Which torque wrench?

Hi guys. I am new to the country, I used to live in Europe. I have
bought a Toyota FJ Cruiser and I will be doing part of the maintainence
on my own. For example I will be mounting rock sliders, rotate the
tires, change oil and that kind of stuff.

I want to buy a "click" torque wrench to perform all those procedures; I
would use it once in a while so I do not need a heavy duty piece of
equipment, yet I don't want to waste money for stuff that gets broken or
out of calibration in no time. I guess a 3/8" ratchet and 20-100 lb ft
range would be the best for me.

I have no ideas what are the "excellent" "good" or "bad" wrench
manufacturers here in the USA. A friend suggested me to watch some
nascar racing and look at the sponsors

Any advice?

Thank you
Alessio

Alessio Sangalli wrote:
> Hi guys. I am new to the country, I used to live in Europe. I have
> bought a Toyota FJ Cruiser and I will be doing part of the maintainence
> on my own. For example I will be mounting rock sliders, rotate the
> tires, change oil and that kind of stuff.
>
> I want to buy a "click" torque wrench to perform all those procedures; I
> would use it once in a while so I do not need a heavy duty piece of
> equipment, yet I don't want to waste money for stuff that gets broken or
> out of calibration in no time. I guess a 3/8" ratchet and 20-100 lb ft
> range would be the best for me.
>
> I have no ideas what are the "excellent" "good" or "bad" wrench
> manufacturers here in the USA. A friend suggested me to watch some
> nascar racing and look at the sponsors
>
> Any advice?
>
> Thank you
> Alessio

Snap-On, Matco, MAC are all excellent "professional quality" tools.
K-D, S-K are good and likely available at your FLAPS. Craftsman (Sears)
is likely adequate for occasional home use.

Truth be told, if you don't mind the disadvantages of using one, a
simple beam and pointer torque wrench is likely just as accurate if not
more so than a clicker and a heck of a lot cheaper to purchase.

Really, rotating the tires is the only general maintenance use where I
can think that a torque wrench is really of benefit. For reinstalling
drain plugs, etc, a good pull on a standard length combination wrench or
ratchet is close enough. Now if you're rebuilding engines, etc. that's
another story.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

Nate Nagel wrote:

> K-D, S-K are good and likely available at your FLAPS. Craftsman (Sears)


Could you expand "FLAPS"?

Thank you
Alessio

Alessio Sangalli wrote:
> Nate Nagel wrote:
>
>
>>K-D, S-K are good and likely available at your FLAPS. Craftsman (Sears)
>
>
>
> Could you expand "FLAPS"?
>
> Thank you
> Alessio
>

Friendly Local Auto Parts Store (preferably NAPA, Carquest, or a good
independent - they're a cut above the Pep Boys, Advance, AutoZone, Checker)

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

I personally don't like Craftsman for this one. Have lots of their
other stuff but the torque wrenches are too sub standard (cheap). The
brands mentioned are good and what you should look for. If you buy a
used tool of this type it should be calibrated. That will cost extra.
In the range for wheel lug nuts you will probably need a wrench
accurate around 100 ft/lbs. This will be a 1/2 in drive and it will
have numbers on it from 50 to 250 so that in use you will set it for
the desired final torque somewhere in the middle of it's range. Torque
wrenches are not considered accurate if used on the extreme ends of
their scales.

I don't know what the torque is for your wheels. If you provide this
# the discussion can go on much longer than you would ever imagine.

disston

disston wrote:
> I personally don't like Craftsman for this one. Have lots of their
> other stuff but the torque wrenches are too sub standard (cheap). The
> brands mentioned are good and what you should look for. If you buy a
> used tool of this type it should be calibrated. That will cost extra.
> In the range for wheel lug nuts you will probably need a wrench
> accurate around 100 ft/lbs. This will be a 1/2 in drive and it will
> have numbers on it from 50 to 250 so that in use you will set it for
> the desired final torque somewhere in the middle of it's range. Torque
> wrenches are not considered accurate if used on the extreme ends of
> their scales.
>
> I don't know what the torque is for your wheels. If you provide this
> # the discussion can go on much longer than you would ever imagine.
>
> disston

I agree Craftsman, actually everything seems cheaper than it used to
be there.

