What does everyone use and have, the pro's and cons of each style, there's beam, clicker, dial, hydraulic, electronic, air operated, and I'm sure I'm missing a few. I've had the beam and clicker style over the years, now I'm looking at a 3/4 inch drive and also maybe an inch drive, but will use them seldom but when you need one, you need one that works. I've about given up on the clicker style, if you use them all the time, they work fine, but if they sit for long periods of time, they don't it seems. After some research lately, nobody makes a torque wrench with anything longer than a one year warranty anymore or am I wrong on this. I'm currently thinking for an occasional user, maybe the dial style is better, any input on this anyone, also brands worth buying?
I have Sears clicker style /Husky clicker style and a Snap-on dial style. I only use them occasionally. I used the Sears one for quite a few years. I purchased the Husky brand (Home Depot) because it will go up 250 FTLBs and the Craftsman didn't. I think they will be accurate for a long time provided they are stored with the adjuster backed completely off. My Snap-on 3/8" drive with the dial has seen a lot of use and is 50 years old. It is still accurate. I also have 3/8 drive/ inch Lb and 3/8 drive/ newton meter click style. I like the click style because when I am using them I don't need to see a dial or, an indicator like the beam style have. All my torque wrenches are in the bottom of the price range. But I don't use them on a daily or weekly basis. One thing I learned the hard was to NEVER use A Husky click style to loosen a a bolt or nut. I completely destroyed the mechanism in it. Home Depot exchanged it for a new one - no questions asked !
I worked in an "assembly type factory" for a # of years after getting fed-up w/ field work..I brought my own tools including my Snap-on torque wrenches..[click-type] 99% of the workers there got their torque wrenches from the "tool room"..[aftermarket wrenches] The wrenches were gathered back-up EVERY 2 weeks and "recalibrated" and certified..including mine.. In 3 years mine was the ONLY ONE that NEVER had to be "adjusted"..and that was with constant daily use, 6-7 days aweek.. Sayes something about the tool IMHO..
I've still got a couple of old beam style 1/2 inch torques around, have gone through several craftsman click style and three or four click style napa one's, those have a lifetime warranty on them yet, I got one of the last few sold that did, so they have been replacing them for free for me since and a couple click style 3/8's now over the years, not sure of the brands, but all quit working after a few years of occasional use. Even if I back them off every time it doesn't seem to help any, I wanted either a new mac or snap on, both told me one year warranty on a new one, nothing more on any torque wrench, so its not even as good as my cheaper napa brand. I only ever use them to tighten things to a specific torque, don't abuse them and they still don't last. My son went to heavy diesel mechanics school and they only use the dial style, they told him, they gave up on the clicker style completely years back, he's been working at several different jobs since out of school and they all have dial torque wrenches they use, most are really old too and still working fine, which makes me wonder what everyone else uses and how they last, how often they are recalibrated if ever and so on. To spend almost a grand on a 3/4 inch torque wrench to only get a few years use isn't to me a good deal, no matter what the brand. I've been told sturtant richmont is the best brand to buy, then snap on and their cheaper line of cdi brand tools, then down to the chain stores stuff, like napa, craftsman, etc, etc. I've been told by about three sales guys now, for an occasional user to not buy a click style torque wrench, its not used enough to keep them working, but won't really tell me why this is, there is only a spring and an adjusting mechanism in them, why would little use cause them to not work, if kept dry and clean whats there to go wrong anyhow? Those guys told me to buy either a beam or dial style and keep them stored in a box and they'd last a lifetime of occasional use, the beam style I can understand but the dial style I don't know, I've never used one myself, any thoughts or ideas?
My 250 ft/lb and down ones are clickers, my big ones are dial. One nice thing about the dial ones is they are the only torque wrenches you can use a handle extension on without making them inaccurate. The downside of them is that you usually need one person pulling and one person reading the gauge.
I bought a new snap on tech ll about 5 years ago it is digital and had very good luck with it. You can torque right or left handed bolts it goes to 250ft/lbs reads in newtons, in/lbs , and ft/lbs vibrates and beeps when you hit the desired torque and will keep track of degrees when doing a torque turn or torque to yeild, so you elimate keeping a torque angle meter with you. I use it on a daily bassis and only replace the batteries a few times a year,3 double A batteries is what it takes. If you didnt use it on a regular bassis I would remove the batteries when not in use. I also use it in conjunction with my torque multiplier when it will fit giving me the ability to torque just under 1000 ft/lbs with a 4:1 multiplier I think the mutliplier says 3.75:1 for torque aplications. I had a 3/8 snap on with the dial on one the side and no reverse about 7 years ago while torqueing a water pump on a john deere engine with a crow foot wrench I got in a PREDICAMENT were I could not get the crowfoot off the bolt I could not reverse the ratchet to loosen the bolt and after a half hour of trying to take the ratchet apart to remove the gears so I could reverse I gave up and had to break the torque wrench. I had a long visit with the snap on dealer after showing him pictures I took with my phone I got him to warranty it I used the credit twards the purchas of a digital 3/8 wrench with reverse.
I have a 3/4" drive Mac 600 pound ratchet head click wrench I bought in 1983 that I use with a 4-1 multiplier for everything that needed big torque. Engines, slewing bearings, axle mount bearings and about everything else. It has been rebuild three or four times and re-calibrated 15 or more times. What really gave this wrench fits was torquing wheel loader tire nuts. Those stud nuts pop and the wrench bounces down and pops but goes over the setting. I can use this wrench in either direction and for many years I got lots of jobs just because I was the only independent wrench that had these tools. As far as the warranty goes, I think I had three years on the torque part and lifetime on the ratchet head. Last time I saw a Mac tool salesman he said they haven't made that type of head for years and that I was out of luck if it broke. I guess lifetime means how ever long they still make them. I've used a hydraulic torque wrench but had problems with this particular one getting stuck in a tight place and I couldn't back it off far enough to get it off the bolt. I've used the dial wrenches on small stuff and it was alright for light pulls but when you have to throw your back into it you can't look straight down at the dial. For that reason I didn't consider the Snap-on 600 pound dial unit. The same thing happens with beam type wrenches. I had an airplane mechanic tell me that only beam type wrenches were allowed there but I don't know that for a fact. I was down at the local Cat house and they have some kind of air torque wrench. The set the pressure with a regulator and it pulls up tight. It even has a reaction tang the will hold the wrench in place so the only labor you do is pull the trigger. Leave it to Cat to take all the fun out of wrenching.
What do you guys do when you need big torque and you can't get your multiplier to fit, like in a blind hole with limited room, just use the pipe and breaker bar and guess at the torque, or how do you handle it.