Torque sticks

[SuzukiGS750EZ]

Does anybody have a recommendation for a decent set of torque sticks? I’d like the ones that you put the socket on, unless they come with multiple sizes for the same torque value. I’ll be running them on an ingersoll w7150

 

[vavet]

I have this set from HF. I’m just a home gamer taking care of our daily drivers at this point. I haven’t gone through extensive effort to verify the accuracy or the precision of them. I’ve had them for about 3 years. no complaints.

1/2 In. Torque Limiting Extension Bar Set, 10 Piece

Amazing deals on this 1/2In Drive Torque Extension Bar Set 10Pc at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

 

[Mas78]

Ken tool makes them.
I'd reccomend looking on their website www.kentool.com and look at their torque stick owners manual, I can't seem to link directly from my phone.

There is a procedure to verify your air powered impact is set correctly to have the proper torque output.
Cordless impacts have more impacts per minute than air powered ones and don't really give enough time for the torsion bar to relax before it's next hit.

Last thing I'll mention about them is good luck finding a stated +/- torque tolerance on their output.

They are better than nothing but overall not greatly accurate especially since nobody readout ever follows the manual to make sure they are in the ball park of their stated torque.

 

[SuzukiGS750EZ]

I remember using them when I worked in the shop and the shop owner told me no cordless but never stated why. I’ll look at my w7150 specs against my 2135 qti specs and see how much of a difference there is. Thank you for the info!

 

[Notbn]

I can confirm that torque sticks do not work the same on a cordless impact. My M18 mid torque would consistently overtorque lug nuts using the smaller torque sticks. Had to stop using them and go back to just snugging them up with the lower setting on the gun, then finishing them with a torque wrench.

 

[619DioFan]

I have this set from HF. I’m just a home gamer taking care of our daily drivers at this point. I haven’t gone through extensive effort to verify the accuracy or the precision of them. I’ve had them for about 3 years. no complaints.

1/2 In. Torque Limiting Extension Bar Set, 10 Piece

Amazing deals on this 1/2In Drive Torque Extension Bar Set 10Pc at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

I have the same set. also a DIYer. I have verified mine with my torque wrench and find them to be accurate. I use them with a HF earthquake impact.

 

[johninct]

I have Snap-On (I think Blue-Point) ones. I use to use my old Snap-On Cordless 3850 impact (I think rated at 240 ft lb) and the torque was pretty close. The Torque Stick instructions say that to use an impact set to deliver 250 ft lb to get accurate torque. I got an Ingersoll Rand 7152 and never had a chance yet to see how accurate that would be with the torque sticks , because it is a lot more powerful, so I would be interested in your torque results.

 

[dnschmidt]

When it comes to torque sticks my feeling is that ACCUTORQ are the only ones I trust. The reason for this is that they are one piece. Now the downside of that is that you need a separate one for each torque and nut size but the plus is that there is no torque lost between the torque stick and the socket which I feel is an issue. I don't think cordless or air makes much of a difference but I can tell you that the power of the impact should not be too high. I have an old (but pristine) I-R 231 that I exclusively use with torque sticks that has just the right amount of omph to work well with them. My Big Milwaukee or Aircat 1250K puts them into a weird vibration mode that you can instantly tell isn't working out. My Astro Nano works well too. I would say that an impact with 450 ft-lb max power is about perfect for use with the Accutorqs and I would imagine with the others as well.

 

[Packard V8]

I guess I just don't get why a home shop guy needs to spend the money on torque sticks? I change tires twice a year on 3-4 rigs and a torque wrench doesn't take that much time and no questions or worries as to whether it's accurate.

jack vines

 

[gmcgeo]

I guess I just don't get why a home shop guy needs to spend the money on torque sticks? I change tires twice a year on 3-4 rigs and a torque wrench doesn't take that much time and no questions or worries as to whether it's accurate.

jack vines

I use them when changing my jeep tires 3 times a weeks. i have 3 sets of rims and tires. when im off-roading i dont care about perfect i just want close

 

[Handyandy23]

I have a set branded Pro Point, which is from Princess Auto. Basically Canadian version of HF, but their premium line.

