Torque wrench choice

cryan said:
Norbar are imho the best torque products. Quite reasonable priced when compared to snap-on etc. they are made in the UK and are available from the likes of Cromwell tools.
Click to expand...

+1

I bought a Norbar torque wrench for my 21st birthday many years ago (early 80's) with the money my grandmother gave me.
I bought it from a fine tool shop just near Piccadilly station in Manchester IIRC.

I've used it quite a few times over the years when reassembling engines (mainly Mini cylinder heads, and hub nuts, crankshaft nuts etc).
Not something I use often, but when it's needed it's priceless.
A fine tool and a joy to use.
Every time I use it I think of her and thank her too.

Norbar = Quality.
 
+1 for the Halfrauds "pro" ones. I have a 3/8" and a 1/2" drive. Both appear to be good quality. there is some overlap in their scales, so I can check one against the other and they seem to agree. By no means a proper calibration, but it gives me some confidence at least. Snap-on and Facom also good.
 
Its just by chance I bought the Norbar one years ago. I remember it cost me a fair bit at the time (about 38 years ago!)

Out of interest and with other people mentioning the Halfords Pro range, we keep one of these on the boat (along with a case of other tools: screwdrivers, monkey wrenches allan keys etc etc)

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_862421_langId_-1_categoryId_255215

Its never let me down yet and its taken a few things apart!
 
Adhering strictly to the rule that "he who dies with most tools wins", I have two. One is a Snap-on 3/8" and the other is a cheaper 1/2" one (I can't remember what make). No doubt the former is more accurate but for the sort of work being carried out on a boat great accuracy is not so important.

I remember reading a statement in a the workshop manual for the Bentley 3-1/2 series cars that the manufacturers did not recommend the use of torque wrenches as they considered an experienced mechanic (ie the only sort they would consider fit to be working on such a car!) was better able to judge when a bolt was properly tensioned!
 
It depends how much torqueing you intend to do.

I have one of the cheep discount car part store ones with a simple pointer and scale. It has 3/8 and half inch on the other side.
Every now and again when in a tool store I end up over by the glass case drooling over the digital ones. but I just don't need one often enough.
almost every thing has a tourque setting.
I find its worth while for anything with studs. tightening a nut down on stud with a breaker bar is one of those mistakes which can really lead to a lot of swearing.
Don't tighten your wheel nuts with a breaker bar.

Cylinder heads. after changing a head gasket. my old pointer one does the job. I don't change head gaskets often enough to justify the expense of a fancy one.

Bolts If I break them. they are usualy easly replaced. Finding an adjustment bolt for a jeep's alltenator involves a lot of swearing.

Personally I like to have a really good set of sockets with al the funny little bit for reaching round corners. I often find you just can get in at the dam thing with torque wrench.
I have been known to get so P'd Off at a nut I took the whole engine out.:)
 
parsifal said:
Adhering strictly to the rule that "he who dies with most tools wins", I have two. One is a Snap-on 3/8" and the other is a cheaper 1/2" one (I can't remember what make). No doubt the former is more accurate but for the sort of work being carried out on a boat great accuracy is not so important.

I remember reading a statement in a the workshop manual for the Bentley 3-1/2 series cars that the manufacturers did not recommend the use of torque wrenches as they considered an experienced mechanic (ie the only sort they would consider fit to be working on such a car!) was better able to judge when a bolt was properly tensioned!
Click to expand...

So how many studs do they have to beak on an Vauxhall before you have enough experience for a Bentley :)
 
Years ago, I owned a VW camper van, and did my own maintenance (young and poverty stricken in those days!) I needed to work on the brakes, and to do this, had to remove the wheel hubs. VW camper van wheel hubs are held on with a ginormous nut (about 50mm, ISTR - I've still got the socket, somewhere!). All I had to turn it was a substantial tommy bar. Getting the things off was really hard - until I hit on the idea of wedging the tommy bar somehow, and then lowering the jack so the weight of the van came on the tommy-bar! It worked, but was certainly the sort of thing you only do when you're young and impecunious.

Getting them back on - the nut was supposed to be done up to a specific torque, but I didn't have a torque wrench in those distant days, nor did I have the funds to buy one. So, I did some sums in my head and worked out that if I stood on the end of the tommy bar, that worked out at about the right torque! The van was OK after that, so I must have got it good enough for government work, as they say.
 
