Torque wrenches!

[Thingy]

We have had many discussions here on the best way to jack up a caravan, the foibles of the AlKo spare wheel carrier and the misery of having a flat when en route to your favourite site, but hands up, how many of you actually carry a torque wrench on these trips.

I have a very expensive Snap On TW, but it hasnt been calibrated since Pontius the Pilot were a lad, so I didnt want to rely on it. Like many here, I bought one of the Aldi Special Buy ones just to chuck in the boot for these trips, but I have to say, the feel of the mechanism was garbage. I recently also bought a Wera Click TW, and what a piece of kit that is. To test it, I set up a plate with wheel stud and nut on the vice, and surprise surprise, the Snap On is still pretty much calibrated despite its age and years of abuse. The Aldi is a mile out of calibration, but what can you expect for £15 or so. It has been used once and consigned to the bin, its that far out I wouldnt even give it away.

 

[GeorgeandAde]

Ive got 2.
A Draper in boot of the car and a cheaper one in works van to use after servicing or tyre change.
I check car every 3 months and caravan before every trip.
My last job I drove an 8 wheeler tipper and wheelnuts had to be torqued every Friday.
96 of them🤭

 

[Thingy]

Best one I ever had was a Norbar, but its one of those things where somebody borrowed it, and I never saw it again.

 

[GeorgeandAde]

Ive got 2 sons like that Thingy.

Dad....can I borrow your fishing gear/pressure washer/long ladder etc....
Dont see it again🤢

 

[Thingy]

Not sons, but sons-in law in my case. Should be a law against it

One won't use tools, he knows his limitations, the other one shouldnt, he is a danger to everyone around him with power tools, and he bodges.

 

[Beachball]

I have one Torque Wrench it in the caravan and that is in storage

 

[Hutch]

I have three Snap On T W wrenches days of when the company ones were not readily available. And when used we calibratered to an acuratotque gauge every time . Which was checked every six months.
NOW i do not use them on Helicopters any more I am more than happy to use them On my wheel nut and engines without checking them every year. .
Edit I have a Draper somwhere in a tool box .

 

[Jcloughie]

I use one of these for convenience and weight saving. I don’t know how accurate they are but I don’t think they can be that far out.



John

 

[Beachball]

I use one of these for convenience and weight saving. I don’t know how accurate they are but I don’t think they can be that far out.

View attachment 1607

John

it looks like a great item

 

[Dustydog]

My 20 year old Hilka is still fine. At the annual caravan service I check the wheel bolts with the mobile engineer after he’s torqued with his. Well within parameters.

 

[Trevormc]

Well mine was new in about 1959 Britool and I still use it and like DD when I check my van nuts it comes out the same as my service chaps tightening.

Trevor

 

[Galgo slave]

You mean you dont use. the standard tyre garage spec of four "uga dugs"

vans get six "uga dugs" and lorries " ten uga dugs"

 

[Kevin M]

I’ve got a really old but fantastic Britool torque wrench.
I do the same as a few of you and check it against the service bloke’s.

Kev

 

[JTQ]

These days I don't carry a torque wrench anylonger, unless it is a trip related to a wheel change where I know I need to check things into the journey.
It's just extra clobber, something I hate.
I do check my wheel bolts at home every so often, but re travelling, if I have to have a wheel change I will accept the "Green Pennant" guy's wrench will be up to the job. I have a decent bar I can use to check they have not backed off 20 miles later, but then I make a not unqualified estimate, re checking properly when home again.

It is quite easy to calibrate a torque wrench at a value near where we need it for wheel bolts, well easy if you have a vice on a decent bench.
Clamp the wrench driver in the vice, extended out horizontally. Use a bit of tube on handle so you have a metre lever arm, hang pannier like two 5 litre water bottles over the tube at the metre, that gives you very close to 100nm of torque. If you really want to check at 130nm, add another 3.3 litres of water hanging there.
In my apprentice days [tool maker, aviation industry] some 60 years ago, that's how we calibrated the sprung bar torque wrenches we made, though using pints, feet and buckets. Still think the sprung bar type are the best TW to use, both a feel and visual indication of how the force is building up to the target.

