do you calibrate your torque wrench?

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Back when I was wrenching.....Mechanics could take a (I believe) a 15mm fine tooth 1/2" socket and connect 2 torque wrenches together and see if they click off at the same settings. Its a little crude, but it definetly singles out a wrench thats 5 or 10 lbs off....If you know which one is right!
 
It may not be exactly a foot but you can measure the distance and mathematically calculate the torque as force(weight in this instance) x distance.
 
I just found out my old torque wrench was 20lbft out! So I thought I would dismantle it, lubricate it and then recalibrate it myself.
With a bit of thinking it is possible to do it accurately and for free. I made this video to help others:
http://youtu.be/FEZ-ajSksHs
 
It should be okay, you set it at zero which is important with most of the click types.
As long as you don't drop it, i don't see a problem.

When it is used infrequently its not a bad idea to set it a lower setting and click it a few times before going to the desired torque setting.
Eg wheel lugs are 80 ftlb, set it at 50 and click it on a few before setting it to 80.
 
You could always check the accuracy yourself and go from there if needed. My 1/4 proto anf 1/2 matco are both in need of a trip to the shop right now...
 
I bought a strain gauge-type torque adapter that's 1% accurate. It's by Powerbuilt, but similar ones have Pittsburgh Pro and Neiko labels on them.

I used that to check my 10% accurate wrenches (some are clickys, one is an old Snap-On TQFR100B beam-click I bought on EBay several years back) and they all checked good.
 
I just get a new Harbor Freight wrench every three or so years and use the old ones as big ratchets.

The trick is not getting the old ones mixed up with your new ones
 
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