I have been looking at buying some tools and was wondering about Torque Wrenches.

There seem to be a few types and all with different ranges of Torque.

Do most people just have the one or do you have to get a couple to cover the cars requirements.

Does anybody have a particular one they recommend?

many thanks

/Simocento

If you are doing general work one is enough. If you start doing loads of engine rebuilds on alloy engines a wee one is very handy.

There is no opint in buying an expensive one for occasional use, they need recalibrated.

I buy a pack of four from Screwfix, and chuck one out every year.

Cheers

PD

rallycinq said:

If you are doing general work one is enough. If you start doing loads of engine rebuilds on alloy engines a wee one is very handy.

There is no opint in buying an expensive one for occasional use, they need recalibrated.

I buy a pack of four from Screwfix, and chuck one out every year.

Cheers

PD

Click to expand...

Why do you throw one out every year~?

Thanks
Ming

ycming said:

Why do you throw one out every year~?

Thanks
Ming

Click to expand...

Because they need to be recalibrated. Its cheaper to buy them in packs of four than get one recalibrated each year.

An incorrectly calibrated one is worse than not using one at all.

To ensure they stay 'in tune' as long as possble, wind off the tension each time you put it back in the tool box.

Cheers

PD

So would you class a small one as 10-80Nm - I just saw one of those on Amazon made by Draper

Halfords do a couple at 40-200Nm & 60-300Nm

I was just wondering what the range of Torques are for the Sei so not to buy anything either not suitable or OTT.

Nice one rallycinq good info

Personally I find a good quality 2nd hand one is better than a cheap new one.

We had a special torque checking box at work for a while, every so often we could check if they were still reading the correct figure. Only one 'went off' and that was a cheapy one that one of the guys bought off the market.

because companies have to keep them calibrated and upto date, you can often find bargains from engineering companies selling off their older (but still perfectly good) ones.

:yeahthat:
At work we don't have ours calibrated but measured properly every 12 to 18 months, the cheap ones go off wildly, the expensive ones take a long time to go far enough out that they need to be serviced.

As for what's needed, I have...
1/4" short handle 2.5 to 25Nm which I rarely use but when I use it is irreplaceable for access to things.
3/8" 10 to 50Nm which is mostly what I use for low range bolts
1/2" 25 to 135Nm which is used regularly for the higher torque items such as engine mounts, wheel nuts
3/4" 150 to 610Nm for tightening hub nuts & lifting cars off axle stands if you're not thinking about the direction of force application.

The 3/8" and 1/2" ones probablly cover over 95% of my torque downs & most of that just the 1/2" could cover but it does get very awkward at times, hence why I got the 3/8" wrench. The 1/4" & 3/4" ones are special use only and really are just nice to have around more than needed.

Thanks StoneNewt - That's the answer I was looking for - great stuff!!