Have a one-off need to apply 100 ft. lbs. of torque to some fasteners. Current 3/8 inch drive beam torque wrench goes only to 75. Been wanting a click stop torque wrench for years, anyway, and I've an annual need to torque a pair of nuts to precisely 60 ft. lbs., for which I've been using the beam wrench. (Which is a minor PITA.)

Point is: Not about to go spending $400 for a Snap-On wrench. Lowe's has this Kobalt wrench for $90. Gets good reviews.

Thoughts?

Another thing: Many test/measurement instruments are most accurate at mid-range, falling off in accuracy at the ends of their ranges. Does that apply to torque wrenches, or are they equally accurate throughout their ranges?

If it’s a one off use and torque is not terribly critical you could get something cheap from Harbor Freight. I rebuilt a performance dirt bike engine and transmission using a Harbor Freight.

If it’s critical I would only trust a quality manufactured one that was recently calibrated.

I bought the exact same one in Alaska in 2010. I swapped my truck's summer and winter wheels out for 5 years in Alaska (Silverado) and 2 years in Canada (Frontier). In Canada, I did my friend's BMW 3 series too. In other words, I've used it at 3 different torque values and worked great at all 3.

If some dirt bag stole it, I'd buy another one in a heartbeat.

First torque wrenches struggle at the end of their ranges. Second if the fastener are not life safety have at it and buy anything. Otherwise either go somewhere that will do it for you or suck it up and buy something with NIST certification and annually get it certified.

I have one I bought to torque axle nuts. It works great. Buy it. Just make sure you don't get the digital.

My lug nut torque wrench is an older USA made Craftsman. One of these days I'll get it calibrated. I've checked them both against my Harbor Freight digital torque adapter and that's good enough for my needs.

Remember to torque with smooth even pressure. It's natural to want to jerk the handle when you think you are getting close. This will cause your faste er to not be torqued properly.

Buy a smaller wrench for your 60 lb-ft needs. Torque wrenches are most accurate in the middle of their range.

For one off uses, I recommend the Craftsman ones. No, they are not professional quality, but do the job. I have 2 of them and they are pretty much on the money.

I also have the Harbor Freight 1/4” one that is close enough for horseshoes and hand grenades. I wouldn’t trust it for anything important. LOL.

Get a Precision Instruments split beam torque wrench, such as model C3FR250F. It has the ease-of-use of a click-type wrench and the durability of a floating beam wrench. It holds calibration much, much better than click wrenches. You don't even have to set it back to '0' after every use. About the only disadvantage is that it doesn't work in the counter-clockwise direction.

Precision Instruments makes the split beam wrenches for Snap-On, but of course the Snap-Ons cost twice as much. I've found used P.I. torque wrenches on ebay and at pawn shops for under $100.

My friend runs a calibration lab, and I've seen wrenches fail at the ends and I've also seen them fail progressively throughout the range. It really depends on where the fail point is in the wrench.

My recommendation is to go ahead and get the Kobalt wrench, and if it's critical, send it for a calibration. Shouldn't be more than $50, and you'll have the peace of mind of knowing it's good.

I've used my Harbor Freight wrench to torque everything on my motorcycle for 8 or 9 years now. Works well.

A few thoughts.

Because I use my wrenches professionally, I keep them calibrated. I have a number of snap-on and Mac wrenches. None of mine have ever failed, but I have seen some spectacular failures in snap-on wrenches that destroyed the calibration machine, requiring it to be rebuilt and recalibrated.

I have an ADT wrench bought at an auto shop in Wyoming over 20 years ago that's still going strong, no issues with calibration. The point is that it doesn't need to be a snap-on or other wrench.

That said, you can pick up a good snap-on wrench all day long on ebay and other locations for not so much money.

I haven't used a cobalt wrench; until you've had it calibrated, however, you really have no idea how accurate it is. You can get small torque meters that go between the wrench and the work that can be used to do a home check on the torque to see if you're close (but of course the meter would also require calibration and verification).

