Torque wrench suggestions wanted

[Nukeman7]

I'm looking to do a little work on the Camry and would like to get a reasonable-quality torque wrench. I'll be torquing 14mm bolts to 63 ft lbs and was thinking that a 1/2-inch drive would suffice.

Shel_B, here is the deal of the year on a decent torque wrench from Home Depot. They put this on sale for $60 as a loss-leader holiday special deal every Christmas. This Husky wrench is all metal except for the handle grip and is better than the Kobalt and Craftsman torque wrenches at over $100.

If you want to splurge on a split-beam torque wrench, the ICON wrench from Harbor Freight can't be beat. I have both wrenches and they are highly accurate and well made.



This coupon will make any HF purchase even sweeter!

 

[Wingo]

People have done tests comparing Quinn to Snap-On and the Quinn/Harbor Freight was just as accurate.

Also the Quinn Torque Adapter is also pretty accurate. Don't think because it is cheap it is not as good as high end, a lot of the time you are just paying for a name and not any major bump up in quality.

I just bought the Quinn adapter, my clicker only goes up to 150 ft lbs and needed higher than that for a job I did. Bought this as it was my cheapest option for higher torque applications. Gotta say, I am impressed with this little guy, it worked great for 50 bucks. Only thing I missed was having that satisfying click though. The other downside is the length, with a breaker, the adapter, and a socket, you may be limited on where you can use it.

 

[John105]

This one for wheels

CDI 2503MFRMH Dual Scale Micrometer Adjustable Click Style Torque Wrench with Metal Handle - 1/2-Inch Drive - 30 to 250 ft. lbs. Torque Range https://a.co/d/80JLyR3

This for most everything else

CDI 752MFRMH Torque 3/8-Inch Drive Micro-Adjustable Wrench, Torque 5-75 ft.lbs https://a.co/d/9f8nxlb

If you’re doing a water pump etc you’ll need an in lbs one. That’s so infrequent I don’t own one like that. These prices are astronomical as I got the above 10+ years ago.

Remember, they are calibrated and accurate to 20% of the high value of the range. Ie a 5-75 is good to 15 ft lbs or spark plugs (barely). That’s why in the same drive there are various ranges. Imho worth the investment over the tools’ lives.

 

[Urshurak776]

For what I need to do for car maintenance like oil changes, spark plugs, etc. the HF is fine. NO issues as of yet.

 

[Wingo]

I have a 1/4 and 3/8 harbor freight torque wrench, the cheap ones. The one thing I dislike about them is the lack of a good solid click. I did the tighten loosen thing many times, and on the lower end of the torque range especially, I just don't get that responsive click you'd expect. I over torqued a transmission pan bolt from this. I got a tekton off the shelf at the fleet store for my 3/8 wrench needs, and that works much better, and is also cheap. Maybe the cheap clickers at HF are better now, these were purchased a few years ago.

 

[John105]

The only thing I would add is I prefer to have calibration. We've gone through this with tire pressure gauges. If the readings are not accurate, what value is the instrument? If something is consistently off by the same amount, that's ok, we need to know--we can compensate knowing that.

 

[RaymondP]

Been satisfied with the very affordable Harbor Freight torque wrenches others have mentioned. Thinking about supplementing my tool collection with the Harbor Freight torque box that goes between the bar and the socket. Anyone tried these?

1/2 in. Drive 25-250 ft. lb. Digital Torque Adapter

Amazing deals on this 1/2In Drive Digital Torque Adapter at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

 

[billt460]

Been satisfied with the very affordable Harbor Freight torque wrenches others have mentioned. Thinking about supplementing my tool collection with the Harbor Freight torque box that goes between the bar and the socket. Anyone tried these?

1/2 in. Drive 25-250 ft. lb. Digital Torque Adapter

Amazing deals on this 1/2In Drive Digital Torque Adapter at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

I have both the 3/8" and 1/2" models. They work well.

 

[SC Maintenance]

I have never had any of these calibrated, so FWIW.

I have a 1/2 inch HF. I use it for wheels lugs. Its fine I think.

I have a 3/8 EP Auto from Amazon. It might be made in the same place. It seems much less sloppy than the HF, but there different vintages.

I have a 1/4 inch Tekton. Its clearly a superiorly built tool to those two above - purely from observation and use.

My concern is to not strip bolts. These three work fine. If I were putting a transmission together or something I would buy something better.

 

[dfarr67]

I bought a cheap used Proto and had it tested- good price, assured calibration and Proto is legendary for holding calibration when used correctly.

