Which torque wrench?

Hi guys. I am new to the country, I used to live in Europe. I have bought a Toyota FJ Cruiser and I will be doing part of the maintainence on my own. For example I will be mounting rock sliders, rotate the tires, change oil and that kind of stuff.

I want to buy a "click" torque wrench to perform all those procedures; I would use it once in a while so I do not need a heavy duty piece of equipment, yet I don't want to waste money for stuff that gets broken or out of calibration in no time. I guess a 3/8" ratchet and 20-100 lb ft range would be the best for me.

I have no ideas what are the "excellent" "good" or "bad" wrench manufacturers here in the USA. A friend suggested me to watch some nascar racing and look at the sponsors :)

Any advice?

Thank you Alessio

Reply to
Alessio Sangalli
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Snap-On, Matco, MAC are all excellent "professional quality" tools. K-D, S-K are good and likely available at your FLAPS. Craftsman (Sears) is likely adequate for occasional home use.

Truth be told, if you don't mind the disadvantages of using one, a simple beam and pointer torque wrench is likely just as accurate if not more so than a clicker and a heck of a lot cheaper to purchase.

Really, rotating the tires is the only general maintenance use where I can think that a torque wrench is really of benefit. For reinstalling drain plugs, etc, a good pull on a standard length combination wrench or ratchet is close enough. Now if you're rebuilding engines, etc. that's another story.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Could you expand "FLAPS"?

Thank you Alessio

Reply to
Alessio Sangalli

Friendly Local Auto Parts Store (preferably NAPA, Carquest, or a good independent - they're a cut above the Pep Boys, Advance, AutoZone, Checker)

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

I personally don't like Craftsman for this one. Have lots of their other stuff but the torque wrenches are too sub standard (cheap). The brands mentioned are good and what you should look for. If you buy a used tool of this type it should be calibrated. That will cost extra. In the range for wheel lug nuts you will probably need a wrench accurate around 100 ft/lbs. This will be a 1/2 in drive and it will have numbers on it from 50 to 250 so that in use you will set it for the desired final torque somewhere in the middle of it's range. Torque wrenches are not considered accurate if used on the extreme ends of their scales.

I don't know what the torque is for your wheels. If you provide this # the discussion can go on much longer than you would ever imagine.

disston

Reply to
disston

I agree re: Craftsman, actually everything seems cheaper than it used to be there.

I forgot a couple other good brands, Proto is excellent and Cornwell is another company that may make good stuff, but I have not met anyone who's actually used their tools.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

The manual says 82 ft*lb. I am new to feet and pounds :) is it a reasonable value? This is a FJ Cruiser Toyota car

On the other hand Saturday I will have to mount the rock sliders and they require 30 ft*lb.

I stopped at Sears tonight and I got a "beam and pointer" for 25USD. I haven't opened it yet, I think it should suffice, shouldn't it?

bye as

Reply to
Alessio Sangalli

A beam and pointer style torque wrench will never go out of calibration unless there is physical damage to the beam. However, I think you will find that they are hard to use on wheel lugs.

Reply to
Steve Austin

yup, pretty typical for lug nuts

I think so. If nothing else it is a good tool to have around to check calibration of a fancier torque wrench (get a two-piece distributor wrench to get the coupler to lock the two torque wrenches together; if you're checking a "clicker" the beam should read the same as the clicker is set for at the moment that the clicker clicks.

nate

Reply to
N8N

When I was in the military, our torque wrench bible was Air Force Technical Order 32B14-3-1-101, "OPERATION AND SERVICE INSTRUCTIONS, TORQUE INDICATING DEVICES"

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(about 200 k)

The USAF rule on snap action torque wrench settings is that you may use a wrench from 20% to 100% of its maximum torque. For instance, the legal working range for a wrench marked 10 - 100 ft-lb is from 20 to

100 ft-lbs. But a 30 - 100 wrench is okay to use from 30 to 100. The quality control inspectors will nail you with a violation if they catch you using a wrench outside its allowable range.

For the screwdriver type wrenches, the legal minimum is 25% of max. The only time I used one of these was for electronic jobs, like torquing circuit board hold-down screws.

Another rule is that snap action wrenches have to clicked a few times before you use them "for real". That's because the release point can be erratic the first few times if a wrench has been sitting for a long time. In one tool crib where I worked, there were some old sockets (one of each drive size) welded face down to a small steel plate which was bolted to the counter. When they issued a torque wrench, you exercised it there before going out to the job.

All the measuring tools such as micrometers, torque wrenches, etc. were on a periodic calibration schedule. A lab on the base took care of this. The worn out ones that could no longer meet spec got sold at auction. Think about that when you see government surplus tools on eBay.

Reply to
Paul Hirose

"Paul Hirose" wrote in news:YdednRaQSNbdYwDVnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:

This is an interesting comment, and intuitively it makes sense. I once dissected a Sears Craftsman click-type wrench to see how it worked.

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The only thing I can see that might affect torque from the wrench sitting for a period of time is "stiction" resulting from lubricant accumulation about the moving parts. Seems to me that working the wrench a bit before actual use would redistribute the lubricant, helping to normalize "stiction" from use to use. Your thoughts?

And what was "spec"? By "spec" I'm assuming you mean "tolerance". My Craftsman has a 4% tolerance built-in from new, which is fine for general automotive use. I suspect your precision aircraft-grade wrenches were probably within 4% by the time they were rejected.

Reply to
Tegger

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