Torque wrench

Back in the day, Craftsman tools were much disparaged. Now that I look at some of the US-made Craftsman hand tools I have, I think many of them are pretty darned good quality.

 

Friends,

I was recently looking for a new 1/2 for wheels etc. My brother in law who was a drag racer loaned me one of his proto tools a few years ago and it was very nice, he told me I could hang on to it as he had so many. His house burnt down in the Thomas Fire 4 years ago and they lost everything so I gave it back to him with other tools I had. It was so nice I wanted to get one. Stanley bought Proto but they are still made in the US. I bought this one and it feels good and seems to work fine. Warning: using a torque wrench on many Ferrari fasteners has been a real pain for me I still use them for fasteners like tensioner bearings, but bell housings etc. I have had too many studs come out at below spec tension.....

Rob

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002GQNHHE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I know this thread is about torque wrenches, not standard wrenches but I have to say that nowadays, pretty much any wrench/socket set I have used from any of the well-known US hardware stores - Home Depot/Lowes/etc, are perfectly adequate for anything that I have encountered.

I have a lot of (old) SnapOn tools that are excellent from when I was doing daily auto and marine engine work. But a good amount of the tools I have purchased in the past few years - much of it it the form of metric wrenches/sockets - have been local hardware-store purchases and all of them have functioned perfectly with no problems/failures of any kind.

I have no experience with local hardware store torque wrenches so I can't say how they compare to my old Snap Ons. But if I really needed a new torque wrench to replace one of my SnapOns, based on my experience with current tools, I'd probably buy one from the local hardware store as long as it came with a certificate of test accuracy for that particular wrench (by serial number).

Snap On - Requiescat in pace

 

Project Farm tested a bunch of torque wrenches. Here are the results.

 

Hmmm - that test made the SnapON the winner in just about every category, Interesting... Maybe the NON digital Snap ons are still quite good?

 

Scratching my head wondering why you would want a swivel head on a torque wrench?

 

Even Trabants were pretty good cars when they were brand new.

The other choice is I have no idea what I am talking about.

Make your own choice.

 

That was very interesting makes me feel good about my Proto tool even though it was not the best. I've also have a bunch of SK tools I like. No we have to have a 10 minute video showing the different torque measurement devices! ha

 

LOL! Good advice!

 

Since we're looking at torque wrenches, I need to ask the collective how they prefer to torque their heads.

When getting to the demanded torque figure, do some of you insist the torque wrench never be stopped in rotation until the click is heard, or are some of you ok having to give it another turn in the event you are unable to keep turning until it clicks? I know some engines/manufacturers insist on never stopping while others don't bother to mention such issues. What says the collective.

 

The way we always torqued critical fittings using standard hardware was to torque in three stages. All fasteners to 1/3 torque (in the proper sequence); then to 2/3 torque, then to max torque. If using TTY fasteners we torqued to an initial very low setting -15 lbs/ft was a common spec - and then tightened to the specified angle.

In a sense we "stopped" on standard fasteners twice...

 

Warren and Brown Deflecting Beam , not cheap but very accurate.

 

Hmm.... not sure!

I went to uni in the 90's with a coupe of lads who brought one across from Eastern Germany and parked it right outside the residence halls on site.

The damned thing used to take around half an hour of cranking every morning to get it started. Not popular with the sleeping students (90% of students were asleep until at least 10am!)

 

I have many torque wrenches (13 I think). I have beam type I use for just wheels. I have beam type just for oil filters. I have a dial type for checking moving torque on transmissions. I have a digital that I rarely use. I have standard click type that range from 1/4 drive, 40-200 inch pounds to 1/2 drive, 100-600 foot pounds and several in between. All are Snap On. As much as I use them, I just want quality. My Snap On dealer has a torque tester on his truck and I check them several times a year. They rarely need adjustments. I had one that needed repair as the adjuster would not function correctly. It was too old and they no longer had parts for that handle. I was given a new one. That wrench is $400 currently, I think it was $300 ish when they swapped it. There is something to be said for service when it is my living. I can see where a less expensive wrench would do just fine for a weekend DIY person.
That is just what I do, but I make my living with tools and it is a massive investment. I have no idea how many thousands of dollars I have spent in almost 40 years of toll buying.

 

Service???? From Snap On?

You are kidding right?

I turned in a hammer, a f###king hammer and a metric socket for warranty replacement 6 weeks ago and Snap On, not the dealer, the company still has no replacements to give me. The dealer told me its SOP.

If anyone is still burying their tools they are a fool.

 

My experience has been totally different. I have two Snap-On digital torque wrenches, one 1/2" and the other 3/8". They are both TechAngle models, the grey ones. I bought them both used well over 10 years ago and I have used them continuously since then on all kinds of cars for all kinds of jobs. I did have the minor (initially quite annoying) issue on the 3/8" one with the battery contact loss in the handle cap turning off the wrench, but it was an easy fix by cleaning and bending the contacts, and now neither one ever cuts out, and I just use rechargeable batteries in them. I have taken them to the track, changed lugnuts on multiple cars there dozens and dozens of times, to 135 ft-lbs as required, worked in the garage and changed axle nuts, taken and re-built suspensions, used the angle feature just the other day, say 50 or 80 Nm followed by 50 or 60 degrees re-assembling my wife's rear suspension on her GLK350 SUV, and used the small one for 6 mm bolts at the lowest torque setting. Never a problem, used them to install and even remove fasteners when needed, never had to request service or support from them. A friend of mine has one of the same TechAngle torque wrenches, and aside from the battery contact issue, the heads and ratchets mechanisms function perfectly and I expect them to last for years more. Super happy with them, some of the best and most useful tools I have ever bought, and I love the beep feature. I have rebuilt complete engines with them, no torque function I ever take out my old beam torque wrenches for. They just stay in the tool boxes gathering dust. One of the best features of the Snap-On ones is the pivoting head, because sometimes you just can't fit a torque wrench on with a fixed head.

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Thank you for insulting me. I will be the fool. I have had many Sap On reps over the years and many bad experiences. My current dealer does a fantastic job. Warranty without question, he is here every week and understands we buy from him because of service. I am happy to support those that support me.

 

The dealers cannot replace what Snap On does not have.

If the shoe fits.

 

Speaking of fantastic service on automotive tools, Tekton has been super. I snapped a T30 Torx bit a year ago, and all I did was request service by sending in a picture, no invoice, date of purchase or anything else required, and they sent one with free shipping. Then the other day I went to use one of the 3 sizes of my swivel head ratchet set, and the direction selector was stuck, and I had to mount a socket on it and turn an installed bolt a bit and it freed up. I requested service by also saying that this had just happened on the 3/8 size but had also happened on the 1/4" one a year ago, possibly from a bit of humidity in my garage having caused a tad of internal rusting. I sent a picture of the 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" set and same miracle happened. They sent a new set of all 3 ratchets, no invoice, receipt or purchase date required, as for the Torx bit. Fabulous. Also really happy with tools from Sunex tools, both brands from Taiwan, excellent quality.

Image Unavailable, Please Login