 

[grisby]

The only thing I would add is I prefer to have calibration. We've gone through this with tire pressure gauges. If the readings are not accurate, what value is the instrument? If something is consistently off by the same amount, that's ok, we need to know--we can compensa

This one for wheels

CDI 2503MFRMH Dual Scale Micrometer Adjustable Click Style Torque Wrench with Metal Handle - 1/2-Inch Drive - 30 to 250 ft. lbs. Torque Range https://a.co/d/80JLyR3

This for most everything else

CDI 752MFRMH Torque 3/8-Inch Drive Micro-Adjustable Wrench, Torque 5-75 ft.lbs https://a.co/d/9f8nxlb

If you’re doing a water pump etc you’ll need an in lbs one. That’s so infrequent I don’t own one like that. These prices are astronomical as I got the abo

Remember, they are calibrated and accurate to 20% of the high value of the range. Ie a 5-75 is good to 15 ft lbs or spark plugs (barely). That’s why in the same drive there are various ranges. Imho worth the investment over the tools’ lives.

Have them both and they are very good.

 

[Highboy]

Thanks for the Tekton suggestion. They seem to have a few models that are appropriate for my situation and within budget. If my visit to Harbor Freight tomorrow doesn't pan out, I'll look at Tekton.

Amazon has the Tekton 3/8 inch drive split beam torque wrench for $101.99. Was $120. I had an Amazon gift card laying around so I ordered one for myself for Christmas.

 

[RAR]

I have 4 torque wrenches: one Pittsburgh Harbor Freight, one Teng, and a Quinn electronic all in 1/2” drive, and a Craftsman 3/8” drive I use for inch pound measurements.

I use the Pittsburgh for torquing lug nuts. Good enough to tighten them up. The Teng is another click style with a marker on the head to show angles. Nice tool that is more for careful work. The Craftsman is more those small fasteners in inch pounds, but I got the electronic Quinn for precision work on my Mini Cooper engine. The Mini requires specific measure and angles and the Quinn has an angle torque as well. I could have used the Teng but I couldn’t see the head to gauge the angle.

From your information provided, you’re not building an engine, just tightening fasteners. The Pittsburgh is probably just fine.

 

[totegoat]

For less than $50 I bought all 3 torque wrenches. They work just fine under my shade tree.

 

[tnt_motorsports]

FWIW @Shel_B I own 3 "HF" torque wrenches and none have let me down. i would not hesitate to torque any bolts with them for what I need including critical engine bolts. In fact 2 of the 3 have been used on engine rebuilds.
3/8" drive lb/in wrench (5 years old)
1/2" drive 150 pound feet wrench (25 years old)
3/4" drive 300 lb/ft wrench (8 years old)

Just my $0.02

 

[haggler]

precision instruments split beam made in USA same price as ICON from HF. Just scope out the exactly range of torque you're looking for. I have the big blue one in that above video and the smaller 3/8 that goes up to 100 ft/lb. Very accurate and easy to use. Don't have to return the dial down at the end of use. The smaller 3/8 I had re-calibrated after using it at near max for wheels for about a year or two, which was a mistake. I then bought the bigger one that goes up to 250. Use google shopping and find the best price, buy USA once and call it a day.

 

[robertcope]

I believe my Snap-On torque wrenches are actually made by Precision Instruments. They've worked well for 20+ years. That's what I'd do. And I'd get a 3/8" unit for 14mm bolts @ 63ft/lbs.

 

[redbone3]

https://etork.com/product-category/clear-view-torque-wrench/ These ETORK wrenches are of very good quality, sell for around $50, and are very easy to set. The wrenches that you read by the marks on the barrel can be hard to set.

 

[Mewbs]

Harbor Freight's torque wrenches are good

I've used Pittsburgh Torque wrenches all 3 drive sizes - 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" with no issues at all since doing my own service on cars.
If you want a bit of quality assurance their ICON torque wrenches are said to be very good. I might pick up the Quinn digital torque wrench attachment some point in the future to make a cheap calibrator out of them.

 

[warnerwh]

I have 3 from Harbor Freight and they work fine. Be sure to follow the instructions to keep them in shape. I've seen Youtube videos where the lower end Harbor Freight torque wrenches were tested and they were off a bit more than they claimed. They aren't off enough to worry about anything. One of their torque wrenches I have is a 1/2" Quinn and it wasn't very inexpensive. It was only about 65 or 70 dollars on sale and is definitely nicer than the lower end ones but I bought it because it goes 100 ft.lbs higher . It is only good down to 50 ft lbs though so it isn't that versatile and is why I have the 1/2" drive 15 dollar one also. I've used the cheaper one numerous times all over my truck and it's fine.