Dissecting a Torque Wrench

I bought a cheap torque wrench four or five years ago when changing a head but since then I've been fairly lucky and haven't needed it. Rather shamefully i have been using it on and off (and more on as time passes) as a breakers bar. Since these seem to cost more than torque wrenches I shouldn't really feel guilty I suppose.

Anyway I now need it again to change a couple of oil seals but it seems to have stopped clicking. No doubt I will end up buying a new one in the end, but the bodger in me would like to take a chance at fixing it or at least having a look at the complicated innards. Rather than just opening it up and have bits flying out, I have been trying to find a website which could give me a clue on what to expect inside but these days Google just returns lots of sleaze bags trying to sell me one and nothing useful.

Can anyone suggest any useful websites to look at or give hints from having done this before.

Many thanks in advance.

Harry

Reply to
harry
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This site might be of interest:

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Lee

Reply to
Lee

Why are they sleaze bags? Isn't it reasonable to expect that most people searching for 'troque wrench' would be looking to purchase one?

Reply to
Grunff

Seeing as the correct tightening of bolts etc is frequently a safety issue, apart from reliability, I would suggest DIY repairs are not a good idea ! I recently queried getting an old Norbar calibrated and it worked out cheaper to buy a new one. Ironically, after getting it I was able to confirm the old one was OK. E-mail address, hopefully self-explanatory Andy

Reply to
Andy Pandy

Would it not be possible to do a DIY calibration as well? You could attach the wrench in a horizonal position to (say) a very tight wheel nut, and hang known weights from it, at a known distance from the centre of rotation, in order to generate a known amount of torque.

Joe

Reply to
Joe Kelleher

What the f*ck is it with bodge merchants this week? Has this newsgroup suddenly become uk.rec.maintenance.arfur-daley-car-sales???

Like that fool who is stupidly trying to ressurect a clapped out Nissan:

BUY A NEW ONE. ITS KNACKERED. ITS COMPLETELY UNTRUSTWORTHY EVEN IF YOU MANAGE TO GET IT TO MAKE ITS SILLY NOISE.

Reply to
Conor

The message from Lee contains these words:

Worrying that he snapped off a wheel stud because his torque wrench wasn't working. That shows considerable lack of mechanical sympathy.

Reply to
Guy King

The message from Andy Pandy contains these words:

Not hard to calibrate, or at least check the calibration, with a bucket a ruler and some water.

Reply to
Guy King

Just a bit, but I only mentioned the site for the pictures ;)

Lee

Reply to
Lee

With all of the anger you're carrying are you sure you're safe to drive?

*cough*
Reply to
deadmail

Unlike you I can afford to work when I want, not when my boss dictates I do. I'm doing a couple of days this week.

Reply to
Conor

You can just guess what the next question is going to be.

Reply to
Conor

It's easier to attach it to a vice, & yes.

Reply to
DuncanWood

If you can extract a Gedore/Rahsol catalogue

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then there's apicky in there. The cheap ones are simpler :-) They're also pretty easy to fix, you need to recheck the calibration afterwards though.

Reply to
DuncanWood

"Where can I get some hex bar to jam in my bench vice?"

Reply to
Chris Street

Good idea. :-)

E-mail address, hopefully self-explanatory Andy

Reply to
Andy Pandy

Where can I get a five foot ruler ? E-mail address, hopefully self-explanatory Andy

Reply to
Andy Pandy

Spot on. Nice one.

Harry

Reply to
harry

I get irritated the way that a almost any search nowadays, no matter how carefully framed, seems to give pages of links to shopping comparison sites like ciao and kelkoo, and to some seriously dodgy looking traders. I was looking for a new battery for my phone a few months ago. The top results all went to pages that looked suspiciously similar apart from the domain name. I tried to find my local branch of Bradford and Bingley last week. "Bradford Bingley Building Society" didn't show anything that looked remotely like a direct link in the few pages I waded through. In the end I went to the BBC news website, searched for a story about them then followed the link given there.

Find yourself a respectable job.

Reply to
harry

In theory yes. In practice it could prove a little tricky checking it at the levels of torque you often need inside a car. I'm just changing the crank oil seal. The manual says that when I put the pulley back I should torque the bolt up to 72lb/ft. As the wrench is approx a foot long that means putting five stone of water in the bucket. I'm pretty sure I don't have a bucket that big.

OK I could put some sort of extension on the torque wrench handle but the only thing vaguely suitable I have is the old bit off scaffold pole I use as an extension bar and that is a)fairly heavy on its own, and b) doesn't sit neatly in place to give a precise and stable length.

Far better, I reckon, to buy a cheap, new, recently calibrated one when really needed.

Harry

Reply to
harry

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