recommend me a good torque wrench please.

[LegoHead]

I'm a nerd and want a torque wrench.

Seen a snap on, on ebay for £75......

 

[scoob666]

i too am a tool nerd go to halfords all thier professional ones are guarenteed for life and are only £49.99 i have all 3 they have never let me down

 

[LegoHead]

I get trade discount too...

 

[V1NNY]

Draper ones good for the price

 

[scoob666]

I get trade discount too...

so you prob save £40 on the one on ebay all told after all with snap on your paying for the name in comparison thy are just as good as each other. vinny's right the draper one's good too also comes with calibration certificate if im thinking of the right one

 

[Jones]

get a clarke one from machine mart they are good, car and car conversions as it used to be did a group test and i got the thumbs up.

 

[V1NNY]

Draper one came out top here http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/products/59647/torque_wrenches.html

 

[Rich]

I got one from Machine Mart for about 25 quid, only use it for wheel nuts but it does the job.

 

[LegoHead]

What sort of range of torque settings are used on a typical car, I am guessing I'll probably need a few of them with different ranges.

The draper one looks top! £24 which i think is cheap!

 

[Luke2006]

Ive got the Draper one and couldn’t recommend it more, has a good range on it and I have been able to use it on everything from hub nuts to brake callipers

 

[G_F]

The front axel nut is 250Nm and that Draper one in the link doesnt go that high.

 

[tidyclio]

Like GavFre says most won't do hubs nuts but for anything else the cheap ones will do. To do hub nuts you need a 1/4 inch wrench and the cheapest I could find one was £70 from my local tool shop. If it's just for general things you can get the draper one but all I really use them for is wheels bolts spark plugs and hub nuts everything else just ft!

 

[G_F]

To do hub nuts you need a 1/4 inch wrench and the cheapest I could find one was £70 from my local tool shop.

Ditto on the price, £65 i paid for mine from here> EDIT: price gone up a fiver now.

http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.as...395nm-Or-516---291lb-ft-Ratchet-Torque-Wrench


Also got this second hand for the low down stuff

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?cId=A335586&ts=86918&id=44700

 

[G_F]

Some good sites that ive used in the past for tools...

www.screwfix.com
www.machinemart.co.uk
www.tooled-up.com

 

[BenR]

how accurate do you want/need to be?

 

[AliasOmega]

at the end of the day you can tell how tight to do a bolt. There are not many bolts on the car that really need torquing down.

A simple 8mm bolt will not require that much effort to shear it so common sense & some threadlock could be used.

Meanwhile head bolts and wheel hub bolts require more attention..

 

[G_F]

Most of the Draper wrenches are near perfect to 175Nm, then +-5 after untill 300 odd.

Car Mechanics mag being my source, albeit from memory

 

[BenR]

And they had a torque calibrator to test it?

 

[G_F]

at the end of the day you can tell how tight to do a bolt. There are not many bolts on the car that really need torquing down.

A simple 8mm bolt will not require that much effort to shear it so common sense & some threadlock could be used.

Meanwhile head bolts and wheel hub bolts require more attention..

Probably right, but my thinking is, if it has a torque figure for a given nut, it means its been tested and there is a reason for that figure. I dont think Renault would of just sat down and said "right lads, this track rod nut, someone throw me a figure to write down"

imo

 

[G_F]

And they had a torque calibrator to test it?

God knows, i will dig it out tomorrow and scan it in. But i doubt they just randomly made up that 5 page spread using cheese as there calibrator.

 

[AliasOmega]

if you ever look inside the haynes manual at the misc page, it lists all the torque settings for different size bolts. Therefore its only the main items that need torquing down.

Example being the hinge on the door pillar, im sure you dont go get your torque wrench out to do that..

Its like us in work, sometimes we are called to tighten bolts to 7nm, we just laugh and do it up...

Most important things have lock wire, tab washers fitted to them.

 

[BenR]

no, but i've read those practical mechanics and car mech mags before.......they read the manual.......lol.

second hand wrenches from a good brand might be a good buy, but you've no idea on calibration. Cheap wrenches of the spring (clicker) type are the least accurate.

If you want cheap and accurate, get a beam type.

 

[AliasOmega]

We have some in work which have a dial and a needle, you read off the guage as you go. Its ok for under 60nm.

Then above that your onto the dial setting ones in the handle with the clicker as the indicator. We have the ability outside the tools stores to check the setting against the meter..

 

[BenR]

i have dail and clicker and beam type wrenches, dont ask me why, i collect crap lol.

Dails rock, but they are expensive for good uns.

 

[AliasOmega]

Ah, we have no worries with tools.

We order them and they arrive. Good old tax payers cash eh..

 

[BenR]

you work for the mod or something?

 

[AliasOmega]

yea, kinda..

 

[BenR]

you fix prescotts jags?

 

[AliasOmega]

you could say im in the line of uk air defense...

anyway, bed time..