 

[Dustydog]

Sorry to say JTQ in my ignorance I threw my sprung bar TW away only last year. Oh dear 🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲

 

[Tuningdrew]

You mean you dont use. the standard tyre garage spec of four "uga dugs"

vans get six "uga dugs" and lorries " ten uga dugs"

That unit of measurement has been superceded since brexit, its now "dakka-daks" like our American friends.

 

[Thingy]

like our American friends.

Ah, the ones that decided to measure the circumference of the eath and decided it was flat. I dont think American measurements are accurate enough.

 

[Galgo slave]

That unit of measurement has been superceded since brexit, its now "dakka-daks" like our American friends.

loving it, uga dugs are metric "Vive la France!"

 

[Buckman]

Following on from this old thread I am now considering purchasing a torque wrench, but totally new unknown territory for me.
I am not in a position to remove wheels etc, but probably capable of applying pressure to check torque.
The issue is that I would only be doing this maybe two or three times a year so not really worth buying an expensive torque wrench.
I assume you would need a socket to fit over the wheel bolt, but would you need another size for the vehicle. What size would this socket need to be in metric and imperial as doubt if I have a socket anywhere near the size for a wheel?
Are there any decent reasonably priced metric torque wrenches under £50? I came across this one, but it seems to be only sold by one outlet Tyrepal. Thanks.

 

[Sam Vimes]

I know the length of my basic tyre lever and how much I weigh. It seems to be about right

 

[Dustydog]

“I assume you would need a socket to fit over the wheel bolt, but would you need another size for the vehicle. “

Most TWs are 1/2” drives .Sockets come in sets or can be bought individually. Your need the sockets that fit the nuts / bolts and locking bolt keys for both your cars. If the sizes are different I can’t see you needing more than four.
The TW you show would do me. Mine is an old Hilka.
Calibration. When I have the caravan serviced I compare mine to the engineers torque. Still very accurate
Or you could do it the old fashioned way…..FT😜

 

[otherclive]

You can buy sockets that are dual sized. Mine fitted the car wheel nuts and the caravan wheel nuts. I have an extendable socket wrench which was available in the caravan mover bag, plus an extendable one in the car. They both had a double ended socket pushed onto them for easy access in the event of a puncture. So when I used my Argos torque wrench I just used one of the double ended sockets fixed to the torque wrench. Heres a picture of one from Amazon with the wheel wrench too. Its a 17/19mm but you can get 19/21mm. Alternatively if you have odd sized nuts buy a single socket.

 

[ProfJohnL]

I use one of these for convenience and weight saving. I don’t know how accurate they are but I don’t think they can be that far out.

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John

Just out of interest why do you think this unit should be accurate? Is it becasue its digital or just becasue it's new?

 

[Jcloughie]

Just out of interest why do you think this unit should be accurate? Is it becasue its digital or just becasue it's new?

Neither of the above. It’s because it is sold by a what I believe is a responsible outlet who actually put their name on it. I did not actually say it ‘should be accurate’. I said ‘I don’t know how accurate it is’. But that would be true of any torque wrench. I consider this to be as good as any similar priced wrenches. And it compares well with my manual wrench. But I have not had either of them calibrated. It has the advantage of being compact and lightweight.

If I where using a torque wrench consistently in my work, It would be a decent quality one and calibrated regularly.

John

 

[Kevin M]

I have 2.
An old Britool in 1/2”. That lives in the car with the correct size wheel nut socket. Gets tested every year by my son in his works (mechanical engineer).
The other is a smaller Teng, fantastic bit of kit that goes down to small torque settings and I use this when working on classic cars etc.

Kev