I'm just a home gamer, but I find them very useful throughout the year. Any kind of repair or inspection on brakes, suspension, lots of stuff requires wheels to come off. Plus seasonal tire swapping.

I don't use them instead of a torque wrench, I use them for speed so I can zap the lug nuts on quickly when I'm done, then I always check them again on the ground with a torque wrench. My pickup lugs are 140 ft-lbs, and that isn't fun just "guessing" and then doing a million turns by hand.

I've never heard that you shouldn't use them with cordless, but that's interesting info. I have always used them with my big DeWalt cordless, and they are very close when I go around with the torque wrench after. If anything I've found I have to let it hammer a couple seconds longer or else they are all slightly under-torqued enough to be annoying.

For $60 on sale they are far from my worst dollar-to-usefulness ratio tool as a hobbyist.

 

[Buckgnarly]

Got a set of Blue Points that I don't use anymore, PM me if you want to give them a good home!

 

[vavet]

I guess I just don't get why a home shop guy needs to spend the money on torque sticks? I change tires twice a year on 3-4 rigs and a torque wrench doesn't take that much time and no questions or worries as to whether it's accurate.

jack vines

You’re right. It doesn’t take long, but you have to remember to do it. I have a lift. After rotating my tires one time, I put the wheels back on and planned to torque them when I set the car back down. I forgot. It was scary. Now, when I put a wheel on, it gets torqued right then with the torque stick.

 

[kelpaso1]

LOL, torque sticks are anything but accurate. Too many variables. Impact gun, air pressure, how many times you impact it, time of day, whatever. Is it too hard to zip them up lightly then use a real torque wrench?

 

[bubinga]

I have this set from HF. I’m just a home gamer taking care of our daily drivers at this point. I haven’t gone through extensive effort to verify the accuracy or the precision of them. I’ve had them for about 3 years. no complaints.

1/2 In. Torque Limiting Extension Bar Set, 10 Piece

Amazing deals on this 1/2In Drive Torque Extension Bar Set 10Pc at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

Are you supposed to use them with a short well socket?
Can we use these with a DeWalt mid torque 1/2" impact?

 

[2ndGearRubber]

LOL, torque sticks are anything but accurate. Too many variables. Impact gun, air pressure, how many times you impact it, time of day, whatever. Is it too hard to zip them up lightly then use a real torque wrench?

My favorite are the bent torque sticks, usually quite well worn. Talk about variables!

 

[2ndGearRubber]

I remember using them when I worked in the shop and the shop owner told me no cordless but never stated why. I’ll look at my w7150 specs against my 2135 qti specs and see how much of a difference there is. Thank you for the info!

No cordless policies are a holdover from older cordless tech. Remember the old nicad drills? Where as the battery would deplete the power would drop and eventually max RPM was in the single digits? Imagine the guy in the shop who DGAF about anything but clocking out for the day running on the lug nuts with a 90s impact running that same dead nicad battery. Lugs go on at 12 ft/lbs, wheel not even flush with the hub, off it comes.

I've always been convinced this is why most shops prefer the INFINITE TIGHTENING approach. Even if you get a few complaints a year from over tightened lugs, that pales in comparison to the issues caused by a wheel coming off. The "click the torque wrench on an overtightened wheel sitting entirely on the ground" is another offshoot of similar policies. "Minimum torque" - I recall it being referred to.

 

[Wrench97]

No cordless policies are a holdover from older cordless tech. Remember the old nicad drills? Where as the battery would deplete the power would drop and eventually max RPM was in the single digits? Imagine the guy in the shop who DGAF about anything but clocking out for the day running on the lug nuts with a 90s impact running that same dead nicad battery. Lugs go on at 12 ft/lbs, wheel not even flush with the hub, off it comes.

