Since a crows foot, the open end of a wrench attached to ratchet, would be slightly offset I would need to use the formula for this offset to get the correct torque value right? I am going to have to look for my owner's manual to find the formula.

What its needed for: I found a loose bolt on my sprocket. Because of the way a Softail's swingarm is I'm pretty sure that a socket will not fit on it. Of course I should ask in the Softail forum if the wheel needs to come off to properly torque this bolt in the first place.

 

If you are only using a crows foot no calculation adjustments need to be made. Just ensure the the crows foot is turned 90 degrees from the torque wrench.

 

You can also use a socket with a swivel,we use a +5 ft lbs on caterpillar engine's with this method.Or the crows foot at 90* as stated above.

 

I may have to use a short extension with the crow's foot but it would be straight in line with the torque wrench and the foot being at 90 degrees.

The swivel socket would not work, there just isn't enough clearance to get a socket on the bolt.

 

An extension is fine with the crows foot at 90 degrees. You have to do calculations when you are using a dog bone style extension that gives the torque wrench more leverage..

 

My understanding is that you need to make adjustments for using a crow's foot even w/o an extension. A googled up example

C = D [A/(A+B)]

EXAMPLE:
You have a crow’s foot (1-inch long) and you want to achieve a torque at the nut
of 8.8 lbs/ft (106 lb-in). Your torque wrench is 13 inches long. So, using the
above letters:
A= length of torque wrench = 13
B= length of adapter = 1
C= torque wrench setting = ?
D= desired torque at end of extension = 8.8 lbs/ft

C = 8.8[13/(13+1)] = 8.2

This site has a calculator but wasn't, I thought, as understandable as the above:

http://www.engineersedge.com/manufac...e_wrench_1.htm

 

In the diagram they show the crows foot in line with the wrench and refer to it as an extension. Putting the crows foot at a 90 wouldn't "extend" the leverage. Least that's the way I see it. Like the previous posters the 90 rule is what I've always followed.

 

3.2 Measuring Torque
3.2.1 Effective Length (Attachments). Torque values given in the
following tables and detail instructions are for a torque wrench either a
short crows foot at right angles to the handle, or box sockets attached
directly in line with the square shank of the torque wrench as shown in
Figure 1.
Figure 1 - Torque Wrenches
3.2.2 Effective Length (Extensions and Adapters). When an extension or
adapters are used with a torque wrench at other than a right angle to the
wrench handle, as in Figure 2, the following equation should be used to
obtain the dial reading:
R= T x L / L + P OR R= T x L / L - P
where,
R = Reading on wrench dial or scale.
T = Torque to be applied to part.
L = Length of wrench (see Figure 2 ).
P = Plus change to wrench length.
M = Minus change to wrench length.

 

A crow's foot typically adds less than an inch to the lever arm of the torque wrench. As such, it can usually be safely ignored. Generally torque is given as a range and you shoot to land in the middle. The added torque of the crow's foot won't take you outside the range. Good thing, too -- to get the 90 degree thing to work, you'd have to reach the desired torque value while the cf is at 90 degrees -- if you have to ratchet it around at all you could end up at a bizarre angle which requires a sophisticated calculation that just ain't worth it.

 

The way I understand it, the crows foot could be 12" long, but as long as it's at a 90* angle, it wouldn't have any impact on the accuracy of a tq wrench.