Help choosing a Torque wrench

[BADfish10]

Hi guys,
I am currently in the market for a torque wrench and would like some input if possible.
Shortly I will be swapping the clutch in a 3liter gtv and should really be using a good torque wrench to be fastening everything back up afterwards. Now my conundrum looking through the manual and everything that bolts into the engine block gearbox and the like requires between 10 & 55NM great I thought, however then I read that during the process of swapping a clutch the rear engine support and cross member should be removed and these are rated up to 128NM.
Now from a quick look it seems that there is very little chance of getting a half decent wrench that covers those ranges and next to no chance of them costing less than a Ton.

So my question:
Is it relying important to have a wrench that will accurately fasten up to 130nm into the chassis as well as one that will do the lower ranges?

I don’t mind spending £70 on one that I will use for allot of stuff but 2x £70 is fairly dear in my books ESP if I will rarely use the higher rated unit and as 100nm is f’in tight is it really necessary. Or is it worthwhile buying 2 cheaper units that will be less accurate/ not so good.

I Have been looking at the Halfords pro 8-60NM wrench @ £70 Halfords | Halfords Professional Torque Wrench 8-60Nm That coves nearly everything I will be doing on the engine and it has the life time warranty like the rest of my stuff.

Any opinions/ deals you have seen out there and would like to share would be greatly appreciated

Cheers

James

[aggy8888]

Hi James
Much as I hate promoting imports from the far east,
look at A & R Sheldon, highly respected engineering tool merchants
They are listing Williams torque wrenches at very good prices
Salve my conscience and buy a few King Dick spanners whilst you are at their website
Aggy

[Turtle4288]

Great find Aggy... I am so tempted!

If it helps your decision Badfish, I normally do my wheelnuts up to 90 Nm, so use my big torque wrench during almost every job, but I now need a small torque wrench for all the smaller bolts.

My attitude is that an old DIY wrench in the garage might be as much as 5% out of calibration anyway so if you take the measurement with some salt and common sense then 2 cheap torque wrenches (one big, one little) will be a fine addition to your tools.

[jay726]

hi

i work in the aircraft industry and to be honest i'd go with a cheapish but reputable model for the simple fact that they need to be calibrated every 6-12months to ensure accuracy, with that said i've seen over the last 9 years i've them be as much as 5Nm out on a torque setting of as little as 50Nm. they are quite sensitive and a knock or drop can through them out.

As Turtle said get 2 cheaper models and do it just for calibration purposes alone

Also just ensure you wind the wrench back to zero when you're done or you'll start to stretch the spring inside and again through the calibration out it it's left set for a period of time.

[evodad]

I got two Sealey ones for about £70 inc. P & P, Both with Calibration Certificates. A 1/4" drive & a 3/8" drive.
One was off eBay & the other via Google.

[gazza82]

I've got a Draper 1/2" drive .. bought it from Justoffbase

Draper no 30357 40-210Nm and around £35 incl delivery .. and they are pretty quick at that!

Also got a cheapo 3/8" for those smaller nuts and bolts (ebay) which starts at 5 ft/lb (cheap as it isn't metric but easy as it has a conversion table sheet)

[BADfish10]

Cheers for the suggestions guys

Good point you make there Turtle about using one for wheel nuts, that is something I did not think of straight away but makes a very good case for having a wrench that dose that range.
So a small and a medium is the way to go, just looked at the Draper 30357 thanks to Gazza’s suggestion and currently on amazon it can be had for £27.12 delivered 30-210NM ½” driver
I already have some 1/2”-3/8” converters so looks to be a steal
Draper 30357 Micrometer Adjustment Torque Wrench: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools
Unless any one has a reason not to go for this one I will get it ordered tonight?.

Now that leaves me with 0-30NM to cover and it looks like most makers do a 5-25nm not to 30 or 40 that I am looking for, would no mind spending a bit more on a 5-40NM but they seem rather rare.
There is this one Torque Wrench Micrometer Style 3/8"Sq Drive 7-112Nm/5-83lb.ft: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

that dose 7-112Nm but it is unbranded as far as I can tell and it seems to be trying to do a large range where I would of thought accuracy rather than flexibility would of counted.
Maybe wrong and it saves money if i am, that a wrench that dose 7-112 will never be as accurate as one that dose 5-30 and one that dose 5-30 would need this more as it will be for bolts into softer areas and materials aluminium and the like?

Cheers

J

[Ralf S.]

Much as I'm a fan of doing things properly..

I'd say get the small-range torque wrench only. This is the one you use most of the time and it holds down the crucial/working parts in this instance.

Don't worry about its accuracy. If it's +/- 5% you won't notice the difference and you won't damage anything.

The big mount bolts are going to be fine-pitch thread and likely to be M10 or M12 if they need that much torque. They really will NOT come undone all by themselves. You'll have a job even to undo them. Just do them up so they're tight and then put some more welly on. If you really don't want to be sure that the bolt won't come undone, then stick some thread locking compound on it.


Ralf S.

[gazza82]

Originally Posted by gazza82

Also got a cheapo 3/8" for those smaller nuts and bolts (ebay) which starts at 5 ft/lb (cheap as it isn't metric but easy as it has a conversion table sheet)

Make is ToolZone ..