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Torque Test Channel - open-end wrench testing

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02camaro86

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Dec 20, 2014
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New Jersey
the wright grip and fd+ were not surprising, the standard snap on and SK were surprises. i also thought it was cool the hardness comparison between the snap on and wright. the snap on was so hard it was "brittle" where the wright had just enough flex to get the bolt loose without breaking. good video
 

dnschmidt

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I didn't think it was all that surprising. I think everybody pretty much expected the Wright Grip and the FD+ to be the winners. What I found interesting was that the wrenches with the "V" did nothing. I sort of thought they would have some advantage.
 

seber

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Maybe I'm missing something but how an open end does on a soft nut seems pretty worthless to me. I would never do that. Soft nuts get turned with a pipe wrench if they need to be tight. I'd be much more interested in how they work on a normal or hardened nut where wrench thickness is not the issue.
 

American Locomotive

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Maybe I'm missing something but how an open end does on a soft nut seems pretty worthless to me. I would never do that. Soft nuts get turned with a pipe wrench if they need to be tight. I'd be much more interested in how they work on a normal or hardened nut where wrench thickness is not the issue.
This is more of a test of wrench geometry and tolerances. Poor geometry and tolerances will result in the wrench that puts a lot of pressure on the corners of a nut, rounding it off. If it works well on a soft nut, it will work well on a hard nut. It demonstrated pretty well how FD+ and WrightGrip dig into the flats of the nuts, reducing the amount of force on the nut corners.
 

WhataTool

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Sep 8, 2015
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The problem with testing hardened hardware like grade 8 is the bolt head snaps off - the you just call it "good". You lose all the data and info when that happens. Then you might say, well if it can make a bolt or its threads fail why would you need more. But rust basically cements a bolt head solid to something, and you need that wrench to free it, well above what a new bolt and nut can withstand torque wise.

So you either need to go one of two ways with it. Harder and stronger than nails, like an S2 hardened hex bit socket stud - but then you'll get zero rounding. You test to wrench failure, which they mentions happens but not as often as killing a bolt.
Or soft, like how working on an already not pretty looking bolt head would feel like.

It's not perfect, but from a perspective of something you have to MEASURE not just bang around and say "hey look at that" then I'm not smart enough to think of anything better.
 

qqzj

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Nov 28, 2017
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The main surprise is SK and FD Snap On **** so bad. Also it's not fair to compare wrenches with anti slip design vs those with smooth teeth that protect the fasteners. I have a set of Napa which have aggressive anti slip design. I bet they will do really well in this test.
 

Benito

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Apr 10, 2018
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213
I find the idea that good wrenches that dont slip are only good for certain grades of fasteners pretty funny, you guys are good for a laugh.
"Ahh what grade of bolt is this rusty one? Oh okay, I can use the dollar store wrench on that then, it wont matter. Will come off all the same."
 

KnurledNut

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While I enjoyed Flank Drive©, and Flank Drive Plus© and Flank Drive Extra©
I'm waiting for Flank Drive Origins© to come out in theaters this summer before I buy Flank Drive Apocalypse: The Flankening©
No E. Its Xtra.
Anyways, just shows no matter how scientific a channel appears, its obvious when they dont know the product.
 

darkzero

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No E. Its Xtra.
Anyways, just shows no matter how scientific a channel appears, its obvious when they dont know the product.
What is it? I tried seraching Flank Drive Xtra & could not find anything about FDX wrenches, only FDX sockets.
 

M635_Guy

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No E. Its Xtra.
Anyways, just shows no matter how scientific a channel appears, its obvious when they dont know the product.
pgNW3y.gif

I think if you sit quietly and avoid keyboard-warrior instincts, you'll get why they used softer fasteners, or just read the below.

As far as the post above, give them a break - it's a friggin' acronym that has nothing to do with the results.

The problem with testing hardened hardware like grade 8 is the bolt head snaps off - the you just call it "good". You lose all the data and info when that happens. Then you might say, well if it can make a bolt or its threads fail why would you need more. But rust basically cements a bolt head solid to something, and you need that wrench to free it, well above what a new bolt and nut can withstand torque wise.

So you either need to go one of two ways with it. Harder and stronger than nails, like an S2 hardened hex bit socket stud - but then you'll get zero rounding. You test to wrench failure, which they mentions happens but not as often as killing a bolt.
Or soft, like how working on an already not pretty looking bolt head would feel like.

It's not perfect, but from a perspective of something you have to MEASURE not just bang around and say "hey look at that" then I'm not smart enough to think of anything better.
 

darkzero

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Anyone know if the Matco wrenches tested, which I assume are the current offerings, are they made in Taiwan? I thought I heard him mention something about discontinued Matco wrenches not being tested or something like that but I was half sleep yesterday when watching it.
 

KnurledNut

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What is it? I tried seraching Flank Drive Xtra & could not find anything about FDX wrenches, only FDX sockets.
Exactly. Thats because FDX wrenches dont exist yet. Just sockets. Its basically a modified off corner engagement, an advanced modified version of flank drive.
 

