Needing a new Torque Wrench - Any Suggestions?

As the title states, I'm looking for a new 1/2" Torque Wrench. Any thoughts on the Harbor Freight ones? Worth paying more for digital? I don't use them often, but want to get a new one for installing my Spidertrax spacers this weekend.

Open to any suggestions. Thanks.

 

Just bought my 2nd HF one after about 6 years.

Verified it against known, good calibration tool - within tenths.

 

I originally bought the Craftsman digital one at Lowe’s and it was a total pain in the ass for a myriad of reasons. I returned it and bought a regular Kobalt torque wrench. It’s accurate and works as it should.

 

Icon, Quinn, or Pittsburgh? Worth paying the additional for digital? It seems the prices spike when going digital.

 

Pittsburgh

I checked it at intervals of 10

For my purpose, I dont need digital.

 

Thanks I'll check them out tomorrow or Saturday.

 

Don't use Harbor Freight crap torque wrenches for something as critical when torquing wheel spacers. I work in a calibration lab and we verify literally thousands of torque wrenches every year. Harbor Freight are the worst to meet specs and they have a wide tolerance. Cheap ass Chinese internal slip blocks and spring. Pure crap. No repeatability. Rarely ever meet reported specs and usually never meet specs new out of the box. We only guarantee specs for that day they get verified. Yes....that bad. We get very few in for cal for good reason. We verify torque wrenches with several different torque standards. CDI Suretest and Stahlwille torque calibration systems. Costs thousands $$$!

 

Don't....

 

Any mid level brands you'd recommend? I don't use them enough to warrant buying an expensive torque wrench like snapon or anything in that realm. I think Lowe's is now selling Craftsman which should be decent. I'm not sure what brand I have now, it's a cheap knockoff one that I don't think is in spec which is the reason I'm wanting to grab a new one before the install to ensure I'm torqueing them properly.

 

You don't need the added expense for a digital although they are nice and not all digitals have the same specs and repeatability. What's the max you want to spend? $25, $50, $100? Once I know that it will help. A decent reasonable torque wrench for your needs is Tekton for example. We get torque wrenches in for cal that can run several hundred $ but are used daily and/or have to meet military or NASA specs for example. Overkill for your use of course but I'm trying to give you examples of what we are capable of doing. I need a pair of Bora wheel spacers before I put my lift on. When I get the spacers, I'll use one of our verified standard wrenches from work. I'd personally recommend an American made CDI torque wrench. Well built. Great steel slip blocks and spring. What's important to look for is specs of course. All torque wrenches are spec'd in %, even digitals. Never ever in tenths...Never. The verification % spec is based upon our predetermined set points based upon the range and reported specs of the particular torque wrench we are testing.

 

I think probably 250 ft lbs would be plenty for anything I'd ever being doing myself. I'd be okay dropping up to $100-$150 max on a 1/2" wrench.

 

Perfect! I'm going to check out a few options for you with that budget. You can get a decent well made quality torque wrench for that price point. I'll PM you this evening with some options. I'm dealing with my grandson right now and after work beer..ha! If you are willing....once you get whatever wrench you decide on...send it to me and I will personally calibrate it for free with data at our lab here in Colorado. Quick turn.

 

Thanks Matt!

 

Definitely not trust the HF torque wrench...pos

 

Lots of nifty info but zero mention of specs. None. Hmmmm...They claim 40 years, engineered in the USA but of course cheaply made in China. We haven't even seen these in our cal lab and I've been doing this for over 40 years. Our torque guru at work has been doing mainly torque for as long as me and has not seen this brand. All digital torque wrenches will convert inch lbs, ft lbs, etc to Newton's. Newton's is the international SI unit for torque. Required for most applications nowadays....but not all digital torque wrenches are the same when it comes to quality measurements.

 

“Cheap ass Chinese internal slip blocks and spring“

This sums it up well. Please don’t buy stuff from these thieves......the chinese.

 

Just recommended this nice CDI torque wrench to @AZTundra
https://cscforce.com/product/cdi-to...nches-comfort-grip-handle-english-dual-scale/

$188 CDI 2503MFRPH Comfort Grip Dual Scale Micrometer Adjustable Click Style Torque Wrench - 1/2" Drive - 30 to 250 ft. lb. Torque Range

https://www.amazon.com/Industrial-C...e+30+to+250-Foot+Pounds&qid=1599183257&sr=8-1

 

Thanks again Matt. It looks like the quickest shipping would get it here on Saturday if I ordered within the next 5 hours. I was hoping to tackle this job early Saturday morning and with my luck Amazon usually shows up late afternoon. I might see what I can find locally that I could pick up at a store tomorrow. Are there any store brands that you recommend?

 

I concur somewhat. You are new here. Tone it down a bit. You got no likes for that post. Wasn't political but Chinese every day folks in general aren't thieves. I get your drift. I'll leave it at that...

 

https://www.tundras.com/threads/torque-wrench-preferences.71664/#post-1845011

Some good options in this thread. If I could only have one, I would pick the Precision Instruments unit. USA made.

 

That Precision Instruments is a high quality vintage non slip block, no spring...purely mechanical type like Stahlwille. There is a reason why that vintage PI torque wrench is still in that OP's set of torque wrenches. Buy once....cry once... Quite expensive and the OP can't get one at his price point.

 

None come to mind. Patience is a virtue..ha
Delay one day. You will thank me...

 

I think I'll go this route and just wait it out.

 

I just purchased a husky 1/2 about 6 months ago and i like it a lot. Very well built..I put the link to the one I got below.


https://www.homedepot.com/p/202916180

 

You will end up with a quality torque wrench that will be truly reliable for a long time.

 

That's a fairly decent torque wrench but no specs. The Husky's use a very small slip block that eventually rounds off if you use it a lot which will affect accuracy and more importantly....repeatability.

 

I bought a Tekton from Amazon to do my suspension upgrade - reasonably priced at $50-$60 and works well.

TEKTON 1/2 Inch Drive Click Torque Wrench (25-250 ft.-lb.) | 24340

$72 TEKTON 1/2" Drive Micrometer Torque Wrench (25-250 ft.-lb.) | 24340

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C5ZL1NS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_RkxN6TAXjCcJi

 

I'm curious as to what everyone does that buys mid to low price torque wrenches after a year or two. Do people just toss them once they're out of calibration and buy new ones considering the cost and inconvenience of getting them calibrated? I'm in a similar boat to the OP and getting ready for some suspension work but only have a couple of old Craftsman wrenches that are probably way out of cal.