Torque Wrench [Merged 9-8] torque wrenches

[dbritt]

I'm bidding on a torque wrench on eBay right now and it is rated 10 ft lbs to 150 ft lbs. I was wondering if I will ever need any torque outside of that range to work on my 92 AWD talon and for what?

I need to know ASAP because the bid has only a few (9) hours remaining.

Thanks.

 

[dbritt]

Nobody knows, off the top of their head, whether or not a part on my car will need more/less torque than that?

 

[Mike 99GSX]

If you really want to have every bolt covered on your car then the answer is no. There are some small bolts that actually go down to inchpounds. However, that wrench will take care of 95% of your needs.

 

[dbritt]

OK, thanks. Knowing that...I now have a similar question:
If I get a wrench that also covers 0-10 ft lbs and will also measure in inch lbs, will I ever need more than 120 inch lbs?

 

[Mike 99GSX]

Originally posted by dbritt
OK, thanks. Knowing that...I now have a similar question:
If I get a wrench that also covers 0-10 ft lbs and will also measure in inch lbs, will I ever need more than 120 inch lbs?

If you're going to be doing any work that requires setting that specific, I wouldn't trust the accuracy at that small of a level. You can get a 1/4" drive inch pound wrench at Sears for like $60.

 

[ChicagoGSX]

Originally posted by dbritt
OK, thanks. Knowing that...I now have a similar question:
If I get a wrench that also covers 0-10 ft lbs and will also measure in inch lbs, will I ever need more than 120 inch lbs?

120 inch lbs = 10 ft lbs.

After that then the 10-120 wrench will work. The conversion for inches to feet is the same for in. lbs/ft lbs.

 

[Mike 99GSX]

Originally posted by ChicagoGSX


120 inch lbs = 10 ft lbs.

After that then the 10-120 wrench will work. The conversion for inches to feet is the same for in. lbs/ft lbs.

My point was that there are bolts less than 120" pounds on the car. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[dbritt]

Great, thanks for the tips. I knew the conversion from ft to inches ;-)
That's why I said 120" lbs. I figured anything over 120" lbs would not need to be measured in inch pounds...but it would be in ft lbs, am I right? Hope so.

Thanks again

 

[tan]

you can get a set of torque wrench from harbor freight tools, 1/4,3/8,1/2 that should cover most of the bolts

 

[tlnpwr]

dont expect much outta the wrenches from ebay. i bought one from ebay, and the 1st night the extention that came with it broke as i was tightening the lug nut. luckily, that's all that broke. and that was using it at 100 ft/lbs.

fyi...the torque book at my shop says that for my 95tsi, it requires 85-115 ft/lbs. at my shop i just use a 100 ft/lbs torque stick.

 

[lexrockhard]

I'm planning to change the fuel filter on my 1g, which everyone says is pretty easy, but I have to buy some tools to do it myself. I'm not worried about breaking anything myself but I'm worried about the torque that I need to apply to bolts when finishing up. The torque wrench prices i've been looking at aren't that low and if I have to buy one I might as have the all the work done at a shop for the same price.

When tightening the fuel filter bolts should I be measuring them to spec or should I just use gut instinct and tighten if I see leaks?

 

[steve]

Consider the torque wrench an investment. You'll use it every time you work on your car.

You can do the job without and you may find that you can't reach the lower fitting with the torque wrench anyway. Do get four new crush washers for the banjo bolts, that will help avoid leaks.

Getting the old filter out can be difficult. You'll need two open wrenches and you want to position then with one on the filter and one on the banjo bolt so that you squeeze them together to loosen the bolt.

Steve

 

[JoeWagon]

Aren't you planning on needing a torque wrench for future work? They are necessary for a lot of jobs, including torquing lug nuts on your wheels, head bolts.. etc lots of stuff.

 

[Defiant]

You probably won't be able to get it in to the fuel filter, but get a torque wrench. The simple bar-and-needle wrenches don't go out of calibration and don't die if you drop them.

