at your own risk"? we all make our own choices and being responsible for our actions. every tool breaks, just like there's no such thing called "safety" on a gun.
I had an old guy did the alignment on my 85 Accord in his driveway after getting screwed by the professional technicians at Firestone using their state of art machine. all that dude used were a string and couple big ol' drywall squares.
we are here because we are bunch of tool nerds. that's all. there's no need to bash other people's taste on tools. is it fun, hell yeah.
X1 Mike, see my previous reply on how I tested the HF, the conclusion is it's pretty spot on, but I also said I didn't have the balls to use it.
I had an old guy did the alignment on my 85 Accord in his driveway after getting screwed by the professional technicians at Firestone using their state of art machine. all that dude used were a string and couple big ol' drywall squares.
we are here because we are bunch of tool nerds. that's all. there's no need to bash other people's taste on tools. is it fun, hell yeah.
X1 Mike, see my previous reply on how I tested the HF, the conclusion is it's pretty spot on, but I also said I didn't have the balls to use it.
The HF ones are old, I bought them a long time ago, so I guess they held up. I don't know if the whole lot is the same. Torque wrench technology is not rocket science, it is possible to make a cheap torque tool that is accurate. What they don't do is have the fit and finish, and easy user features, like the high end ones. The PI has a lock tab and adjustment knob, the HF has the pesky turn lock at the end of the handle, and pick is needed to T-handle the lock mechanism, so it does not move. The finish is better on the PI, as well as the ratchet mechanism, and my PI ones are flex head.
The HF torque wrenches I have are Taiwan, not China..............I'm not "praising" the HF wrenches, but they are plenty accurate enough for lug nuts, and suspension bolts, etc.....and usually basic head bolts etc.
I don't really use my HF ones anymore, just still have them, they served me well in my early years.
Shocker
Well-known member
The empirical and observational data shown in this thread by members that I think are reliable and trustworthy prove to me that HF torque wrenches will get the job done reliably albeit more roughly and without the fine feel that a US (or other like my Britool) torque wrench give you.
Good enough for me.
Good enough for me.
Mickey O
Well-known member
The empirical and observational data shown in this thread by members that I think are reliable and trustworthy prove to me that HF torque wrenches will get the job done reliably albeit more roughly and without the fine feel that a US (or other like my Britool) torque wrench give you.
Good enough for me.
Did you miss half the thread?
Speak to my father about it, he still has the car with the original engine. But he will shop at HF a lot more than I do, but will never use another torque wrench from them. I am just posting an honest review of what happened. He takes care of his tools and never dropped the unit. Also the guy at alliedsignal who calibrated the unit, so it was hard to calibrate (I did watch him) because it only had one screw to adjust. Most quality units he had worked on had a couple of adjustment points. Not saying that matters, but just something I remember him saying. Again I think split beams with less moving parts and not having to be rest to zero have me sold, and I only paid 125 for my used SO, which was a year old when I bought it. If I was going to buy a new one, I would get a PI and it should last my lift time. But I do have a 1/4 HF that I have used in the past and still have it. For everyone who had good luck I am happy for you, because just like I have two sets of HF deep impacts that work great and I would never replace with snap on unless I got them for free. I don't think you get what you pay for, I just think my father got screwed once on a bad product, which has happned to everyone. The problem I have is I will not trust my HF after seeing that in person what happened and seeing how it was off by 50 or so pounds, just proves something was really wrong with it. What if it ruined something you couldn't replace? I think who ever I buy again I would test before I used on something i couldn't replace.
Shocker
Well-known member
There are at least 3 posts saying they work fine for various people including pro's.
Bash HF all you want, the unconvincing bit is that ALL brands seem to go out of calibration, so its kind of pointless to buy a used Snapon unless its had a recent calibration. For any kind of reasonable price, HF seems to do as well as any.
Merkava_4
Banned
caper
Well-known member
I'll have to remember to take some pics of the Proto torque wrench at work.It's the same body as the Harbour frieght/Princess Auto wrench with a proto head/ratchet assembly.As far as I'm concerned there are no torque wrenches that are completey reliable,that's why we have to get them calibrated yearly.Many companies send brand new wrenches out to be calibrated before use,no matter what the brand.
I don't blame anyone for buying an HF wrench, my dad just probably was the only person who ever had a problem with one. I would recommend them to other people, I just tell they what happened to him and that he had a bad one. The real question is, now that it has been calibrated and been quite a few years, I wonder is it still acurate? I totally understand not having money to buy the truck brand. The only thing I think is I like split beams better because you don't have to return them to zero and less moving parts. When HF starts offering split beams, I will look at them again. Also PI really isn't that expensive for a quality piece that will last a long time. Also I am not bashing HF, just talking about what happened to someone that I watched first hand... Again I think it was because my dad got a bad one or karma, he must have beat me when I was young or something and this was his pay back and god thought it would be funny to mess with his torque wrench.
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Mickey O
Well-known member
Thank you for your interest in Mickey's high quality USA made hand tools and how much use they get. First let me start by clearing up a common myth, Mickey's tools are not "high price tools", they are expensive high quality USA made hand tools bought inexpensively, sometimes for even less than the inferior tools available at Harbor Freight. As for there use I believe Mickey used his cannon plug pliers just yesterday to open a very stubborn lid on a jar of Skippy peanut butter.
because the 36 inch ridgid pipe wrench is overkill.
