Torque wrench

[cb450r]

I am going to be in the market far a new torque wrench here soon and was curious if any of you have opinions on the current trend in digital torque wrenches as offered by Snap-on, Craftsman, Gearwrench...ect. I am curious as to which is the better choice in quality accuracy and reliability. They all look to be pretty much the same on paper except for $$.
Is there one parent company making the digital guts to all of these? Any one have insight or should I just stick to the old dial wrenches.

 

[jay50]

IMHO, just stick to older dial wrenches; you won't have to worry about the electronics crapping out on the TW and sending it in for repairs.

 

[Lightning]

Snap On has a digital torque wrench with a gyroscope for those tightening sequences that require turning the bolt a certain angle. So you get a torque angle guage and a torque wrench in one tool. This is a very reliable torque wrench. It is part number #: ATECH2FR100

 

[wrenchr]

IMHO, just stick to older dial wrenches; you won't have to worry about the electronics crapping out on the TW and sending it in for repairs.

Not a huge fan of electronic torque wrenchs.

 

[Fast Orange]

I've had both the 3/8 and 1/2 SO Techwrenches for a couple of years now.For the first year I had them,I used one or the other quite often-the job I had involved a lot of motor work on the trucks.I had no problems with them,and after I got used to them,I found them to be accurate and consistant-better than my previous SO clickers.Combine that with the ease of switching between in/lbs,ft/lbs and newton/meters,I can recommend them highly. The new Angle-Tech Wrench should be equally good,if you need that capability.

George

 

[cb450r]

Thanks for the replies, I am to assume that no one is sure though if they differ much between brands as far as performance and accuracy?

 

[Treeman]

Thanks for the replies, I am to assume that no one is sure though if they differ much between brands as far as performance and accuracy?

I think your assumption is right on target....no one is sure about differences between the brands of electronic wrenches. You can find quite a few comments about the Snap On wrenches. But, there are almost no reviews/talk about the other brands....CDI Computorq3, Sears/Gearwrench/KD. Trust me, I searched!

Please let us know if you find more.

 

[DavidtheDuke]

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item...6&group_ID=961&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

After getting this I never had to worry about torque. If a customer ever asks "DID YOU TORQUE MY ENGINE DOWN RIGHT?!" I just walk up menacing with this in both hands, and they know their place.

 

[cb450r]

LOL yeah I could see that! not only is EXPENSIVE but it's a BEAST!

 

[paramudduck]

Not bad Snap only wants about fourteen hundred more for it then, tooldudes do for the Precision Insterments one.

http://www.tooldudes.com/preinst_dial_112.html

 

[jay50]

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item...6&group_ID=961&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

After getting this I never had to worry about torque.

If a customer ever asks "DID YOU TORQUE MY ENGINE DOWN RIGHT?!"

I just walk up menacing with this in both hands, and they know their place.

Well, if a customer has to question if the engine was torqued, IMHO, there is a underlying problem with overall shop ability to do the job right, not just a simple question of torque on a fastener being done correctly....

 

[Fedwrench]

If customers realized that in the flat rate world, very few techs even use a torque wrench, they would be pissed.
However, I feel that all of the Danaher electronic torque wrench versions share components across brands (Craftsman, Gearwrench, Matco, etc).
I second the ease of operation of the Snap on Techangle series of wrenches. You can change units of measurement quickly, it tells you if you overtightened a fastener, it has the built in angle feature for torque to yield fasteners.
It really depends on what you're comfortable with using. I think it's more important to properly use the torque wrench as a precision instrument and never to abuse it. I also feel that a torque wrench may not be a tool that I would want to bargain shop for.

 

[Merkava_4]

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item...6&group_ID=961&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

After getting this I never had to worry about torque. If a customer ever asks "DID YOU TORQUE MY ENGINE DOWN RIGHT?!" I just walk up menacing with this in both hands, and they know their place.

I'm curious as to what you'd use a 3000 ft.lb. torque wrench on?

 

[T56 Impala]

I'll toss out what I have.

