wheel torque wrench--what brand & where to buy

[Jeffer2013]

off to the city today and need to buy a torque wrench for corvette and Camaro,
need a decent one but not the best, do I go with one inch and how heavy a handle,
need what about 150 foot pounds capacity and where on sale this month?

looks like crappy tire is 130 and napa for the same picture is 155 maybe just wait for a sale

thoughts Jeff

 

[Rruuff Day]

If you're just using it for wheels on your cars, a 1/2 inch drive, 150 ft-lbs will work just fine. Torque recommendation for the C7 is 100 ft.- lb. Don't know what the Camaro is but very few wheel nuts will ever be above 120 ft. lbs. Buy a 'click' style. Princess auto have good prices on a range of torque wrenches for the back yarder and they have the best return policy in the free world. No receipts, no questions. I think they have a 150 ft.- lb click style on sale right now for 69.00.

I'm sure you know this but always re-check wheel torque after 100 km or so of driving with aluminum wheels. Aluminum wheels can't be made with the spring relief that steel wheels are made with, thus they need to be re-torqued after a bit of a drive to ensure they are still snug after movement, temperature change, whatever.

 

[RockyPM]

Jeff I bought mine from crappy tire in 2011 when I bought the corvette. It is the click style and was on sale for under 100 bills. If you watch they should be on sale when they have the up to 70% off sales. Did you get your Camaro delivered yet or waiting till spring?

 

[Nik]

Jeff I bought mine from crappy tire in 2011 when I bought the corvette. It is the click style and was on sale for under 100 bills. If you watch they should be on sale when they have the up to 70% off sales. Did you get your Camaro delivered yet or waiting till spring?

I too have the crappy tire one, got it under 70 on sale for the 1/2 inch drive. Does the job for heavier duty stuff like wheels.

 

[VelocityYellowRules!]

Ditto bought a 1/2 drive probably 150 lb ft max, probably a 2 1/2 foot long handle torque wrench from CT on sale, I can't remember the price but it is Mastercraft in a nice grey plastic case and I am very satisfied with it. . I use it to even break the wheel nuts free when changing the tires due to the greater torque compared to my regular ratchet or car wheel wrench since you can change direction just like a regular ratchet. Set it to max and reverse the direction and much less force required if your nuts have been on for a while..................

Easy to set locking twist handle, the "click" when you've reached your desired setting.............

I'd buy one again, if needed and it happened to be on sale......................

 

[Black 03 Z06]

I have a Canadian Tire torque wrench as well, sadly they were just on sale at CTC last week. I am sure you will not have to wait too long for them to be on special again.

One thing to remember is to return the torque preset value to zero after you have finished working with the wrench. Do not store the wrench loaded so to speak.

Good luck with your search.

 

[Rruuff Day]

Good reviews for CT wrenches. I have backed off a bit on CT lately as they have modified their lifetime warranty on certain tools.... Learned that when I tried to do a return.... Not that it will necessarily malfunction, but only a one year limited on their Maximum Torque wrench....

 

[Jeffer2013]

Product #125-0056-2 will call and see if they know when it is on sale again as I can wait
looks like it does not go on sale so mastercraft at 60% off in 1/2 inch click style will have to do
Jeff

 

[tyho]

Same, Can. tire, 250 lbs/ft. Cost was around $80 3 years ago. Good for wheel changes.

 

[Riley P]

Bought a WestWard torque wrench years ago when I was a student and got tools at 50% off, or something ridiculous like that. It works like every other wrench.

******THE BIGGEST THING FOR ANY TORQUE WRENCH IS TO RETURN IT TO ZERO AFTER USING IT*************

If you keep your torque wrench set at 100 lb-ft all the time, the spring can relax and give you a false reading so make sure to zero it every time before putting it away.

 

[ddgermann]

Product #125-0056-2 will call and see if they know when it is on sale again as I can wait
looks like it does not go on sale so mastercraft at 60% off in 1/2 inch click style will have to do
Jeff

Unless you are pulling tractor wheels off the 1/2 is all anyone uses for light automotive Jeff. Now I'm wondering what kind of crazy wheels did you get...???

bigger ones make Jeffer go faster......

 

[VelocityYellowRules!]

I had no idea it should be reset to zero when not in use, thankfully it is in the room next to where I'm typing this so no procrastinating!! Also was able to check and I have a CT 250 lb ft unit but mine is product number 58-8562-8. Oddly unlike my previous post comments in reading the manual it says not to use it as a breaker bar - oops!

The instruction books does also say "after use return torque wrench to lowest setting to avoid damage to the spring. Do not adjust below the lowest reading on the scale" which in this case is 20 lb ft. And guess who dialed it all the way back to the beginning of the handle??!!! Back to the room next door for me!

Oh ya, it is also 27 1/2 inches in length.

A 1/2 inch drive should also be easily enough for ANY automotive need. For example I have a 1" socket set but in the 37 years I've owned it even on the farm it doesn't get used much. But I'd also have to admit somewhere along the line using the breaker bar with a snipe and bending the breaker bar on some project..............

Cheers,

Garry

 

[jube455]

Just a small tidbit of info. Torque wrenches do need to be checked and calibrated.
As an apprentice I bought both a 3/8 and 1/2 snap-on torque wrench. About 5 years of use it was out be just under 10%, meaning things were being under torqued.

 

[jube455]

And don't ever use a torque wrench in reverse. They aren't meant to break bolts or nuts loose.

 

[turbozig]

I recommend Proto, a little more money, but stays in calibration and very reliable. Buy quality and buy for life. We repair and calibrate all brands at my work, and I would never touch a Princess or Westward wrench. I am the service manager of our calibration lab, and see the Chinese junk and the quality tools and instruments. If you saw the internals and the torque results you would understand. The older Can Tire professional wrenches are pretty good over all. If you can afford a $50-100K car, why use a cheap Chinese POS tool on it? But it's your car and you life behind the wheel. JMHO.

 

[turbozig]

Just a small tidbit of info. Torque wrenches do need to be checked and calibrated.
As an apprentice I bought both a 3/8 and 1/2 snap-on torque wrench. About 5 years of use it was out be just under 10%, meaning things were being under torqued.

Alot of the cheap wrenches we see at our calibration lab are up to 50% out of cal right out of the box and no repeatability!

 

[Black 03 Z06]

Jeffer, just looked at the Canadian Tire flyer for December 15 to the 21st. They have torque wrenches on sale at 60% off. Half inch 50 to 250 part number 58-9643-0 $55.00 regular $140.00.

My CTC wrench does not go that high but it goes considerably lower which is handy. Thought I would pass this along.

They have low profile jacks on sale as well but I see you got one.

Good luck

 

[turbozig]

I have spoke with Jeff in great detail about torque wrenches and the correct before and after procedures on using one "correctly " to obtain accurate results. This weekend I will post a seperate thread with details and suggestions. Please stand by!

 

[Black 03 Z06]

Appreciated Ziggy.

 

[VelocityYellowRules!]

While I know that the instructions say not to use them in reverse I was curious as to why the torque wrench has the ability to into a loosen mode at all if you shoul dnot be using in in that fashion?

Any chance that it works without pressure being applied on the spring when going in reverse?

The reason I ask is that I had to pop my tire off the car yesterday and brought out the wrench to torque down. It had been left in the required 20 lb ft minimum on the handle while in the case and I had a stuck nut so I put the torque wrench on it and never set it up higher and it popped off the nut without any clicking......................would not a wrench tightened to 90 lb ft require more than 20 lb ft to loosen it??