Harbor Freight Torque wrench Tested

[mjoekingz28]

I own all three HF torquers. On a tie rod I did on an Intrepid, it called for ~60 ft lbs. I hit 60 with the 3/8" then set the half inch to the same, and it kept going.

If you read carefully you'll see that within 4% is as close as it gets, NOT meaning all values are within that spec.

 

[CarbonCrew]

Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
If you read carefully you'll see that within 4% is as close as it gets, NOT meaning all values are within that spec.


I'm not sure what you are reading but the accuracy is within +\-4% and that has been my experience on limited tests.

 

[mjoekingz28]

CarbonCrew, lets say at 60 ft-lbs it shows within 4% , well, at 80ft lbs it may be off by more than ten percent and still make that claim. It claims to within 4%, I think that is a savvy way of making you believe it is more accurate than it really is, but then again I could be wrong and my 3/8ths torquer may be off since it is missing a screw and I may have left it stored on a heavy setting, but I've always stored it in its original packing and it is over 10 years old.

 

[CarbonCrew]

Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
CarbonCrew, lets say at 60 ft-lbs it shows within 4% , well, at 80ft lbs it may be off by more than ten percent and still make that claim. It claims to within 4%, I think that is a savvy way of making you believe it is more accurate than it really is, but then again I could be wrong and my 3/8ths torquer may be off since it is missing a screw and I may have left it stored on a heavy setting, but I've always stored it in its original packing and it is over 10 years old.


Ehh... that's right and wrong. But I see what you are getting at. ASME B107 'Torque Instrument' standard requires an accuracy of +/-4% of indicated value within 20%-100% of the wrench capacity. However, below 20% of rated capacity the accuracy is +/-0.8% of scale. This isn't specifically stated in the HF wrench manual but I believe it to be true.