Alright...I'm lookin to get a torque wrench to do my headgasket, but also to have around whenever I need it. I'm planin on buying one from Craftsman...here are the 3 I'm lookin at:

1/2in drive 20-150 ft/lbs

3/8in drive 10-75 ft/lbs

3/8in drive 25-250 ft/lbs

I'm lookin to get one that I will use the most. I'm guessin either the 1/2in drive or the 3/8in drive 10-75 ft/lbs. Anyone have any pointers?

 

Get the 3/8 because unless you have a bunch of 1/2 sockets when you stick adapter and stuff on a 1/2 the accuracy can change a little bit.

 

i have 2. 3/8 5-75 and 1/2 20-150

 

get all of them.

then you always have the right one

 

I would say 1/2 inch, or wait until Sears has a sale and get both 3/8 & 1/2. One bad thing about the new Craftsman torque wrenches is they have plastic handles and dials. My freind got one and the damn plastic broke the first day!

 

I have a 1/2" drive. The 3/8's would be nice for torquing suspension and motor parts though

 

I'm very happy w/ my 3/8 inch wrench from Crapsman. It's like 5-80lbs (our lugs should be at 75-80 I believe). I just put new suspension on and it worked great.

Make sure that whichever wrench you get it goes low enough to reach the lowest torque values your gasket will require. i don't know anything about doing that, but doesn't it go something like 5lbs first on all bolts, then 10lbs, then the final number???

 

Im not sure the spec of head bolts or nuts if using aftermarket but torque wrenches are a little less accurate at the very edges of the spec....so I know probably 80lb ft is too much but if thats what that wrench does I get something more like 50-150 for that task. Have it calibrated when needed....also remember that the twist type need to be zeroed out every time but dial types like my snap on do not have to be zeroed out to keep from stretching the spring

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Simple SOHC &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Alright...I'm lookin to get a torque wrench to do my headgasket, but also to have around whenever I need it. I'm planin on buying one from Craftsman...here are the 3 I'm lookin at:

1/2in drive 20-150 ft/lbs

3/8in drive 10-75 ft/lbs

3/8in drive 25-250 ft/lbs

I'm lookin to get one that I will use the most. I'm guessin either the 1/2in drive or the 3/8in drive 10-75 ft/lbs. Anyone have any pointers?</TD></TR></TABLE>

you can do what i did. i have the 1/2 torque wrench (ft/lbs.) and the 3/8 (in/lbs.)
bith are craftsman by the way.

 

is there a digtal torque, i heard about em

 

yes there is, but i don't think craftsman makes one.

 

its 1200$

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BLUE EH3 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">is there a digtal torque, i heard about em</TD></TR></TABLE>

yep, my cousin has 3 digital ones. i don't think from craftsman though. it vibrates and as an audio alarm when you've reached the torque limit you set it to.

 

I have both the 3/8in drive 10-75 ft/lbs and the 3/8in drive 25-250 ft/lbs. Anything that requires a half inch drive is usually too high of a spec to use a torque wrench on. I torque **** like that (axle nuts, crank pulley etc) using the air gun.

 

Snap-On tools has one and its not $1200.

 

by the way the 3/8 25-250 is inch lbs., just get the 1/2 inch 20-150. i have all the craftsman tq. wrenches. they are very dependable, your probably gonna start out at 20,45, then the final. have fun