Torque Wrench

[feb 47]

Which one and from where?

 

Mine seems not to work as it should when tightening so I need to replace it (I guess leaving it with the spring stretched hasn't helped).

 

Where do you guys buy yours?

[glenwah 20]

I have a snap-on digital techwrench, probably a bit expensive for a hobby mechanic at £240 but you never have to wind it off and it never needs re-calibrating (according to snap on) it is awesome, goes from 6nm up to 135nm, not many spring wrenches cover that sort of range.

[Stephen W 12 1 Cars]

You can't go wrong with either Sykes pickavant or Norbar. If you look around you can pick up a bargain on eBay. Everyone I know uses them or snap on ones.

[Anthony 1,003]

The Halfords Pro ones are pretty reasonably priced and work fine for an average spanner monkey.

 

 

You can't go wrong with either Sykes pickavant or Norbar. If you look around you can pick up a bargain on eBay. Everyone I know uses them or snap on ones.

 

I have a Norbar that's really not had much use and it's buggered, significantly under-measuring, so I'd say that you can go wrong with them....

[ORB 227 1 Cars]

I have 2 Sykes and a small draper thing.

 

I can report that the Sykes ones are great. But I seldom use a torque wrench anyway!

[GilesW 41]

I have a set of Sealey Pro ones.

 

[feb 47]

Mine's undermeasuring too when tightening (not on the unscrewing direction though) so I don't trust it anymore.

[welshpug 1,657]

I bought an used MAC tools one as they can be re-calibrated, as can the Snapon ones, fully servicable and hold their value, worth investing IMP as they will last you years.

 

Have used the halfords pro ones without issue as well, see if a trade card gives you much off the price if possible.

[allanallen 528 2 Cars]

My old chaps got a snappy one that does angles etc. it's s*it hot other than its very easy for the end top pop off and eject the batteries out, dead handy when you're mid angle on a head bolt

[Stephen W 12 1 Cars]

 

I have a Norbar that's really not had much use and it's buggered, significantly under-measuring, so I'd say that you can go wrong with them....

 

I've had a few and if wound off correctly never had an issue. They are life time guarantee Anthony so maybe you can get it recalibrated or maybe even replaced? By the way im quite sure the halfords ones are made by Norbar and rebranded halfords....

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

I have a Kamasa one that won the auto express tests a few years ago for its accuracy & low price but I don't think they still exist.

 

I have compared it with a Britool one I got more recently & they match each other for the settings although I don't know if they are spot on still.

 

Have a look on Auto Express for their product tests, I think there has been a more recent one than when I got mine.

 

I had a norbar one which sheared the 1/2" drive when doing up a hubnut to 130lbft.

 

g

[BlueBolt 156]

There was a shop stand on at the Auto Sport show at NEC this year selling their digital ones but for the life of me I can't remember what they were called!! I remember thinking how well priced they were...

Don't know if anyone else saw it or remembers who they were???

 

 

I'll go and see what difference the trade card makes at Halfrauds for you tomorrow as I have got to go past there anyway and normally pop in on a friday...

Edited March 7, 2013 by BlueBolt

[chipstick 382 1 Cars]

 

I'll go and see what difference the trade card makes at Halfrauds for you tomorrow as I have got to go past there anyway and normally pop in on a friday...

Interested to hear what it takes off, as I could do with investing in one of these.

 

Are you getting a price for the different ranges? TIA.

[feb 47]

Bluebolt, thanks it is the 40-200Nm one I am interested in, it retails at 75 pounds, let us know what a trade car discounts it to.

Edited March 8, 2013 by feb

[Liquid_106 97 1 Cars]

Bluebolt, thanks it is the 40-200Nm one I am interested in, it retails at 75 pounds, let us know what a trade car discounts it to.

Think I got mine for £49 with a trade card iirc

[Rich_p 23]

Halfords offer wrenches with 2 different ranges, are both required to cover all requirements for a pug?

[Liquid_106 97 1 Cars]

Depends upon what jobs you're doing, but yes to cover all torque requirements you would need both

 

Edit

 

FYI - they do three:

3/8" drive 8 - 60nm

1/2" drive 40 - 200nm

1/2" drive 60 - 300nm

 

Think I have the first two - not sure what you'd need +200nm for, but I'm sure there's something

Edited March 8, 2013 by Liquid_106

[BlueBolt 156]

The 40-200 comes in at £60 on trade card, they're £75 without.

[Rich_p 23]

While looking on google I have discovered the Halfords ones are made by Norbar..

[Anthony 1,003]

I've had a few and if wound off correctly never had an issue. They are life time guarantee Anthony so maybe you can get it recalibrated or maybe even replaced? By the way im quite sure the halfords ones are made by Norbar and rebranded halfords....

Interesting. Mine isn't the same design as the Halfords ones I've seen/used, but you're no doubt right.

 

Never looked into having it repaired or recalibrated, as my old cheap torque wrench that's something generic rebranded just keeps working and has done so for years - indeed, I loosely checked its calibration against my friends the other day and was reading exactly the same. If it is a lifetime guarantee on the Norbar I ought to get it fixed though, if for no other reason than there's no point having a broken tool sitting around.

 

I wasn't suggesting Norbar were poor by the way - I know from their reputation that they're not, but it was just to say that they're certainly not infallible. Perhaps I was just unlucky, as someone I know has a very old Norbar that's still going strong.

[welshpug 1,657]

the big one is ideal for hub nuts.

[Stephen W 12 1 Cars]

Yeah I think it's more the recent ones that have similar bodies on them. I know the beta ones which look identical to halfords ones are made by Norbar. They are even the same black and orange.

 

I wasn't suggesting Norbar were poor by the way - I know from their reputation that they're not, but it was just to say that they're certainly not infallible. Perhaps I was just unlucky, as someone I know has a very old Norbar that's still going strong.

 

Yeah totally agree Anthony, as with anything you can only go off your own experience. It's like anything someone will always get a good one and a bad one that are identical.

 

Teng tools ones are quite cheap and not a bad quality. We use those at work and seem to live up to a fair bit of abuse.

[chris-gti 14]

I've got a Draper expert 1/2" one (yeah i know Draper is total crap now) but it's been really good for the last 18 months or so and was only £30. I use it most days for pretty much every job i get in. I periodically check it's still close on its calibration by checking the wheel nuts on a long-term resident 4x4, 100nm click, 105 slight movement and click, back off to 100 then ready to test next time.

 

until i get a bit more trade through i'll stick with it. Then maybe upgrade to something a bit more substantial.

[chipstick 382 1 Cars]

Apparently the largest one currently comes down to £47 with a trade card.

[BlueBolt 156]

The biggest one??

 

The trouble with the trade cards there is that they give you a different price off everything in store... The middle one came in at the price mentioned earlier...