I've always been convinced this is why most shops prefer the INFINITE TIGHTENING approach. Even if you get a few complaints a year from over tightened lugs, that pales in comparison to the issues caused by a wheel coming off. The "click the torque wrench on an overtightened wheel sitting entirely on the ground" is another offshoot of similar policies. "Minimum torque" - I recall it being referred to.

I use to see that with the trucks quite often, run them on with a 1" gun then drop it on the ground and the 500ftlb torque wrench went click 10 times all was good........................when the instructions and all the safety meetings said to snug them and then torque to 500ftlbs.
And the guys on road service were worse the first one would be about 750 and then drop off to about 250ftlbs as the air in the small tank on the service truck dropped...............................

 

[pbon]

I am just a DIYer, but do snows and 3 seasons on 6 cars as well as maintenance. I use a Milwaukee impact to remove and to reinstall to low torque. I have good enough feel to keep the torque low. I use a torque wrench for final torque. No torque sticks for me for the reasons people have posted.

If I was the guy with the Jeep changing wheels 3x per week, I would figure out a way to accurately use a particular torque stick with a particular impact to reliably get the right torque.

 

[M635_Guy]

I have 80 ft. lb torque sticks so I can finish to 95 with a torque wrench and not worry much about an extra ugga or three. I can't say if it's 100% dead-nuts at 80, but I haven't overtightened one yet.

 

[rcbk00]

I usually use a cheap Ryobi 1/2" cordless impact wrench for wheel duty. It's got three settings, and I've found that tightening lugs on setting 1 doesn't over torque them, regardless of how long you hammer. I'm guessing they're probably tightened to around 50 pounds. Once all the lugs are on, I drop the car on the ground and do them again with the torque wrench. I was going to buy a set of torque sticks, but I've found the repeatability of my Ryobi gun works just fine for my needs.

 

[Handyandy23]

LOL, torque sticks are anything but accurate. Too many variables. Impact gun, air pressure, how many times you impact it, time of day, whatever. Is it too hard to zip them up lightly then use a real torque wrench?

Why not zip them up with a torque stick, and then use the real torque wrench? Takes away the variable of your trigger finger and how many brahps you give it, all for probably about $5 per stick.

 

[Buckgnarly]

My Milwaukee full and mid torque is perfect at 2, then hand torque.

 

[VolvoRyan]

Torque sticks are cheap enough. Home shop guy needs one or two at most. The ones with their own "socket" take out one major bit of play between the torque stick and separate socket. The laws of physics govern most of the "variables". Precision (repeatability) bests absolute accuracy. Heck: so many values in ft-lbs are sloppy-science conversions from N-m's.

I have the ones Volvo supplied to their techs for the 1970's-1990's models. I always use a fully charged air gun. I have seen folks "over run" torque sticks with big cordless guns.

If you have fancy alloys with chrome nuts/screws, don't use torque sticks. Clean the threads and run them in, then tighten with a torque wrench. You'll just trash the chrome with the hammering of a torque stick.

-Ryan

 

[Jeepster04]

I guess I just don't get why a home shop guy needs to spend the money on torque sticks? I change tires twice a year on 3-4 rigs and a torque wrench doesn't take that much time and no questions or worries as to whether it's accurate.

jack vines

Youre in the wrong place if you think a home shop doesnt need certain tools... I bet half of the tools I have, I dont 'need'...

 

[jhelrey]

I have them and I use them. Not daily, but enough to justify them!

 

[leadfoot415]

As far as I ever have heard, torque sticks are only "accurate" with a hammer type impact wrench, not the pin/clutch style due to the differences in how the impacting happens in the wrench.

With that said, every wheel I take off is reinstalled with a hammer style air impact and proper accutorq brand stick w/ the built in socket (unless if is a tight fit special lugnut, then I have a couple extension style torque sticks to use) and I have never had an issue with comebacks for wheels falling off, "warped rotors", etc.

Fomoco's says use torque stick or a torque wrench. Good enough for me. They used to pass out torque stick sets to new tech's back in the day.