bad readings on a torque wrench?

[71chevellejohn]

<<< proud owner of a calibrated elbow.

[orphan Shelby]

Those cheap husky, craftsman, harbor freight, etc. wrenches actually work decent. My advice to get consistency out of them is to set them well above what you need them at and click them out ten times or so.

On the calibration stand, your lesser quality wrenches come way up as fast as consistency after 4-5 clicks.

So if you're torquing to 40ftlbs, set the wrench on 75-100 and put it on something that's set higher. (A lug nut on one of my trucks, for example) and click that SOB out ten/twenty times, and I bet it's as accurate as a Snap-On is on its second or third click

Never heard of this. Guess ill be on snap on truck this week to try out. Thnx for passing info on. On another note, my snap on guys never acted like they had a calibration device on the truck. Just went and took it in. Would like to have checked to see if it was necessary first.

[akfodysvn]

honestly turning wrenches for a living tought me to torque by feel (obvs on big shit with high tolerances) but i rarely ever break out my torque wrench

if it's 100 ft/lbs i give it my all, if it's 20 ft/lbs i give it 40% of my all and call it good. i've never had any problems. inch pounds would be a different story but i still just torque til i feel it's good.

Shouldn't you give 20%

[Mysticcobrakilla]

Buncha torque wench specialists up in here.

[racrguy]

http://www.hotrod.com/how-to/additional-how-to/ccrp-1304-torque-wrench-testing/

[helosailor]

Torque wrenches...pfft.

I prefer the beads of sweat and grunts scale. 5 beads of sweat and 2 grunts = approximately 100 lb/ft.


Yes, I'm kidding.

[Baron Von Crowder]

I just turn my impact down for 100 lbs/ft.

[Mysticcobrakilla]

I just turn my impact down for 100 lbs/ft.

Calibrated impacts rock!

[Cooter]

Never heard of this. Guess ill be on snap on truck this week to try out. Thnx for passing info on. On another note, my snap on guys never acted like they had a calibration device on the truck. Just went and took it in. Would like to have checked to see if it was necessary first.

They don't have a calibration device on the truck. I had one on my truck some years ago, though

[Tremor14]

Shouldn't you give 20%

my all is not a set 0-100 scale.

[red89notch]

Torque wrenches arent very accurate to begin with. The best thing the do if create consistency when multiple bolts need to be torqued the same. Snap-on Torque wrenches are calibrated at +/- 8 percent. Thats a pretty huge difference. My brother used to be a calibration technician for military aircrafts and they would take brand new Snap-on torque wrenches and recalibrate them correctly. He said about 1 out of 10 didn't even meet the +/- 8%. The only thing I use a torque wrench for is engine components(heads, cranks, cams, rods) and super cars. The rest is just by feel.

[svauto-erotic855]

I am fanatical about torquing everything to the correct specs. OTC has some strain gauges that work with a DVOM and a breaker bar that beats the pants off of a normal torque wrench and cost a little under $600.

[Ruffdaddy]

I am fanatical about torquing everything to the correct specs. OTC has some strain gauges that work with a DVOM and a breaker bar that beats the pants off of a normal torque wrench and cost a little under $600.

I've seen a few different setups for the strain based torque wrenches and they are pretty sweet. The ones I was looking at were for really big stuff...don't remember seeing smaller than a 24" pipe wrench, but its a really nice technology.

[svauto-erotic855]

I've seen a few different setups for the strain based torque wrenches and they are pretty sweet. The ones I was looking at were for really big stuff...don't remember seeing smaller than a 24" pipe wrench, but its a really nice technology.

The ones I am talking about are little. It is a 3 piece set that has a 1/4', 3/8' and a 1/2" extension that the gauges are built into.

For head gaskets and rod bolts they can't be beat unless you have a way to measure fastener stretch.

I have a few of these sets and can lend one out for a day or two if needed.

[mk5.0]

I have my torque wrenches re-calibrated every year.

http://www.davis.com/Calibration-Service