Torque wrench question...rookie mistake....

[earlyre]

when going to rotate my tires today, I discovered that my torque wrench wasn't zeroed out, or dialed down, however you would describe it.
it was still set @ 100 ft-lbs (the torque spec for my lug nuts)
last i remember using it was late june '12, the last time i rotated the tires on the neon. maybe i checked them in nov, after the new tires went on, but i don't remember actually doing that....
so it appears it sat on the basement shelf for 13 months, set to 100 ft-lbs.
did i do any damage doing this? will it be WAYYYYoff? (it's a harbor freight model anyway, not expecting it to be perfect by any means..)
this is the wrench in question. just your basic 1/2" drive clicker.

 

[artbuc]

Do you have a vise? If yes, you can easily calibrate yourself. Secure your wrench in the vise with the handle horizontal and hang a known weight from the handle. Carefully measure the moment arm and see what setting you need to make the wrench click. A little quick math and you will know the answer. In general, storing a TW loaded to 100ft-lbs for 13 months is not a good thing.

 

[Rand]

The calibration may be off.

Check against another torque wrench or using the above method.

Mine says to store at 25 not all the way down.

IMO torque wrench for lug nuts isnt rocket science.

As long as its remotely close or you know about how much its off.. its not going to hurt anything.

ie 100 is 80 or 100 is 120 etc.

 

[JethroBodine]

Check it against a beam style torque wrench. If it is off more than 5% toss it.

 

[spackard]

Look on Amazon for Alltrade-940759-Powerbuilt-Digital-Adaptor.
Handy for figuring out how far off torque wrenches are; its basic accuracy is +/- 1%.
You may end up using this thing more than a clicker, though a clicker tends to be quicker.

 

[GSCJR]

Typically, while in storage your torque wrench should be lowered down to the lowest setting available. This varies among wrenches.

 

[earlyre]

yeah, reading through the little manual/card that came with it, it should be down to the lowest setting for storage...

Looks like i'll be replacing this one...
I have a coupon from Harbor Freight right now, to get the same Model for $10.99...

oh well, chalk one up to "Oh Look!,Something Shiny! Syndrome".

 

[mount]

I have the same torque wrench from HF, and I always forget to set it back to zero. ALWAYS. It is for this reason alone I would justify buying a digital Snap-on wrench even though I don't need anything that fancy.

I don't even worry about it anymore, it probably can't be ruined further if it already is. I know the torque is still in the ballpark, a really big ballpark, and since I only use it for lugnuts my main concern is that each nut gets tightened relatively equally.

 

[threeputtpar]

Did the same thing with a Craftsman, left it set at 100ft/lbs for a couple of years as that is the only thing I ever used it for. It's now permanently set at 100ft/lbs no matter what I set it at on the scale.

 

[bubbatime]

I just read an article on this that stated the after two months the torque wrench was about 5% off. They only tested it for two months.

 

[Vikas]

Originally Posted By: threeputtpar
Did the same thing with a Craftsman, left it set at 100ft/lbs for a couple of years as that is the only thing I ever used it for. It's now permanently set at 100ft/lbs no matter what I set it at on the scale.


Pour Kroil or something similar in the innards of the wrench.

 

[Trav]

This is why they made these..
You can leave it at any setting infinitum and even use it as a breaker bar to remove nuts and bolts without affecting its accuracy.

 

[stephen9666]

Split beam torque wrenches sold under the Precision Instruments, Snap-on and CDI brands also don't need to be turned down.

These are all split beam wrenches, which use a different mechanism than a traditional clicker torque wrench. The Precision Instruments models will be the best bargain. They used to (and possibly still do) make the split beam torque wrenches for Snap-on.

 

[EricF]

Just think of the poor TW's that are in tire shops.. they're never turned down, probably never even adjusted!

 

[paulo57509]

I don't think torque wrenches are used in many tire shops anymore. They use some kind of torque limiting sockets or extensions.

It's kind of un-nerving when you watch them pound the nuts on with an impact wrench and a purple colored extension....it just doesn't look like best practice.

 

[stephen9666]

All three of the tire shops I've been to in the last couple years use torque wrenches for the final tightening of the wheels.

I also worked in two different tire shops in college (about 7 years ago) and we always used torque wrenches for the final tightening of the wheels.

In the shops I worked in we did have torque limiting extensions, but then we used the torque wrench for the final tightening.

 

[another Todd]

Originally Posted By: artbuc
Do you have a vise? If yes, you can easily calibrate yourself. Secure your wrench in the vise with the handle horizontal and hang a known weight from the handle. Carefully measure the moment arm and see what setting you need to make the wrench click. A little quick math and you will know the answer. In general, storing a TW loaded to 100ft-lbs for 13 months is not a good thing.


I believe if you are going to use this method you MUST hang your weight on the handle exactly 12 inches from the center of the square drive, hence the foot pound. Then 100 lbs is 100 foot pounds.

 

[artificialist]

At Firestone, we would have torque wrenches that had a fixed torque spec.

There would be different color torque wrenches for different presets. There would be a:
65lb/ft
80lb/ft
100lb/ft
140lb/ft
and a regular adjustable one if the torque spec was much different.

We would use the nearest wrench. Most Toyota cars would use 76ft/lb so we used the 80ft/lb wrench. Newer Ford trucks would call for 150ft/lb and we would use the 140ft/lb wrench. Those are the 2 examples I could think of. We never had a wheel come off, and we only encountered damaged threads when other people torqued the lugs excessively.

 

[artbuc]

Originally Posted By: another Todd
Originally Posted By: artbuc
Do you have a vise? If yes, you can easily calibrate yourself. Secure your wrench in the vise with the handle horizontal and hang a known weight from the handle. Carefully measure the moment arm and see what setting you need to make the wrench click. A little quick math and you will know the answer. In general, storing a TW loaded to 100ft-lbs for 13 months is not a good thing.


I believe if you are going to use this method you MUST hang your weight on the handle exactly 12 inches from the center of the square drive, hence the foot pound. Then 100 lbs is 100 foot pounds.


No, it does not have to exactly 12 inches. Just measure what it is and do the math. Eg, if it measures 15 ", multiply the weight you are hanging by 15/12 to get the ft-lbs being applied. You just converting from inch-lbs to ft-lbs.