H.F. Torque wrench?

[RV Wannabe]

Anyone have any quality/accuracy critiques on the Harbor Freight Pittsburgh torque wrenches?

I just got my H.F. flyer and there is a heck of a coupon in there. $11.99 limit 7. 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 inch.

Back when I was in the Army we had to send ours out for calibration on a schedule. Where if people do this, do you send them?

Thanks
Mark

 

[DaleB]

I picked up a 1/4" over the weekend for around $11. I wish I'd opened up the case first. It's a big handle, same size as the 3/8 and probably 1/2" handles, and not much use for getting into places where I'd need a 1/4". I have a Parktool TW-1 that I'll be sticking to. Will probably take this one back.

They're supposed to be accurate within 4%, but honestly I don't trust that at all. I'm asking myself why I would have bought this thing at all.

 

[rzbill]

HA, I got mine for 9 bucks Gotta pay the least for a piece of **** Y'know

But seriously, it is suspect even though I will use it. I checked the new HF 1/4" one against my 1/4" beam unit. They were about 10% different at 100 inch-lbs. No clue which one is right, if either.

I got it because I was tired of not being able to see the beam on some upside down fasteners like the oil pan nuts.

I've been having trouble with the upper mounts of my Vettermans. I keep breaking the tangs that bolt to the oil pan. I made a heftier one last time. We'll see.

 

[XOverZero]

Caveat Emptor as usual...YMMV

When I was first contemplating entry into the RV realm, I asked for advice on this forum regarding HF tools. The consensus I received was that it?s better to avoid the following factors:

? Anything with a cutting edge
? Anything meant to deliver precision
? Anything with a power cord

I?ve followed these guidelines and have been satisfied with the items I did buy there.

To answer your question about calibration, start by Googling ?instrument calibration services? for your area. That should get you on the right track ? make a couple phone calls. First off, though, any torque wrench you purchase new should come with a current certificate of calibration. It?s up to the user to decide what the recalibration interval should be. For light use, once a year ought to be plenty sufficient.

As to a bargain torque wrench, it may well prove to be another case of getting what you pay for. The big ?what-if? with a cheap, foreign-made knockoff is, what if you send it in for recalibration and the service informs you, after trying, that the tool cannot be brought into acceptable calibration or repeatability parameters? Now you have to wonder at what point it went bad on you.

Tools that are sold for a small fraction of the usual cost for like equipment should always be eyed suspiciously. Yeah, that?s certainly an IMHO statement ? guilty as charged. I feel that correct torque is important, and find I don?t want to replay in my mind the movie scene where Eastwood is asking ?Do ya feel lucky??

 

[bruceh]

I've got the HF torque wrenches (1/4" and 3/8") along with some higher quality torque wrenches (Craftsman). I've compared them against each other and they seem to be in agreement on the settings.

 

[dlloyd3]

I tested one of the HF 1/4" wrenches as soon as I got home with it. It was as accurate as my home built test rig from 25 all the way to 150--easily within 5%.
Built airplane. One day for no reason it quit working properly, accuracy was completely gone. I did buy another.
I had a big Craftsman wrench that quit working just as suddenly but it was run over by a dump truck.
An inexpensive and accurate beam style is available from Park Tool (bicycle tools).

 

[Neal@F14]

I've got the 1/4" and 3/8" drive ones from HF. I bought them to work on my 15 yr old Audi Quattro, not my RV-6. The 1/4" drive wrench's ratchet mechanism seized up after one day's use, but the torque-measurement portion still seems to work. The 3/8" drive one is still functioning pretty well. I've only used it on my plane for basically two settings: 25 ft-lbs for the prop bolts when I had the wooden prop, and 45 ft-lbs for the bolts on my new ground adjustable prop. Before I ever used it on either set of prop bolts, I compared it to my AP/IA buddy's expensive Snap-On torque wrench which he sends off annually for calibration. At the 25 ft-lb setting, the HF wrench torques maybe 1-2 low, meaning that the bolt is actually getting torqued to 23-24 ft-lbs according to the Snap-On wrench. At 45 ft-lbs, it's dead-nuts equal to the Snap-On.