[Shop-talk] Torque wrenches

[Eric Russell]

I have an old (1970's vintage) Craftsman beam type torque wrench. The
advantage is that it should never go out of calibration. The downside is
one has to be able view the scale straight on. I use it for cylinder heads
where I can easily see the scale and want to be sure of the accuracy. I
also have a Craftsman clicker (1990's vintage) that is useful for
situations where I can't easily see the beam wrench's scale. I carefully
store it and use the beam wrench to check its accuracy.

I also have a couple of cheap Harbor Freight clickers. Those go in my
travelling tool box that I take to the race track. They are accurate (!)
and I use them for things like lug nuts where I only want to know that they
are approximately torqued (wheels falling off are frowned upon). And if
they should get stolen or lost I wouldn't have to eat PB&J for a week or
two.

Eric Russell
Mebane, NC

On Thu, Feb 4, 2021 at 12:14 PM Benjamin Zwissler <bjzwissler at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I really like the clicker style though it took me 20 years to give up my
> old beam and needle wrench.  I bought two Tekton units and found them to be
> way out of spec quickly and I really didn't like the micrometer style,
> twist adjustment.  One of my sons worked at a tire store and they used dual
> beam clickers from Precision Instruments.  They are great and priced
> moderately at about $100 for the 3/8" and $130 for the 1/2".  I'm told they
> make SnapOn branded torque wrenches and they look the same for double the
> price.
>
> Looking into the differences the Precision Instrument wrenches are "dual
> beam" which means there's one beam attached to the handle and one floating
> as a reference to create the click.   Both are inside the handle and torque
> selector knob adjusts the amount of deflection required to click. Because
> its a beam style wrench calibration should not be required.  They also
> don't require you to return to zero to maintain the calibration.
>
> Anyway, my two cents.
>
> Ben
>
>
> Ben Zwissler
> bjzwissler at gmail.com
> 812-343-5533
> Columbus, IN
>
>
> On Thu, Feb 4, 2021 at 10:30 AM Scott Hall <scott.hall.personal at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I need a new torque wrench. The last time I bought one was 25 years
>> ago--a Snap-On 1/2" dial model.
>>
>> I don't expect to ever need to buy another one, and I want to like using
>> it/them.
>>
>> What's the current opinion on type and model? I don't think I want
>> beam-type, and I never trusted my clicker 3/8" one, but here's my shot to
>> buy my last torque wrench(es, I should probably get 1/4 - 1/2").
>>
>> Scott
>>
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-- 
Eric Russell
Mebane, NC
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