One MIT (Yes...MIT) clicker. About 10 years old
One Craftsman clicker. About 4 years old
One Craftsman "beam" style. About 20 years old.
One Thorson "beam" style. About ?? years old. Real old!

The MIT is, and has been the most accurate of the 4. +- 1 ft lb. Maybe not great for you pros, but I never had a failure in an engine from torque problems. The Craftsman clicker is good. Not as heavy and without the feel of the heavy MIT one. Still very accurate. +- 1 -1.25 ft lb. The Craftsman beam *****. Never even comes close. I don't like the wobble handle either. The Thorson was my main wrench for many years. Many years...... It never let me down. I know its old school and they can be hard to judge, but for feel it is the best I have ever used.

Okay, that's my $.02.

 

[DavidtheDuke]

I'm curious as to what you'd use a 3000 ft.lb. torque wrench on?

http://people.bath.ac.uk/ccsshb/12cyl/rta96c_crank.jpg Maybe that engine?

 

[Danglerb]

I've got $28 invested in my set of torque wrenches, 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 all simple reliable clickers from Harbor Freight. I also have the torque thing from Craftsman with the digital meter so I can check all three of my cheap wrenches anytime I want.

IMHO people screw up torque, its rarely something wrong with the wrench.

 

[JayL]

[ I also have the torque thing from Craftsman with the digital meter so I can check all three of my cheap wrenches anytime I want.

IMHO people screw up torque, its rarely something wrong with the wrench.[/QUOTE]


Which Craftsman digital meter is this?

 

[nissan_crawler]

I also feel that a torque wrench may not be a tool that I would want to bargain shop for.

You might be surprised. I have not heard of ONE HF torque wrench failing cal at work, and probably 100 mechanics have them.

However, my Snap-On and several others, have failed cal.

I brought my $9 Cummins tool truck 1/2" torque wrench into work (I just use it at home for lug nuts and such) for grins, and it passed cal with flying colors.

 

[eschoendorff]

Well, if a customer has to question if the engine was torqued, IMHO, there is a underlying problem with overall shop ability to do the job right, not just a simple question of torque on a fastener being done correctly....

BURN!!!!!!!!!

 

[eschoendorff]

You might be surprised. I have not heard of ONE HF torque wrench failing cal at work, and probably 100 mechanics have them.

However, my Snap-On and several others, have failed cal.

I brought my $9 Cummins tool truck 1/2" torque wrench into work (I just use it at home for lug nuts and such) for grins, and it passed cal with flying colors.

I had a cummins tq wrench for a while... this was many years ago when I didn't realize that a tq wrench was NOT also a breaker bar. I broke the very top of the casting... oddly enough, the top of the wrench casting snapped before the ratcheting mechanism sheared. Those crazy Chinese...

 

[Moose-LandTran]

I have one Teng torque wrench and two Norbar torque wrenches. I use the Teng for wheel bolts on customer's cars and high torque applications. (it's 50-250lb/ft)

The Norbar torque wrenches are extremely well-made and are very accurate, i use one of them for the wheel nuts on my own car/family cars. They're quite expensive but they're worth it. I believe calibration is also free if you send them to Norbar to be recalibrated.

Some friends of mine work in a workshop specialising in custom fabrication on performance fabrication, they have a lot of Norbar torque wrenches, when they send them in to be recalibrated Norbar sends them out ones to use, so they're not left without torque wrenches.

 

[Danglerb]

[ I also have the torque thing from Craftsman with the digital meter so I can check all three of my cheap wrenches anytime I want.

IMHO people screw up torque, its rarely something wrong with the wrench.

Which Craftsman digital meter is this?[/QUOTE]

Its the discontinued 9 44599.

 

[cb450r]

I wish I had picked up that craftsman unit a few years back when I first saw it! It always looked like a nice torque meter. I am currently using one of the Craftsman "digitork" wrenches and I hate it!! Call me lazy but I hate twisting and cranking on the handle and looking into the little window to see my settings, Most of the time I blow right past or find I need to keep cranking. Before that I had a Snap-On QJFR275E and QJR3250A and these were nice ( should have never gotten rid of them) I have also had the Snap-on dial faced wrenches my old man has them now.