I forgot a couple other good brands, Proto is excellent and Cornwell is
another company that may make good stuff, but I have not met anyone
who's actually used their tools.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

disston wrote:

> I don't know what the torque is for your wheels. If you provide this
> # the discussion can go on much longer than you would ever imagine.

The manual says 82 ft*lb. I am new to feet and pounds is it a
reasonable value? This is a FJ Cruiser Toyota car

On the other hand Saturday I will have to mount the rock sliders and
they require 30 ft*lb.

I stopped at Sears tonight and I got a "beam and pointer" for 25USD. I
haven't opened it yet, I think it should suffice, shouldn't it?

bye
as

Alessio Sangalli wrote:
> disston wrote:
>
>> I don't know what the torque is for your wheels. If you provide this
>> # the discussion can go on much longer than you would ever imagine.
>
> The manual says 82 ft*lb. I am new to feet and pounds is it a
> reasonable value? This is a FJ Cruiser Toyota car
>
> On the other hand Saturday I will have to mount the rock sliders and
> they require 30 ft*lb.
>
> I stopped at Sears tonight and I got a "beam and pointer" for 25USD. I
> haven't opened it yet, I think it should suffice, shouldn't it?
>
> bye

A beam and pointer style torque wrench will never go out of calibration
unless there is physical damage to the beam. However, I think you will
find that they are hard to use on wheel lugs.

On Aug 8, 12:12*am, Alessio Sangalli
> wrote:
> disston wrote:
> > *I don't know what the torque is for your wheels. If you provide this
> > # *the discussion can go on much longer than you would ever imagine.
>
> The manual says 82 ft*lb. I am new to feet and pounds is it a
> reasonable value? This is a FJ Cruiser Toyota car

yup, pretty typical for lug nuts

>
> On the other hand Saturday I will have to mount the rock sliders and
> they require 30 ft*lb.
>
> I stopped at Sears tonight and I got a "beam and pointer" for 25USD. I
> haven't opened it yet, I think it should suffice, shouldn't it?

I think so. If nothing else it is a good tool to have around to check
calibration of a fancier torque wrench (get a two-piece distributor
wrench to get the coupler to lock the two torque wrenches together; if
you're checking a "clicker" the beam should read the same as the
clicker is set for at the moment that the clicker clicks.

nate

On Aug 8, 12:12*am, Alessio Sangalli
> wrote:
> disston wrote:
> > *I don't know what the torque is for your wheels. If you provide this
> > # *the discussion can go on much longer than you would ever imagine.
>
> The manual says 82 ft*lb. I am new to feet and pounds is it a
> reasonable value? This is a FJ Cruiser Toyota car
>
> On the other hand Saturday I will have to mount the rock sliders and
> they require 30 ft*lb.
>
> I stopped at Sears tonight and I got a "beam and pointer" for 25USD. I
> haven't opened it yet, I think it should suffice, shouldn't it?
>
> bye
> as

yeah, around 80 ftlbs is extremely normal for steel wheels, and
factory alloy wheels which usually have steel inserts around the
lugnuts. alloy wheels without steel inserts want a lower value.

i've never had good luck with beam and pointer wrenches. of course,
when i've bought them, they've been pretty bottom of the barrel,
pricewise. other folks seem to do better with them.

re clicker wrenches i discovered with my lugnut size clicker wrench
that down around 20 ftlbs or below there isn't enough torque to make
it click. not knowing this, i push a little harder and eventually
there comes a snapping sound. nobody told me about this before hand,
so i tell you now.

and finally, i've found that in general anything that says nascar on
the box is way overpriced for what you get. that licensing scheme must
really be a moneymaker.