For the fuel -and, most fasteners- you just adjust to feel. It's hard to express without hands-on. Torque applies more usually to the fastener than to the application: look at the introductory pages of any shop manual and you'll find a chart of torque values based on fasterner size and grade. It's only the odd things like torque-to-yield head bolts and the like that get goofy. Then there's the torque-to-degree and other kind of jimcrackery they've come out with lately.

Some serious stuff, such as marine diesel head studs, use hydraulic pressure on the stud, then the nut is run down hand-tight. The pressure's then taken away, and bing-o, it's to spec. Of course, the studs are the size of your wrist....

 

[GeneralChaos]

Originally posted by Defiant
Then there's the torque-to-degree and other kind of jimcrackery they've come out with lately.

jimcrackery. thats cracking me up, maybe im just tired

 

[Cool Mr Steve]

I'm going to need a torque wrench for my clutch install. I will probably need it for a couple things after this, but I just need a wrench that I can trust enough for a clutch job. I've been looking around, but I wasn't sure how nice I need to go before I can trust it. I found ones for under $30, but I also found a nice looking Husky 3/8in drive torque wrench thats rated for 20-100lbs. Its about $50. Most of the other ones were 10-80lbs. What do you think?

 

[a_scobel]

...I had a wrench, and I hit him. And I didn't intend to keep hitting him,|but when I finished, I couldn't lift my arm. He's a janitor at a high school. Rides a bus to work every day.

Sorry..couldn't resist.

I have one from Harbor Freight..was only like $20.

 

[mmmmbst]

I suggest getting one thats rated 100 ft lbs or more, you might need it for another project, who knows it would suck if you had to buy another one. if you have the money i suggest snap on or craftsman

 

[Old Mitsu Tech]

Actually, if you get right down to it, a good foot pound click type, or if you are a precision type of guy, a dial type torquometer. I use the click type. I have a 1/2 drive foot pound, a 3/8 drive in foot pound and a 1/4 drive in inch pound.

If I were to buy only one, it would be the 1/2 foot pound.

Good Luck

 

[jott5555]

i just had my harbor freight one calibrated after 2 years of lots of usage.. head stud's and all.. i was 2 ft lbs off from origional.. and it was only 20.00 with a shiny red case.

 

[Cool Mr Steve]

Thats two votes for Harbor Freight... I'm sold. Thanks guys!

 

[95burgundyesi]

Hey guys, tomorrow I will be finished taking out my transmission and I was looking around for torque wrenches. Harbor fright has on sale Pittsburg 1/2 and 3/8 drive for 11 bucks, and they usually 25 bucks.

I have a few Pittsburg open end wrenches, but was wondering if anyone has had good results with Pittsburg stuff. Or maybe someone has another brand they prefer for this kind of price. I know I get what I pay for and I should consider this an investment becasue I will be using it a lot, but after the trans clutch and flywheel I would love to save somewhere.

And are there different designs of torque wrenches that work better than others?

 

[snowborder714]

I have the same 1/2" torque wrench. I've had it for close to a year and have had to replace it once because the head broke. But since Pittsburgh has a lifetime warranty, you just bring it back to HF and they'll give you a new one for nothing. It works very well, but seemed to become uncalibrated as time went on. I noticed that when trying to dial in a setting it would not line up as it should. This did bother me, but wasn't that big of a deal, so I just learned to adjust for it's error. I'm sure if I brought it back to HF and said it wasn't calibrated as it should be, that they'd replace it. Overall, I think it's a great buy and beats spending $240+ on a name brand that does the same thing.

 

[Locke]

If you can't see yourself using it very often, a cheap one is fine. I used to own cheap ones until I found myself using them quite often, and seeing the cheap ones stop functioning properly.

There are different types of torque wrenches: Deflecting Beam, Clicker, Electronic, and Mechatronic.

 

[wret]

I've used an HF wrench for about ten years--good value. It was kept in the back of the car for its primary use of tightening lug nuts.