torque wrenches

[poissonverte]

anyone recommend good torque wrenches?? i saw one at sears for 17 bucks.. craftsman, but wasnt to sure about it i suppose.. anyone?? thanks.

 

[munkee]

Craftsman is generally a decent brand. Kobalt tools are pretty good too. They are basically a branch of snap-on. I think you can them at Lowes and maybe Home Depot.

 

[Shoman94]

poissonverte:
anyone recommend good torque wrenches?? i saw one at sears for 17 bucks.. craftsman, but wasnt to sure about it i suppose.. anyone?? thanks.

Sears does have a decent one for I think it was around 60-80 bucks.

Or you can break down like I did and buy a snap-on one for $$$$

 

[RStalveyARFF]

I have a snap-on wrench as well. 30-250 ft-lbs I believe. And no, you don't want to know how much I shelled out for it. The snap-on distributor is starting to love me.... damn tools.

 

[AutoXSHO]

I have a Craftsman beam type wrench that is my trusty old friend who somehow manages to stay in calibration.

I also have a click type snap on wrench for the smaller in-lb stuff (goes up to 200 in-lb). Snap on tools are nice because they can be calibrated by any reputable metrology shop. I got it off of eBay for about $40, and it was calibrated and in perfect shape. There is a guy on there who sells fairly new Snap-on stuff from shops that have gone under. Great deal.

John V

 

[1slickRED89]

"i saw one at sears for 17 bucks"

more true than for anyhting else, with hand tools you get what you pay for.

if your looking for somthing to tighten up lug nuts, i would recomend a racheting one. the bending beam types are good for some delicate stuff, but not general work. besides it's a pain to have to reposition every turn or so.

i like the craftsman 1/2" drive, 250ft/lb, twisty handle, racheting one. it has the little window that shows the current setting. i have one, it's nice. i dropped it once, they gave me a new/updated one instead of fixing mine.

Corey
89SHO

<small>[ March 04, 2002, 01:45 PM: Message edited by: 1slickRED89 ]</small>

 

[AutoXSHO]

I should mention - Craftsman does not warranty the calibration of the wrenches. Their tools have a "lifetime warranty" but it does not apply to the torque wrenches. Yes, if you shear off the drive lug, they will replace it (BTDT) but if it falls out of calibration you're out of luck and will have to take it to a metrology shop IF they will calibrate it.

John V

 

[SHOfear]

I use a lot of Craftsmen stuff (almost 100% of my tools are Craftsmen, with a few Husky and Snap-On thrown in the mix), and I think their beam-type torque wrench is much better than their digital ones. It is a pain to use at first, but once you get used to it, I can use it just as well as one of the digital ones. As far as Craftsmen tools, not as good as Snap-On (duh) but I think they are the best tools you can get for the price. I have broken just as many snap-on wrenches as I have craftsmen, and sears never complains about taking anything back. Even if it doesn't have a lifetime warranty, usually they take them back anyway. Just my .02

Steve