AntarcticPilot said:
Years ago, I owned a VW camper van, and did my own maintenance (young and poverty stricken in those days!) I needed to work on the brakes, and to do this, had to remove the wheel hubs. VW camper van wheel hubs are held on with a ginormous nut (about 50mm, ISTR - I've still got the socket, somewhere!).
Click to expand...

53mm, I think. There is one in my toolbox, for precisely the same reason ...
 
Out of interest... I have a 1/2" 'clicker' type torque wrench, many years old and quite a cheap one. It is by far the longest ratchet lever that I've got. Is it permissible to use it past its 'click' point to undo a stubborn nut/bolt? ie will it damage it to apply more torque than the max torque it will measure?
 
JumbleDuck said:
I am an unashamed torque wrench snob: Norbar or nothing. That's the definitive "set the torque, turn till it clicks" variety. My standard one is a 1/2" drive SL1, but when I replaced the head on the 1GM10 I added a 3/8" drive SL0 because some of the torques are both low and critical - in particular the exhaust elbow securing nuts. The SL0 has the additional advantage of fitting in a small toolbox, though it only goes up to 20Nm.

I bought my SL1 new but got the SL0 on eBay where they come up regularly for thirty quid or so.
Click to expand...

So, I'm right to carry on using my 1/2" Norbar ? It must be something like 35 + years old now, I was worying it might no longer be accurate, but it was within 1% of that of a new calibrated torque wrench when checked a few months ago.
 
Uricanejack said:
So how many studs do they have to beak on an Vauxhall before you have enough experience for a Bentley :)
Click to expand...
If you are in the habit of re-using head bolts or other critical bolts you will as some point come across one which won't allow the torque wrench to get to the click point.
It has become elastic. So the question is; do you slacken it off and do it up to 5 lbs/ft less or do you replace it?

If you replace it, do you think about the rest of the set?

An experienced mechanic will be able to tighten a bolt until he feels it stretch. It also depends how coarse the thread is and what material it is screwed into.
 
alahol2 said:
Out of interest... I have a 1/2" 'clicker' type torque wrench, many years old and quite a cheap one. It is by far the longest ratchet lever that I've got. Is it permissible to use it past its 'click' point to undo a stubborn nut/bolt? ie will it damage it to apply more torque than the max torque it will measure?
Click to expand...

My understanding is that yes you will damage it.
 
alahol2 said:
Out of interest... I have a 1/2" 'clicker' type torque wrench, many years old and quite a cheap one. It is by far the longest ratchet lever that I've got. Is it permissible to use it past its 'click' point to undo a stubborn nut/bolt? ie will it damage it to apply more torque than the max torque it will measure?
Click to expand...

having broken a half inch ratchet, I would say it is possible.
I was told "never put a pipe on a ratchet" didn't listen. It what breaker bars are for.
 
john_morris_uk said:
My understanding is that yes you will damage it.
Click to expand...

I've heard that too. I've never liked to try it! In THEORY, it should be perfectly possible to do it because I'd have thought a well-designed torque wrench should have robust internal stops to carry excess torque AFTER the click (to prevent the relatively delicate spring in there from becoming stretched, which would alter the calibration). However, it's not something I really want to try. As has been said, breaker bars are the right tool for the job.
 
Lakesailor said:
If you are in the habit of re-using head bolts or other critical bolts you will as some point come across one which won't allow the torque wrench to get to the click point.
It has become elastic. So the question is; do you slacken it off and do it up to 5 lbs/ft less or do you replace it?

If you replace it, do you think about the rest of the set?

An experienced mechanic will be able to tighten a bolt until he feels it stretch. It also depends how coarse the thread is and what material it is screwed into.
Click to expand...

There are two sorts of head bolt - the older sort that it SHOULD be possible to use indefinitely, and the newer sort of "stretch" or "torque-to-yield" bolts that MUST be replaced every time. The first sort are supposed to be sized so that they work within their elastic limit and unless they're removed and replaced often enough to fatigue, shouldn't stretch permanently (unless they've been overtightened). The second sort are designed to exploit a property of most steels where you go beyond the elastic limit (so that they "yield" and stretch permanently). There's a period after they have yielded, but before they snap, when they exert a pretty constant clamping force, because any further rotation (or application of torque) just stretches the bolt a bit more. They're supposed to provide a much more even clamping force than the older sort because of it. Usually the engines with those in them specify a "seating torque" (which is fairly low) plus an angle that they need to be turned through. That gets round the problem of variations in friction from one bolt to the next, because the torque wrench can't tell how much of the applied torque is overcoming friction and how much of it is clamping the joint.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top