M635_Guy

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Price and brand name results were surprising.
Agree. I would really like to have seen Icon in there. I totally get why they didn't want to have to buy a whole set to do that though. HF really needs to figure selling individual sockets and wrenches out, at least online. I get there's some complexity that generates, but a giant gap if you're going to call them professional tools.
 
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Torque Test Channel

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Apr 23, 2021
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The TTC Garage
Haha, you guys are a riot. It's pretty simple really, I dun goofed writing up the voice over. Even Test who's in front of the camera a lot of the time sent me a text and was like, uh you know it's not FDX like ur sockets right?

I could swear our Snappy dealer called practically half the truck FDX when dropping off this wrench - but a cursory google would have solved it for me should I have risked the extra 20 seconds to do so :p
Most my personal wrenches are Matco, Gearwrench and old Craftsman US. My chrome sockets are mostly SO, including some actual FDX which work well but sometimes don't fit.

Darkzero, yes the spline end Matco wrenches are Taiwan. The set we used from earlier in the video are a discontinued Silver Eagle Matco and are sort of middle of the road but were on quite a sale at the time.

M635_Guy, thanks to a viewer commenting to a .pdf of parts numbers and a number to call I've been able to order a single ICON wrench with the fancy jaws, for very cheap actually!

Along with another $500 worth of wrenches from the most requested brands from the comment section. If you think saying FDX was bad, wait 'tilI I have to pronounce all the European names! It'll be a blood bath.

No spoilers, and if you want to see X brand add it to the comments there so our scraping of those keyword results show up.

TTC over and out!
 

demarpaint

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Sep 17, 2010
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Long Island
I had a feeling the Wright wrenches they tested were going to be in the top slot or very near it. For the money they'd be my first choice. I would have liked to see Hazet and Stahlwille offerings tested too.
 

KnurledNut

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Haha, you guys are a riot. It's pretty simple really, I dun goofed writing up the voice over. Even Test who's in front of the camera a lot of the time sent me a text and was like, uh you know it's not FDX like ur sockets right?

I could swear our Snappy dealer called practically half the truck FDX when dropping off this wrench - but a cursory google would have solved it for me should I have risked the extra 20 seconds to do so :p
Most my personal wrenches are Matco, Gearwrench and old Craftsman US. My chrome sockets are mostly SO, including some actual FDX which work well but sometimes don't fit.

Darkzero, yes the spline end Matco wrenches are Taiwan. The set we used from earlier in the video are a discontinued Silver Eagle Matco and are sort of middle of the road but were on quite a sale at the time.

M635_Guy, thanks to a viewer commenting to a .pdf of parts numbers and a number to call I've been able to order a single ICON wrench with the fancy jaws, for very cheap actually!

Along with another $500 worth of wrenches from the most requested brands from the comment section. If you think saying FDX was bad, wait 'tilI I have to pronounce all the European names! It'll be a blood bath.

No spoilers, and if you want to see X brand add it to the comments there so our scraping of those keyword results show up.

TTC over and out!
Its all good. We knew what you meant!
Thanks for checking in here and commenting and thanks for the video.

If you have a 16mm X-Frame, could you test it when you do another run?
Also curious how Proto ASD stacks up and possibly the new Diehard with the modified open end.
How about the Icon ratcheting combos (64840) with anti-slip? Looks like part number for the 16mm is 17388.
 
Last edited:

M635_Guy

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Dec 5, 2019
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4,333
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NC
Not sure if this reply was directed to me.
I never questioned his fastener of choice.
Apologies - that part was directed at this:
Maybe I'm missing something but how an open end does on a soft nut seems pretty worthless to me. I would never do that. Soft nuts get turned with a pipe wrench if they need to be tight. I'd be much more interested in how they work on a normal or hardened nut where wrench thickness is not the issue.

The "they don't know the product" thing was pretty clearly just a slip. It's a tool-user making the vids, so let's cut the guy some slack...
 

M635_Guy

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M635_Guy, thanks to a viewer commenting to a .pdf of parts numbers and a number to call I've been able to order a single ICON wrench with the fancy jaws, for very cheap actually!
Awesome! I also agree with the X-frame inclusion if possible. I'd be happy to submit mine, but wouldn't want the grind-away for the hardness testing.

Thanks for what y'all are doing!
 

dnschmidt

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Oct 3, 2014
Messages
7,268
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Phoenix, AZ
Haha, you guys are a riot. It's pretty simple really, I dun goofed writing up the voice over. Even Test who's in front of the camera a lot of the time sent me a text and was like, uh you know it's not FDX like ur sockets right?

I could swear our Snappy dealer called practically half the truck FDX when dropping off this wrench - but a cursory google would have solved it for me should I have risked the extra 20 seconds to do so :p
Most my personal wrenches are Matco, Gearwrench and old Craftsman US. My chrome sockets are mostly SO, including some actual FDX which work well but sometimes don't fit.

Darkzero, yes the spline end Matco wrenches are Taiwan. The set we used from earlier in the video are a discontinued Silver Eagle Matco and are sort of middle of the road but were on quite a sale at the time.

M635_Guy, thanks to a viewer commenting to a .pdf of parts numbers and a number to call I've been able to order a single ICON wrench with the fancy jaws, for very cheap actually!

