Boostaholic

iTrader: (4)

So I checked out the pawn shops today, found a snapon torque wrench, went through their socket bins and grabbed about 50 good "common" size sockets, another set of impact 1/2 in drive metric sockets, a 1/2in drive nice craftsman ratchet, and a big screwdriver set brand new for $100.

The craftsman ratchet was old and worn to hell, so I took it back and swapped it for a new one at sears, they had no problem exchaning it for a better model that was similar, overall I think it was well spent money

The snapon torque wrench looks like it had never really been used / well taken care of. My torque wrench is a lot more beat up and its only been through just a few cars, I might use it a few times a month.

xttc2000

i would go get the torque wrench calibrated, you can never tell if its good by the condition- who knows if the original owner used it to break bolts loose.

awesome deal tho

Boostaholic

iTrader: (4)

How do I go about getting it calibrated? I've never done that before. I will take both of mine to get them done if I can figure out who does it.

Brandon Boomhauer

iTrader: (10)

Catch a tool truck, I believe they can do it on the truck most of the time... Might ask Sears too...

Boostaholic

iTrader: (4)

Thanks! I'm going to check in with some of the local mechanics too, does the SnapOn truck do it for free for SnapOn wrenches?

jmd

iTrader: (4)

I don't believe it's a free service. If you price one of the calibration setups, you'll know why.

robertbartsch

Calibration tends to be expensive.

A down and dirty way to ruff check is to use another torque wrench and tighten some bolts to a mid-level range. See if the old wrench is in the ball park by setting it to the same setting as the other wrench and see if it clicks in and about hte same range....

Test a few different settings and put your mind at ease.

I have done this with a cheapie Sears wrench with the bending bar to see if it was accurate. Supprisingly, the bending bar wrench was very close to the Sears clicker type wrench. This surprised me since the bending bar wrench is only about $10 bucks and the clicker wrench was $80!

This proves inexpensive tools are not necessarily junk...

jmd

iTrader: (4)

No, it proves that beam style tq. wrenches aren't necessarily junk.

robertbartsch

Right; inexpensive tools like the beam-style tork wrenches aren't junk even if they cost only 10 BUCKS versus, 80 bucks or so for a Sears or Husky clicker wrench...

So like I said ...inexpensive tools are not necessarily junk....

Pete2k_Z28

Best "quick and dirty" test I've found is to put an 8 point socket on 1 torque wrench, then slide the socket end over the drive end of the other torque wrench, set them identically, and I think it's pretty easy to figure out where I'm going with this.

Hold them at 0 or 180 degrees apart