Torque wrenches, despite what most think, are not about the twisting motion put on the bolt: they're about bolt stretch. That's the point of torque values, rather than the compression force implied by a certain torque value. It's an imprecise, round-about way of measuring bolt stretch, and consequently a way of approximating the distance from failure of the bolt; the value changes each time the bolt is used, though we continue to use the same torque.

Placing the torque on the bolt should give the same compressive force on the part that we're torquing, but it doesn't. It varies considerably, and because we're measuring rotational force on the bolt when the real question is bolt stretch, we're faced with the friction of the threads and other factors which mean that a given amount of bolt stretch occurs at the same torque value, and consequently the amount of compressive force varies, even though the torque value is the same.

It takes a while to wrap your head around that.

The point there is that you can get the same torque value on multiple tests, and but the actual value of the fastener compressing the parts will vary each time, and isn't nearly as precise as people think. If it's not a critical part, and if you're not willing to take the time and expense to get a quality, calibrated wrench, then you're probably not going to hurt much with the hardware store wrench.

I needed a torque wrench as well. After doing a fair amount of research I settled on the Tekton 24335. It gets great reviews, there are YT videos to look at. About $40

I can't speak to the Kobalt torque wrench, but I recently purchased the equivalent Husky torque wrench from Home Depot and like it so far. There is a difference on the warranty - the Husky has a lifetime no questions asked, Kobalt has a 1 year limited guarantee.

Bear in mind that the warranty won't cover anything you break with the wrench, and it tells you nothing about the quality or calibration of the wrench. When the wrench goes "click," you have no actual idea of the torque value you've just imparted, or how close it is to the setting you've made on the wrench.

Bear in in mind, too, that torque values change over time; what the wrench was doing this year isn't necessarily what it's doing next year, or after x amount of use.

If it's ever been bumped or dropped or jarred, the calibration cannot be relied upon.

Do you suppose the hardware store or harbor freight handles them like glass?

It's a solid TQ wrench and outperformed the craftsman digital that my friend had. The lock up is solid, where his was a bitch sketch. They are made in Taiwan so it's a quality tool, not China crap. I've had the 3/8" and 1/2" for 3 years or so and no issues. I use them working on my cars.

It is MUCH better than the HF equivalent. There screw in lockup sucks. I know because I have their 1/4" wrench because I use that size so rarely.

quote:

Originally posted by SIG4EVA:
They are made in Taiwan so it's a quality tool, not China crap.

Now that was funny.

Loaner from the local auto parts store.

The harbor freight ones I have seen independently tested and are suprisingly accurate.
Remember to back the presure off the spring after each use.

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:

quote:

Originally posted by SIG4EVA:
They are made in Taiwan so it's a quality tool, not China crap.

Now that was funny.

It was not a joke. I lived in Taiwan, I know the difference.

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:

quote:

Originally posted by SIG4EVA:
They are made in Taiwan so it's a quality tool, not China crap.

Now that was funny.

Not really. Taiwan is putting out decent stuff these days. They actually take pride in their work.

"Lived in Taiwan" and "quality mechanical measuring instrument" are not really the same thing, unless you lived in Taiwan calibrating torque wrenches to US standards. You see my point.

Been there too.

'Made in Taiwan' is not really the stamp of top-shelf. You don't really hear "if you want quality, buy Taiwanese." There's a reason.

Still funny, though.

Thanks for all the feedback, guys! It's good to know that I could have gone with the Kobalt tool and been ok.

There's a guy not far away with a pair of used Snap-On torque wrenches: $100 ea. or both for $175. The larger of those probably would have done, too.

But I decided to stop by my favourite local tool store. As I was driving over I was thinking to myself "What would be perfect would be a range of 20-150 lbs."

Lo and behold: The Wright Tool 4477 Micro-Adjustable Torque Wrench: 20-150 lbs.



Comes with a Certificate of Calibration and made right here in the good ol' US of A . In Ohio, in fact.

The store's price was really good, too: $160, which was cheaper than Amazon and most other places.

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