Along with another $500 worth of wrenches from the most requested brands from the comment section. If you think saying FDX was bad, wait 'tilI I have to pronounce all the European names! It'll be a blood bath.

No spoilers, and if you want to see X brand add it to the comments there so our scraping of those keyword results show up.

TTC over and out!
How about TOPTUL. Chris Petit and Nicky have my number give me a call.
 

CR888

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Joined
Feb 19, 2017
Messages
1,198
I couldnt believe they didn't actually know how to use an open end wrench. There is a simple right & wrong way like a adjustable wrench. About half the time they had the wrench on correct the other half wrong. Sadly for SK they had it on wrong in 2 videos, both the open end video & the flare nut wrench video. I like TTC and what they do, i think they are a good bunch of blokes but I couldn't put much weight on the testing in the recent video.
 

2ndGearRubber

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Mar 24, 2014
Messages
14,185
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Pittsburgh
I would like to celebrate, as my personal choice, Wright, had an excellent showing.

Flank drive is for closed end stuff, 6 and 12 point. That's the original tech developed for the military. Flank drive plus is the toothed open end. Flank drive xtra, is the tighter tolerance 6 point sockets.
 

Torque Test Channel

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Apr 23, 2021
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The TTC Garage
We tested the SK 5 times instead of the usual 3 because it was surprising. Nothing over 1000 untill we added the valve compound.. We tested both ways on the wrench, median shown on screen but we don't really get to pick which is median. As shown around 4 mins in we tried this 8 times too with no correlation on wrench side.
Why tho, have no clue
We can be more clear about this or just do one way in the next part.
 
Last edited:

Al Borland

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Jan 20, 2016
Messages
1,598
1. All the FD+, FD-, FDX, yip-yap is wasted on the average Joe. All they want is the bolt to turn. They don't care.
2. SK underperformed. No surprise there.
3. Someone's undies are gonna get in a wad over this. Again, no surprise.
 

uncwstudent

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Feb 23, 2017
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898
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MS
We tested the SK 5 times instead of the usual 3 because it was surprising. Nothing over 1000 untill we added the valve compound.. We tested both ways on the wrench, median shown on screen but we don't really get to pick which is median. As shown around 4 mins in we tried this 8 times too with no correlation on wrench side.
Why tho, have no clue
We can be more clear about this or just do one way in the next part.
Just want to say that I love your channel, I really appreciate your work, and I greatly appreciate you being willing to comment and interact with us on GJ.

As for future videos, I would love to see you try the Proto ASD wrenches if it all possible. They get a lot of industrial use and im curious avout Proto ASD vs Wright Grip.
 

isb cornbinder

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Nov 3, 2010
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Pacific South West, BC, Canada
I am subscribed to this You Tube channel. I watched this test, last night. I was not surprised at the outcome. This is another example of, "You get what you pay for." I was disappointed and surprised that SK did not score higher. I made a good living with SK.
I have 3/8" SUNEX impact sockets. They are very good. For the person who wants to save a few dollars, the Sunex impact sockets have thin walls and would make good all-around sockets.
Here, in Canada, we can buy combination wrenches from Canadian Tire. The Canadian Tire Professional series looks like the older SnapOn wrenches. I have the CT professional wrenches for the home shop. Now that I am retired, I seldom use the CT tools.
 

Mgdoug3

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Mar 2, 2018
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KY
Just about all my wrenches are SK but the results didn't surprise me all that much. My SK wrenches 3/4 and below seem questionable when using the open end but I don't use the open end to break loose bolts so it's not really an issue for me.

The video has made be think about getting some Wright wrenches though. My SK wrenches haven't let me down but I would like a long set of wrenches 3/4 and below.
 

unslow1

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Mar 3, 2012
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Illinois
It really surprised me that the direction it was used as well as opening tolerance didn't have an affect. The new Diehard ones I was relucant to even buy to try because of the opening design. It reminded me of the old open end ratcheting designs. They may not really fit this test but I'd like to see if they are really as bad as they appeared at first glance.
 

jobo1004

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May 18, 2014
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Kansas City, MO
Just about all my wrenches are SK but the results didn't surprise me all that much. My SK wrenches 3/4 and below seem questionable when using the open end but I don't use the open end to break loose bolts so it's not really an issue for me.

The video has made be think about getting some Wright wrenches though. My SK wrenches haven't let me down but I would like a long set of wrenches 3/4 and below.
Just be aware that wright doesn't offer a long pattern wrench.
 

webscrounger

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Jul 23, 2009
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Midwest
Just minutiae, doesn't matter in the real world, but I'm curious. For kicks, I'd be interested in torque testing a Chrome (hard chrome) plated wrench vs plain steel alloy wrench, same make/model. Since (I think?) chrome has less friction, does it affect the torque required to slip over a nut. Is the working dimension the same or does the plating/non-plating affect the fit of the wrench.
 

Mgdoug3

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Just be aware that wright doesn't offer a long pattern wrench.
I have a few SK long pattern wrenches in the bigger sizes. SK is usually on the shorter side which is sometimes a good thing. Wright regular wrenches I believe are longer than the regular SK ones.
 
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