Author Topic: Torque wrench (Read 9061 times)

wickedmonkey · « **on:** 01 March 2014, 08:46:23 am »

Does anyone have any torque wrench recommendations? Something that doesn't cost the earth though.

red98 · « **Reply #1 on:** 01 March 2014, 09:03:34 am »

bought this one from machine mart last year....torque range 20-155 ft lbs.....£23.98,much better than the price would suggest ....nearest machine mart to you is deal

Dead Eye · « **Reply #2 on:** 01 March 2014, 09:37:48 am »

You can get Draper ones from Amazon for around the £50~ mark or the cheaper alternatives like Silverline for £20-25

CRH · « **Reply #3 on:** 01 March 2014, 10:29:59 am »

Quote from: red98 on 01 March 2014, 09:03:34 am

bought this one from machine mart last year....torque range 20-155 ft lbs.....£23.98,much better than the price would suggest ....nearest machine mart to you is deal

...identical to mine paul

...best ive had to date

...

fazersharp · « **Reply #4 on:** 01 March 2014, 10:44:20 am »

This came up a while ago and I was recomended the draper Stock number 30357, Part number 3001A think it is 40nm - 210nm
Got mine from amazon - think it was on offer at the time. Thing is for me its only going to be for 3 nuts - back and front wheel and front sprocket nut.
Because I also have a smaller halfords pro one (expensive ) but very good think it gos up to 60 nm for everything else

Davieg47 · « **Reply #5 on:** 01 March 2014, 10:47:07 am »

Quote from: Dead Eye on 01 March 2014, 09:37:48 am

You can get Draper ones from Amazon for around the £50~ mark or the cheaper alternatives like Silverline for £20-25

I just bought a silverline one from flea bay,,seems ok,cant grumble for only £23

His Dudeness · « **Reply #6 on:** 01 March 2014, 11:01:17 am »

It's the low range wrench that you need for the bike not the big one.

unfazed · « **Reply #7 on:** 01 March 2014, 11:29:56 am »

I have 3 in total
3/8 drive Norbar with a range of 1Nm to 20Nm
3/8 drive Norbar with a range of 8Nm to 50nm
1/2 drive Draper with a range of 30 to 150Nm
These 3 cover everything I need to do on any bike and almost everything I need to do on the car.

A few important details when using a Torque Wrench:
Don't throw them around like people do with spanners.
Don't using them for opening bolts or nuts
Do wind them back to the stop point when finished using them. (This prevents excessive wear in the spring which causes the wrench to lose its calibration).

fazersharp · « **Reply #8 on:** 01 March 2014, 11:43:01 am »

UNFAZED
You seem to know about these tools
Too late now as ive got one (draper) but what worried me was how acurate the cheeper ones would be, and so defeating the reason for using one, or is it at least better than guess work.
Ok its very easy to over tighten a lower nm nut and thats why I have my expensive one up to 60nm but when say doing a bike rear wheel nut, just as tight as you can will be ok wont it without a torque wrench. ?

unfazed · « **Reply #9 on:** 01 March 2014, 01:35:29 pm »

I think with Torque Wrenches you get what you pay for and reasonable priced ones (£70 t £100) should be in every DIY mechanics toolbox
Take for example the Clutch Basket bolts these have a torque setting of 8Nm, the Camshaft cap bolts are 10Nm and the engine covers are 12Nm, very difficult to get these right by feel and many are over tightened to the point of damage. The big advantage of the torque wrench in the above examples is not only will the bolts be tightened to the correct torque but will also be tightened evenly and not having one bolt taking more pressure than the others. Less chance of warping or breaking something.
It is not to difficult to over tighten bolts with these torque levels.
I have seen more stripped and sheared 6mm and 8mm bolts than I care to remember. Most who have tried to change Fazer 600 exhaust knows how little force is required to strip these bolts

Draper are usually pretty good and the better ones should come with a calibration cert to show the accuracy. I would also doubt the accuracy of the cheaper ones particularly when working on the engine.
Difficult to call if a cheap one is better than no one, but from my experience the cheaper ones are not calibrated to as close a tolerance as the more expensive ones and lose there calibrated tolerance much quicker than the expensive one. (A friend works in calibration)
I rarely use the torque wrench for the rear axel nut and go on feel. How tight can you get it with the tools in the toolkit without standing on the spanner

His Dudeness · « **Reply #10 on:** 01 March 2014, 01:44:12 pm »

