Torque Wrench - what to buy?, for my motor rebuild.... and beyond? Options

[lagunero]

I've been looking at the Precision Instrument website and it seems that my choices are very slim, either very small or very large. I'd like to have a wrench that I can use for my rebuild and still be able to use it for larger stuff. Is there a wrench out there that covers such broad range? I don't want to buy from Sears anymore and I'd like to buy something that is rahter accurate and durable. Precision made the Snap-On wrench for many years and I feel are still better for a whole lot less. Am I stuck having to buy two wrenches?

[Dave_Darling]

QUOTE

QUOTE (bondo @ Mar 23 2005, 02:02 PM) The guy at sears said I could exchange it just like any other craftsman tool.. haven't tried to do it yet though. I seem to recall that they don't do that anymore with the torque wrenches or the powertools . With sockets and other wrenches, no problem.

Depends on who you talk to at the Sears. Some of the staff will tell you that a torque wrench is a measurement device, not a hand tool. And as such, it is not covered by the warranty. Some will say that the wrench part (the ratchet, handle, etc.) is covered, but the "clicker" part is not. Some just say, "hey it's a tool" and will tell you to grab a new one...

I bought Snap-On, because my cheapo Chinese torque wrench blew the ratchet out one day while I was torquing the lug bolts on my 914. That was a painful experience I don't wish to repeat. However, I did use that cheapo one for something like five years with no problems until that. I checked it periodically against the beam wrench and it was always on calibration.

I recall reading a survey of torque wrenches that found Snap-On ones were in the middle of the pack for accuracy (or was it holding their accuracty?). But I figured I could just keep checking against my beam wrench, and the quality of the rest of the mechanism would hold up for about ever.

I have three that I use, now. The new-ish 5-75 lb-ft 3/8" drive, the older 15-150 lb-ft 3/8" drive, and the beam wrench which I dig out every few months to check the other two against. For a while, I used the aforementioned Chinese clicker (10-150 lb-ft, I think) and a Craftsman inch-pound clicker (15-150 in-lb or thereabouts), and occasionally checked them against the beam wrench. Then I bought the "larger" Snap-On to replace the Chinese one, and used it and the in-lb one. Just recently I bought the "smaller" Snap-On one to use in place of the Craftsman. If I need less than 5 lb-ft (not sure for what!!) I'll dig out the Craftsman.

Tough to get away from needing two torque wrenches when you have things like the 9.4 lb-ft torque on the sump retaining nut, and also things lik 94 lb-ft for the lug bolts.

--DD