What is a good torque wrench for under $100.00?

 

I bought mine for $70 CAD on sale... regular $100

any brandname one will do... just treat it right.

Good enough for what we do

 

i like the snap on ones with the little thumb wheel and locking lever for adjustment. cost is 200 dollars but on e bay you can find them for less. what are you going to be doing with it, that makes a big differance. for setting bearing preload you'd need an in/lbs dial type torque wrench. RB swears by the dial types and doesn't like the clicker type. i have 6 snap on torque wrenches, all for differant applications.

 

i paid about $70 for my craftsman torque wrench.works well for me, it's a "click" type, 20-150 ft lbs iirc.

 

ede called my preference right... I prefer just a dial type or a beam type, I've seen too many problems with the click type. Mostly they don't let you see what the torque is doing as you tighten the fastener. They just click and that's supposed to be it. Try comparing actual fastener torque using some other type after you've gone over a bunch of bolts with one of those, you'll see exactly what I mean.

I usually use a beam one.

 

is this the type you are talking about RB?..http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=35625

Thanks you guys for the input...seems like a simple thing, buying a wrench.. But there sure are alot of choices out there.

 

you can get a decent craftsman click type for under 100 bucks. It a good idea to have a dial type, especially for disassembly. If your a fairly novice mechanic then a click type will be fine. Harbor freight also sells some really cheap ones that a friend checked against his snap on one and says its really close. I wouldn't put an engine together with one but i got one for 20 bucks to use on lugnuts.

I have an older craftsman digital torque wrench, it can do direct reading ( like a dial or beam ) has an alarm so it can work like a click type. and also has a peak torque feature so you can use it to inspect fasteners as you remove them. I really like it but i haven't seen another one like it.

 

Yes, that's one. I've seen the digital type but never used one. This kind http://www.sears.com/sr/product/summ...id=00944978000 works good for cheap. I use one of this sort alot.

I wouldn't trust a "cheap" one, as in cheaply made; but the nature of the task is not something that inherently requires something expensive. The advantage of the click type is that you don't have to be looking at it. But, for the few seconds it saves, I think its lack of precision (not the wrenches themselves, but just the principle they work based on) I'd rather have a continuous-reading one of some sort.

 

I think I will go with the Craftsman. The price sure seems right. Thanks again fellas.

 

I picked up a cheapo great neck click tq wrench at Azone 25$ life time warrenty. It's accurate according to my snap off dial wrench that was just calibrated $100 thats the reason I dident get my click snap off calibrated and went with the cheap one.

 

I have a Williams that was right about $100. Very good quality.

 

I've got a real piece of crap cheap one that hasn't been accurate since the day I bought it. When I want to do something important and not guess the torque, I borrow my buddies snap on wrench.