Yeah the rear axle bolt is done up to hup grrrrr Nm

Every other bolt needs the smaller range torque wrench

esetest · « **Reply #11 on:** 01 March 2014, 03:52:36 pm »

I have got the same one as Red 98 , bought it from Machine Mart a couple of years ago , also bought a long wrench at the same time , makes undoing the axle nut easy .

esetest · « **Reply #12 on:** 01 March 2014, 03:59:34 pm »

I also got a 6 point socket for the axle nut on the fazer, and a draper torque wrench which goes up to 75nm , which was fine on GS500F as that axle nut was 70nm .

wickedmonkey · « **Reply #13 on:** 01 March 2014, 05:03:07 pm »

Thanks all. That's really helpful. The main reason I want it is for the rear axle nut for chain adjusting but if it's safe to simply to it up as tight as possible then maybe I'll save my money or get a smaller one (at the moment, I'm pretty skint...)

Dead Eye · « **Reply #14 on:** 01 March 2014, 07:40:49 pm »

I have 3 at the moment;

1/4" (forget manufacturer) which is 10Nm to 30Nm
1/2" Silverline which is 42Nm to 210Nm
1/2" Draper (with certificate) which is 30Nm to 210Nm

I tend to use the Draper one the most and the majority of its use comes from cars more than anything. To undo bolts, I have a 1/2" drive 750mm Breaker Bar which usually gets the job done... access can get a bit fiddly with that thing though $:\$

The majority of my sockets are 3/8" inch or 1/4" and I always try to use the 6 point versions before resorting to the 12 point (I have far too many sockets...)

Edit: Also just found this; http://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-30357-Micrometer-Adjustment-Torque/dp/B0001K9S52/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1393702654&sr=8-10&keywords=torque+wrench - its on offer at the moment for £28.75 so its at a very good price imo

wickedmonkey · « **Reply #15 on:** 02 March 2014, 03:07:05 pm »

Hmmm. Tempted by the Clarke as the shop in Deal is only 1/2 hour away but I'm going to go with the cheap Draper on Amazon (thanks Deadeye for pointing this one out). Owning a bike is a damned expensive business.

Buzz · « **Reply #16 on:** 02 March 2014, 04:01:47 pm »

I got the smaller one from Amazon as well, been great so far.

Dead Eye · « **Reply #17 on:** 02 March 2014, 05:04:28 pm »

Oooh didn't notice the 3/8" one was on offer... just bought that to add to my collection as I do like Draper and my 1/4" one can feel a little flimsy

wickedmonkey · « **Reply #18 on:** 07 March 2014, 10:16:19 am »

Got my Stanley torque wrench from Amazon. Looks good (not that I'm an expert!) and comes with a calibration certificate. Not bad for under £30! Hopefully get to use it this weekend.

fazersharp · « **Reply #19 on:** 07 March 2014, 10:25:00 am »

By stanley --- you mean DRAPER
Heres mine

Any one know what the hand written numbers mean

wickedmonkey · « **Reply #20 on:** 07 March 2014, 10:31:37 am »

Cool, er, yep, Draper!

Any idea what the switch lever is for? Im pretty ignorant around torque wrenches.

fazersharp · « **Reply #21 on:** 07 March 2014, 10:53:09 am »

Left or right hand use / side of bike- but never undo with a torque wrench

Timbollew · « **Reply #22 on:** 07 March 2014, 10:56:39 am »

I'd think that the switch/lever is to change the ratchet from tightening to loosening although you're not supposed to use a torque wrench to loosen anything.

Dead Eye · « **Reply #23 on:** 07 March 2014, 11:58:24 am »

As above, the switch lever changes the ratchet drive direction from clockwise to anti-clockwise. Although you shouldn't undo anything with a torque wrench, it is a handy feature to have and imo is perfectly acceptable to use on bolts that aren't done up "tight" ... the definition of "tight" is personal opinion in this instance

unfazed · « **Reply #24 on:** 07 March 2014, 01:55:19 pm »

Quote from: Dead Eye on 07 March 2014, 11:58:24 am

As above, the switch lever changes the ratchet drive direction from clockwise to anti-clockwise. Although you shouldn't undo anything with a torque wrench, it is a handy feature to have and imo is perfectly acceptable to use on bolts that aren't done up "tight" ... the definition of "tight" is personal opinion in this instance

Main reason is for setting torque on left hand threaded nuts and bolts