Stripped 3/8 HF angle torque wrench repair?

[pbon]

I stripped a Quinn 3/8 angle torque wrench from Harbor Freight. It started skipping and later use confirmed that it will still skip and can’t be relied upon. It’s out of warranty. Totally my fault — I should have known the angle required would exceed the torque limit of the 3/8 wrench. Is it junk or could it be repaired? Sending it out for repair probably would not be cost effective — a new one is $135 on sale right now.

 

[Daytonaer]

This is the digital wrench with 90 day warranty? The non digital has a lifetime warranty.

I would take out the ratchet mechanism and see if it's interchangeable with their cheap torque wrench or a cheap ratchet and swap the guts.

or take the ratchet cover off and disable the movement, you should still be able to use the tool without ratcheting movements.

perhaps post a picture of the ratchet head internals disassembled with a ruler or something for scale as someone may recognize comparable parts for a "rebuild " kit?

 

[vjquan]

Open the head and take a look. From the looks of it, it appears to be the dual pawl design that is used in the Pittsburgh ratchets and may be swappable.

 

[dnschmidt]

Nope, that's an Eclatorg torque wrench and unless you live in Taiwan you're not going to find parts for it. You might try Angle Repair in West Virginia as they're HF's torque wrench calibration provider and calling HF might not be a bad idea either as they are beginning to carry parts for some of their stuff.

People OFTEN make the same mistake you did. They think well the initial torque is 50 ft-lb and my wrench goes up to 100 so I can go another 90 degrees no problem. THAT'S NOT THE CASE AT ALL! Here's a real world example. The four bolts on the harmonic balancer on a Powerstroke 6.0 are first tightened to 50 ft-lb. and then tightened an additional 90 degrees. At the end of the 90 degrees the final torque reading was 138 ft-lb and was very consistent over the four bolts used to attach the balancer. Also Eclatorq wrenches will display a permanent error code (to force you to check calibration after overloading them) that has to be removed using special software (which I do have as a former Eclatorq distributor). Buying an angle torque wrench I would always go with the 250 ft-lb model as overloading the 100 ft-lb model is very easy to do with torque to yield bolts. I guarantee you that if you're doing any bolt over 8mm in a torque to yield application (like head bolts) you will overload a 3/8" drive angle torque wrench.

 

[pbon]

That is good info. I bought the 3/8 angle wrench to do rod bearings and those are pretty low torque even with the angle. I screwed it up on a suspension bolt for which a 1/2 drive was the correct choice.

I’ll probably just buy a new 3/8 plus a 1/2 for bigger stuff. I might look up Eclatorq and just mail the broken one to them and see what happens, not caring or depending one way or the other since the wrench as it sits is useless to me.

 

[dnschmidt]

I might look up Eclatorq and just mail the broken one to them and see what happens

THAT AIN'T GOING TO WORK. The cost of sending anything from the USA to Taiwan is astronomical (hundreds of $) and once it gets there it's almost 100% probable that Eclatorq doesn't give a **** about your little ratchet problem. Call HF as I suggested and they might be able to help you.

 

[pbon]

I thought maybe they had a US location. No, I am not going to invest much any money or time in fixing this wrench. Currently looking at either the HF Icon 1/2 angle torque that has a 12.5 to 250 lb range for $350 but there is a 20% off coupon that would reduce the cost to $275, or a Snap On Tech Angle that does 15-300 lbs for $615.

 

[dnschmidt]

The ICON is made by KABO which is probably the best tool manufacturer in Taiwan. I feel that would be an excellent choice. Why the hesitation to call HF's mothership in California and ask if they have a rebuild kit. All they can say is NO and it's a toll free number? You're perplexing me on this one.

 

[dnschmidt]

Well, I just talked to both Harbor Freight's parts department and Angle Repair and the short form answer is that you're screwed. Angle repair is capable of calibrating these wrenches (and all Eclatorq torque wrenches for that matter) but doesn't have the mechanical ratchet repair kits and neither does Harbor Freight. WELL I TRIED.

 

[Outahere]

...Currently looking at either the HF Icon 1/2 angle torque that has a 12.5 to 250 lb range for $350 ...

Are repair parts available for Icon torque wrenches?

 

[pbon]

I don’t know but it says lifetime warranty

 

[pbon]

Well, I just talked to both Harbor Freight's parts department and Angle Repair and the short form answer is that you're screwed. Angle repair is capable of calibrating these wrenches (and all Eclatorq torque wrenches for that matter) but doesn't have the mechanical ratchet repair kits and neither does Harbor Freight. WELL I TRIED.

Thanks for asking! I would have eventually at least asked myself but my present focus is on getting another angle torque wrench with higher rating.

 

[roofdweller49]

The ICON is made by KABO which is probably the best tool manufacturer in Taiwan.

How do their torque wrenches compare to eclatorq, which I assumed was the top dog of electronic torque wrenches?

 

[ecotec]

Why not just bring the torque wrench into a Harbor Freight, and see if they will just warranty it out?

I have about 5-6 Harbor Freights within about 10 miles from my house (one a mile away). Just keep the broken torque wrench in your car, and stop in when you pass a Harbor Freight. If they say no, stop in at another one…

I still have the low end HF torque wrenches. And they work fine… but I upgraded to Precision Instruments split beam for 3/8” and 1/2”. Not because I really needed to, though…

 

[roofdweller49]

90 day warranty on the electronic ones

 

[dnschmidt]

How do their torque wrenches compare to eclatorq, which I assumed was the top dog of electronic torque wrenches?

I sell Eclatorq and their stuff is really good but there is little North American support for it, particularly the mechanical side of things like the ratchet rebuild kit the OP is looking for. Angle Repair can handle the calibration and the electronic end of things but not the mechanical. Same is true of KABO but with HF (and their lifetime warrantee on ICON) that doesn't matter as they'll simply give you another wrench should this one fail. Frankly I don't know if SBD (Proto, MAC and USAG) offers ratchet rebuild kits for the Eclatorq torque wrenches that they sell. Might be worth an inquiry. but, it's hard to beat the idea of driving a mile, handing your broken tool to the HF clerk and picking another one off the shelf and going home. That's pretty much the pinnacle of customer service.