Any better torque wrenches on the market than Craftsman for a decent price?

 

I actually got really disenchanted w/ the Snap-On torque wrench this week. A mailing list that I'm on showed the calibration on a Snap-On and brand new, OOB it was 3% off

By comparision, if you have a Crapsman that is calibrated properly you can get it down to .3% or so by 100 ftlbs.

Moral of the story? Get the torque wrench calibrated and set, and treat it well. The Snap-On is a very well made piece and should last a lifetime in the hands of an enthusiast. My Crapsman has a crappy feel to it, and the head starts to come loose after time

Warren

 

comon mang, j00 know better....do a search first!
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=156692

 

I bought mine for $22 USD (20-150 ft-lbs)...no idea how good it is going to be but it will be more than enough for the amount of times I use it. Probably used mostly for lug nuts then for anything else.

 

Got a Mastercraft torque wrench from Canadian Tire

$99

Got mine on sale in the spring for $69





[Modified by Edwin, 3:34 AM 4/30/2002]

 

For those that have a Gorilla one from Tire Rack, how did you like it. I won't be using mine too often either so I was just curious how you liked it.

 

Princess auto has em for cheaper.. don't know about the quality though..

 

It's decent. Just used this Friday to rotate tires. Hope it lasts. Where would I go to get it calibrated or am I just stuck with it?

 

Yeah, where do you get a torque wrench calibrated? I got one of the Craftsman "digital" style wrenches (window shows a number) for my birthday a while back. Should I worry?

 

i've never had a problem with my snap-on wrench.

 

i have the craftsman digi-tq wrench and the build quality is great!! i also have the SK/Facom tq wrench and it is top notch. the craftsman ran me 90$ and the SK/Facom ran me 80$. you can go to a sears center that has a calibration station. just call around.

www.sktools.com

 

I went to the swap meet over the weekend to look for tools and I came across the torque wrench sold at TireRack. The guy had like 3 in stock. He only wanted $15 for it. It seemed solid but I don't know if I could trust engine parts with it. I'll probably just pick up a Craftsman since they are warranteed and you could get it calibrated. Thanks!

 

calibration yes, warranty no

i went to buy a craftsman torque wrench and a customer was trying to get his warrantied. they declined him. "sorry, no warranty on torques wrenches after 90 days"

 

Best bet for most people out there, would be to find a used Snap-On torque wrench in a pawn shop or on ebay. Then send it out and have it recalibrated.

$60.00 used torque wrench w/ someone else's initials scribed into it
$75.00 recalibration fee from Snap-On truck
$0.00 wait three weeks for delivery of wrench

That's a hell of a lot cheaper than a brand new $250.00 Snap-On one, and it's even more worth it that a $100.00 Craftsman one. The difference in build quality on Snap-On tools is phenomenal.

 

sorry guys what is recalibrated??? and what's the process?

 

I had the cheaper version of the craftsman torque wrench, it broke (maybe 6 months later) I replaced it with the better version no problem. They gave me the full price refund on the cheaper version.

 

If you get the really really cheap craftsman (the one with the "torque arm" or whatever it's call) those are warrantied, it's the more expensive ones that aren't.

 

Thats stupid... I kinda like the dial function on the snap-on's... 10x easier then the crapsmans.

 

.....yeah but you gotta buy 2 - one for 20lb/ft up to 150lb/ft and one for 5lb/ft -50lb/ft.....