What torque wrench for most basic maintenance stuff

I use the husky in 3/8 and 1/4 inch drive I’ve been pretty happy with them.

 

I have the Tekton 1/2" torque wrench. Checked it's accuracy using a Quinn Torque Adapter. Predicated on the Quinn unit being accurate, the Tekton was only .6# over and my 40+ year old Craftsman Digitork was 1.6# over the set torque. Not too shabby....

 

I have a craftsman 1/2” 20-150 and 3/8” drive 10-75 ftlbs micro lick. The 1/2” model has been very accurate and reliable for 3 years, It’s been tested twice and reads accurate across the whole torque range within 1 ftlb. I damaged my 3/8” model when I sprayed a degreaser on it and the locking collar got glued in the locked position.

 

And when your not using it. Twist it back to zero ft.lbs.

 

I do not trust HF torque wrenches. I stripped tappet nuts on a Kawasaki with one many years ago and will never use them again.

I use only craftsman now.

However.... I do sort of trust HF's Quinn torque adapter: I check it frequently against craftsman wrenches and it's always acceptably close.

 

Suggest if buying a cheap torque wrench get a selection of beam types.

I have a 0 to 150 ft lbs, 0 to 75 ft lbs. That allows me to stay within their prime accuracy range.

 

Anything under 20 ft/lbs, I convert to inch/lbs and use my inch/lb torque wrench. 15 ft/lbs X 12=180 in/lbs.

 

Any of these clicker torque wrenches are only as accurate as they are calibrated... and that changes quite drastically day to day with changes in temps etc.

Any one of the 3 sizes of harbor freight torque wrenches can be adjusted via the adjustment nut on the handle. Calibrate them against the HF digital torque adapter and you can have 3 wrenches all more consistently accurate than a single fancy wrench for less.

 

This lil guy pops @ 100ft/lbs after my $450 digital snap-on torque wrench puts it there. only reason i have the fancy snap-on trq wrench is for doing degree stuff.

$45 TEKTON 1/2" Drive Micrometer Torque Wrench (10-150 ft.-lb.) | 24335

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C5ZL0RU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

1/4 snapon digital for the little stuff. Cause im anal about torque specs. Torque sticks for everything I can get an impact on.

 

I have a 1/2" and 3/8" drive Craftsman that I've had for years. I bought a 1/4 drive Pittsburg 20-200 in. lbs. from Harbor Freight. Since I used to work in Quality and had access to a torque wrench calibrator I had them checked for accuracy. Both the Craftsmans were within calibration standards, but the 1/4 drive from Harbor Freight was way off. The guy that ran the torque calibrator couldn't believe how far out of calibration standards it was and had me watch him perform the calibration. At the low end, 40 in. lbs. it was reading about 60 in. lbs or so and at 160 in. lbs. it was about 200 in. lbs or so. About 20" high at the low end and about 40" at the higher end. I took the Harbor Freight 1/4 drive apart and re-assembled it and we checked it again, It was considerably closer, within reason, but you get what you pay for. The calibration certificate that comes with the 1/4" drive Harbor Freight is worthless. Because I wanted a 1/4 drive in the 250" range, I now have a Master Force from Menards, three times the price of Harbor Freights and goes to 250 in. lbs. If I ever get a chance to have it checked for calibration I will. I gave the Harbor Freight one to my son and told him about my calibration experience and the wrench should be ok now, but if you can make sure you exercise it before you actually use it on a fastener spec. I always work my way up to the speced out torque spec of the fastener, especially on the smaller 1/4" drive torque wrench.
I can understand why people who've purchased a Harbor Freight 1/4 drive torque wrenches have stripped threads. You get what you pay for.

 

HI
For anyone that can help, I need to change rear and front differential oils and transfer case too. Can anyone recommend a torque wrench in terms of size (1/2 , 3/4 or 3/8). That's all the work I will do. In terms of budget, I like to stay less than $100 if possible. Thanks everyone and God Bless.

 

If you must use a torque wrench for those gearbox oil changes, I'd suggest a 3/8" from Harbor Freight. However, in my opinion you don't need a torque wrench for those jobs.
Do you rotate your tires? If so, a 1/2" torque wrench is a good idea to tighten the lug nuts. Again, one from Harbor Freight will handle it just fine. And they are affordable.

 

X 2 100% - I do all my fluid changes - never used a torque wrench and never had a problem. It's important to torque Tire lug nuts - when you're doing 85 mph you want the tires to run as smoothly as possible. Get one that a accurately torques 83 ft/lb

 

I’ve gotten two tektons, a 10-150 and a 25-250, I also have a beam type craftsman torque wrench.

 

As a general rule, the bigger the drive size, the bigger the torque. However, my inch pound small one is a 3/8 drive but designed to be 1/4 drive. I just ordered the one with the 3/8 head.

Some auto parts stores will rent tools, that might be the way to go for you if you don’t want to own one.

 

The beam type wrench I have is 3/8s and inch pounds, I think it was when Craftsman tools were still American made.

 

Snap on 40-200 inlb Husky 20-750 FTLB Some Chinese 5-40 screw type im not happy with

 

had snap on click type 3/8 (tqfr100?) and 1/2 (tqfr250?) sold them
might replace with HFT Icon new basically copies of that, same thing, 3/8 and 1/2
still have a cheap (probably HFT) 1/4 that doesn't get used as often, screw type. Don't know if I'll upgrade that.

sometimes work has a nice 1/4

the snap on/icon style 3/8 and 1/2 are definitely useful
1. they don't need resetting and can be left where they are
2. adjusting them is easy

the 1/2 is max 250ft lb which may not be enough for everything depending on what you're working on

and can be kind of a pain to stretch bolts as it's not built in angle finder
for that I do either
-paint mark the bolt head, then the angle can be put on any way you like, even with an impact watching the paint mark move
-angle gauge that goes between the tq wrench and bit, for something more sensitive to not do the impact method

 

FWIW
I picked up a 3/8" Amazon Basics that goes to 150 ft#.
Broke it in about 9 mo.
Won't be buying one of those again.