In case you wondered...

[semperfiguy98]

It's the time of year where my job requires me to turn in my measuring tools for calibration. My Snap On and Tekton torque wrenches did well (within 3% of target torque). So I asked if they would look at my Pittsburgh Pro 3/8 and 1/2 inch torque wrenches that I use at home. Here's the results

1/2 inch
Target Actual
45 45
75 76.6
120 123
150 154

3/8 inch
Target Actual
30 29.4
50 51.9
65 66.8
80 85

Overall, not bad. Just in case any of you are using Harbor Freight's torque wrenches, they are pretty damn close.

Michael

 

[DoubleDingo]

It's the time of year where my job requires me to turn in my measuring tools for calibration. My Snap On and Tekton torque wrenches did well (within 3% of target torque). So I asked if they would look at my Pittsburgh Pro 3/8 and 1/2 inch torque wrenches that I use at home. Here's the results

1/2 inch
Target Actual
45 45
75 76.6
120 123
150 154

3/8 inch
Target Actual
30 29.4
50 51.9
65 66.8
80 85

Overall, not bad. Just in case any of you are using Harbor Freight's torque wrenches, they are pretty damn close.

Michael

I've heard and read the harbor freight torque wrenches are really good. I trust all three that I have

 

[MrPink]

this is good info, thanks!

 

[Catbox]

Good info as I have the 1/2 and 3/8 version at home.

 

[legopnuematic]

For the whopping $10.00 that one of those will run you its hard to find a reason not to get them for those rougher jobs or less than perfect environments, or even as a regular user. With a lifetime warranty too, I think.

Only one I have had a little bit of issues with is the 1/4 inch version, seems like it will not want to click at the set torque, but I think that may be that there's too much squish in what is being bolted (like a valve cover w/ cork gasket) and never hits that torque.

Other than that have had my set for 7 years or so and still work fine.

 

[AuroraGirl]

It's the time of year where my job requires me to turn in my measuring tools for calibration. My Snap On and Tekton torque wrenches did well (within 3% of target torque). So I asked if they would look at my Pittsburgh Pro 3/8 and 1/2 inch torque wrenches that I use at home. Here's the results

1/2 inch
Target Actual
45 45
75 76.6
120 123
150 154

3/8 inch
Target Actual
30 29.4
50 51.9
65 66.8
80 85

Overall, not bad. Just in case any of you are using Harbor Freight's torque wrenches, they are pretty damn close.

Michael

aare these all click wrenches and do you recall ANY droppings or shocks to the tools and would you say the usage was consistent between them?

 

[semperfiguy98]

aare these all click wrenches and do you recall ANY droppings or shocks to the tools and would you say the usage was consistent between them?

They are both click type torque wrenches. No, I haven't dropped them or abused them in any way. They stay stored in the cases they came in. I don't use the Harbor Freight ones as often as I do my Snap On or Tekton wrenches, because I keep the Harbor Freight ones at home and use the others at work. I do use the Harbor Freight 6" digital calipers and dial indicator at work. Both of those calibrate within our standards. The only Harbor Freight measuring instrument that I have that doesn't meet our standards at work is the cheapo multimeter that they give away with purchase of something else. That's not to say that all Harbor Freight tools are great, but for the price you pay they do offer a decent degree of accuracy.

 

[AuroraGirl]

They are both click type torque wrenches. No, I haven't dropped them or abused them in any way. They stay stored in the cases they came in. I don't use the Harbor Freight ones as often as I do my Snap On or Tekton wrenches, because I keep the Harbor Freight ones at home and use the others at work. I do use the Harbor Freight 6" digital calipers and dial indicator at work. Both of those calibrate within our standards. The only Harbor Freight measuring instrument that I have that doesn't meet our standards at work is the cheapo multimeter that they give away with purchase of something else. That's not to say that all Harbor Freight tools are great, but for the price you pay they do offer a decent degree of accuracy.

would maybe the leads be the cause of the multimeter being off?

 

[Doc_Ellis]

Years ago I was doing a head gasket on my personal car over the weekend. As usual, I brought a collection of “good” tools home from the shop for that kind of job.

All was going well until I was getting close to torquing down the head and realized I’d forgotten my Snap-On torque wrench. Really didn’t feel like driving the two hours round trip to go get it.

I had the $9.99 HF special at the house just for torquing wheels, and figured what the hell... Torqued it down, it “felt” right anyway, and drove that car for another five years and 100k+ miles with no issues until the body rotted out from under it.

 

[semperfiguy98]

would maybe the leads be the cause of the multimeter being off?

It wasn't off on the Volts measurement. Only Ohms. And only in part of the scale was off. When they calibrate our tools, they use a set of test leads that they know are good then they use the leads we have on our tools.

 

[rt66paul]

The main part of torquing bolts is that the bolts are all torqued the same. Using the same torque wrench will make for an even torque. I feel that is more important to be even than to be to book spec.

Unless your wrench is more than 10% off.

 

[semperfiguy98]

The main part of torquing bolts is that the bolts are all torqued the same. Using the same torque wrench will make for an even torque. I feel that is more important to be even than to be to book spec.

Unless your wrench is more than 10% off.

I agree that consistency is likely more important that hitting the number dead on. I work at a research and development facility, so any fastener that we install has to be installed to the specified torque, or our test numbers could be off. We were working on an engine installation and found that the engine bolts were falling out at the specified torque, so we had to install higher grade bolts and increase the torque value. (Those ended up falling out, too. So we had to redesign the whole engine mount.) When I was a field tech I used to install most everything with an impact.

 

[ScottyB]

My son is a mechanic and has a Pittsburgh click style torque wrench after it was found to be off by 300%. I'm not saying all are bad but he will never touch that one again.