# good history torque wrench



## carpdad (Oct 11, 2010)

Just sheared off a bolt on a strut. KYB but it had no label on it, from amazon. They are taking it back. The left side has a label, so now I'm thinking was it a fake, somebody's mistake or my torque wrench. BTW am a beginner so I went against a feeling that I was turning that nut too much.:smile:
My wrench is cheaper side of craftsman 3/8 drive 10-75 ft/lb. It clicked on 2 other bolts and they are strut top bolts with 59 ft/lb and I had the wrench set for 55. Given these facts, should I keep trusting this wrench? But I need another that goes up to at least 150. People seem to like tekton but few bad reviews. Snap-on is outside my budget. CDI or Precision Tools? Kobalt or Huskey? Thanks in advance.


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## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

How big a bolt? 

The wrench can be as cheap as you want, but any bolt of size shouldn't be shearing off at less than 60 ft/lbs of torque.


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## ukrkoz (Dec 31, 2010)

KYB has KYB stamped on it, not LABELED. Same does Monroe.
Presuming it's the strut tower bolt? Forget your wrench, I had cheat pipe on them and they hold. You got some phony crap for strut.
Btw, ANY T- wrench has to be recalibrated ever so often. I worked on my cars since late 80s and never used T-wrench.


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## Bondo (Dec 8, 2007)

> My wrench is cheaper side of craftsman 3/8 drive 10-75 ft/lb. It clicked on 2 other bolts and they are strut top bolts with 59 ft/lb and I had the wrench set for 55.


Ayuh,.... How old is the wrench,..??

It's a click-stop,..??

I'm gonna go with a bad bolt/ nut,....

I've got a pile of torque wrenches, from 3/8" drive inch-pounds to 3/4" drive foot-pounds,....
The smaller are click-stop, the largest, dial-indicated,...
Brand names run the market, Craftsman to Snap-on,..... no chinese junk,...
Ain't had a problem with any of 'em yet,...

My click-stop wrenches, I do turn the scale down to the lowest settin' after each use though,....


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## sestivers (Aug 10, 2007)

Dang, I recently bought KYB struts from Amazon and now will be anxiously inspecting for authenticity. They came in a nice official looking KYB box...

I used the Amazon Tekton torque wrench and it seems to be suitable, they even had a deal that came with torque wrench + breaker bar. I'm sure Tekton isn't great but it must be way better than Harbor Freight I would think?


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## carpdad (Oct 11, 2010)

Thank you for the replies. It is a strut tower bolt, one of 3. I believe it was about 5/16. 3 struts so far and it is hard to believe I broke it that easily. I think it was somebody's mistake. Chinese fakes are getting good enough that metal stamps are not a decider, I think. But cheaper price was too tempting. The replacement, by another seller on amazon and 3 others had bolts included, but this one was missing the bolt pack, and may be that was the clue. Only other seller I'd trust in my limited history had the same for avg $50 more each. But may be I was lucky that this is only the second time getting somebody's return.
I am getting kobalt from lowes. Lower and higher range foot pounds.


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## Dixon12 (May 3, 2016)

Amazon's not the best place to buy car parts. It's flush with fakes, and unless sold by Amazon itself, I wouldn't trust anything from there. It's just too easy to bring in tons of fake stuff for pennies on the dollar and pay Amazon 20-25% to manage warehousing and shipping, and still make tons of money selling it couple bucks below what it retails for elsewhere. You can get same brands for same prices or just a little more other places and not worry about it. Even Advance Auto would be priced on par with Amazon with their coupons.

I'd bet your wrench isn't a problem here. Automotive stuff, especially quality brands, are designed to tolerate a lot of abuse, slight or even moderate overtorquing shouldn't cause any (immediate) problems.


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## Bigplanz (Apr 10, 2009)

I bought the same strut for my Villager. Used my 1/2 harbor freight T wrench to torque the steering knuckle bolts to 90 ft lb. Used my 3/8 hf t wrench to torque the top plate bolts to 38 ft pounds. Shearing bolts off has to be bad hardware. 

My experience was fine, and the villager is still running with that strut in it.


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## clarenceboddick (Nov 30, 2016)

There are 4 types of torque wrenches. Beam, Click type, Dial and Digital. I have no experience with digital and never will. Beam and dial ones are the only way to go in my opinion. Beam ones are easy to calibrate, just bend the beam until it points at zero. Make sure the range scale frame is not bent and touching the beam. Dial ones usually don't need anything done to them. Click type ones have a spring which loses it's strength over time.

With torque wrenches, calibration is key. I had around 10 different ones many years ago and was taking a welding class at a community collage and used their awesome 1940s pendulum torque wrench checker. All the click type were off, some very far, and worse was that most could not be adjusted to hold their calibration. The old school Crapman all metal made in the USA ones would hold their calibration for a few months, if you kept them set to zero at rest and lubricated them. The higher the torque you use, the faster they creep from calibration. Drops would sometimes shift the calibration, but not always.

The beam types were perfect, once you mastered the speed of pull and made sure your eye is right over the range scale frame. You also have to learn to not bend the main beam up or down while pulling.

The dial types worked perfect, as long as they were lubricated.

I was building and selling engines at the time and didn't want comebacks. I settled using the beam and dial types for engine and transmission work. I used the click type for most suspension work. Most of mine came from flea markets and swap meets. I made my own cases for most.

A torque wrench is a precision instrument. You can't expect to pay $10-$20 for a Chinese clicker and hope it's accurate. I guess they look cool in the tool box or on the peg board wall of the typical suburbanite.


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