Tools: What torque wrench to buy

jonl · Post by **jonl** » 24 Jan 2010, 07:30

I need to buy a torque wrench and am not sure which one. What range of Nm is most useful for my 2000 XC70? Do the wrenches that show both ft. lbs. and Nm make that conversion accurately? What do you guys think?

Thanks

Post by **Pauloil** » 24 Jan 2010, 07:59

the craftsman torque wrenches have both scales, on opposite sides of the shaft. I have the 3/8" drive one and it works fine. I'm thinking of buying the smaller one as well, in case I do water pump sometime

Post by **confused_al** » 24 Jan 2010, 09:19

I brought this one, and very happy about it
http://www.tooltopia.com/gearwrench-85052.aspx
All my cheap ones either totally broken in a year all just doesn't work at all after awhile.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 24 Jan 2010, 10:08

I have two of them one is a 1/2" drive and the other is a 3/8" drive. Both of them are Ampro brand, that I bought at Advance Auto Parts and they are both, to varying degrees, junk. The 1/2" drive is the better of the two and it has a dual scale that is easily read. The 3/8" is scaled in lb/in and you need to multiply the lb/ft torque spec by 12 to convert it. The real bear is that the scale is divided into 10 parts rather than 12 so you just wind up guessing. At the end of the day I don't think either of them are terribly accurate and the 3/8" is not at all precise.

I would put both of them on the unapproved list.

Avoid the old beam style wrenches and go with a good click style.

...Lee

Post by **charlyW** » 24 Jan 2010, 11:54

When buying a torque wrench it always pays to buy the very best you can to get accuracy as some cheaper ones can be -/+ 5% accuracy. Always make sure you get a certificate of calibration and get it recalibrated every year. Facom make some good ones so do Snap On they're professional items and will last you a lifetime with good degrees of accuracy.

You will need one that has both ftlbs and Nm you can locate a conversion chat on the internet or if its a good quality item the box may contain one.

Post by **wheelsup** » 24 Jan 2010, 16:07

Ozark Lee wrote:I have two of them one is a 1/2" drive and the other is a 3/8" drive. Both of them are Ampro brand, that I bought at Advance Auto Parts and they are both, to varying degrees, junk. The 1/2" drive is the better of the two and it has a dual scale that is easily read. The 3/8" is scaled in lb/in and you need to multiply the lb/ft torque spec by 12 to convert it. The real bear is that the scale is divided into 10 parts rather than 12 so you just wind up guessing. At the end of the day I don't think either of them are terribly accurate and the 3/8" is not at all precise.

I would put both of them on the unapproved list.

Avoid the old beam style wrenches and go with a good click style.

...Lee

I typed up a big response and my computer messed up.

Long story short I agree with Ozark (who doesn't?)

Harbor Freight sells Ampro torque wrenches (same thing) for 1/2 cost.

Harbor Freight makes/sells cheap tools for non-precision work.

Don't buy an Ampro torque wrench. I have one and the only thing I use it for is to put lug nuts on my cars.

I snapped two bolts with my Ampro torque wrench, one that cost me $$ to have my mechanic remove. And I broke my vice grips trying to get the bolt out.

Buy craftsman around turkey day, they are good.

Oh I also almost snapped my water pump bolts with my ampro wrench but got a guy feeling something wasn't right. Fortunately they didn't snap. But that would've sucked. A lot.

Post by **Pauloil** » 24 Jan 2010, 17:53

good discussion
to add: torque wrench aren't breaker bars
when done, slacken the torque back to 0

Post by **jblackburn** » 24 Jan 2010, 18:10

Wrenches are one of the few things I would ever buy at Sears. Because it's something they know how to make. I (my dad) has a 15-yr-old Craftsman torque wrench that I borrow when I need to work on things, and it still works great.

I inherited a 40+ year old entire set of pretty much every Craftsman wrench imaginable (metric and US) when my grandfather passed away, and they're all great. The toolbox weighs nearly as much as I do, but that's besides the point

As far as power tools, lawnmowers, etc...you can do MUCH better than anything with the 'Craftsman' name on it...this is coming from experience...even my cheap Black & Decker drill is built better IMO.

jonl · Post by **jonl** » 24 Jan 2010, 19:23

Thanks, I appreciate everyone's opinions. I was thinking about either Craftsman or SK but it's been almost 25 years since I did anything serious with a car. With MGs and Triumphs, I could get away with an inexpensive beam type wrench (Craftsman). The is lots of room under the bonnet. As you all know, our circa 2000 Volvos are a different story.

Anyway, what I'd like to know is what range of torque is going to allow me to do anything from easy/common repairs up to something like a head gasket, intake or exhaust manifolds, water pump, or replacing a broken engine mount?

10 - 100 ft/lbs or 50 - 250 ft/lbs.

Whithout a decent shop manual, I really am not sure.

Thanks up front

Post by **jblackburn** » 24 Jan 2010, 19:33

10-100. A large majority of smaller things are under 50, and unless you plan on...building a bridge or something, I can't think of anything really that would need 250 ft-lbs. The smaller one is likely to be much more accurate anyway.

Most of the Volvo-specified torques are in Nm, so you can either convert like I do (since ours is old) or buy one with both settings.