I ended up buying two Craftsman 1/4" inch pounds and 3/8" foot pounds; they do run on sale. My Dad told me growing up, you get a better/more accurate torque if you are using a clean gradual tightening motion until click. I have found this to be true of the both past and current Craftsman (never used any other) wrenches. If you start-stop-start, they don't seem to be as consistent as a nice fluid motion. I don't know if this is the wrench, or simply the fastener "sticking and releasing" under the variable load. If it doesn't feel right, just loosen and re-tighten with fluid motion. I've never (knock on wood) stripped a bolt with a torque wrench or suffered leaking gaskets, etc., so not sure you need to spend more than a Craftsman. That being said, not sure I would trust $17 harbor freight torque wrench Cheers, Kevin.

 

What if the application calls for loctite?

 

If you are just using a torque wrench for the occasional work on your bike, you don't need anything fancy, though you can spend however much you like.

I have two Craftsman click-types, and they're fine. You gotta get them recalibrated every so often, though. Two years or so, or more often if you use them a lot.

For messing around on the bikes, I'm quite sure that a beam-type would work just fine. All the HD torque specs are pretty general, i.e. they give you a range. Shoot for the middle of the range and you won't have to worry about the margin of error of any type of torque wrench.

Of course, there will be guys who say Snap-On or nothing else. It's your money.

 

Then again, if you want a cheapie to get you in the ball park, Harbor Freight has a special on right now. 3/8" drive, 5 to 80 pounds, accurate to within +/- 4%. Regularly $32.99, on sale for $9.99.

 

thanks everyone for the input.

both of mine are less than 2yrs old w/out a lot of use.

i did losten bolts and try to tighten a few, but coudlnt get it to 'click'. something just seemd wierd since i've used a torque wrench before.

i'll play around again this weekend

 

Sorry I can't answer that. I know of no fasteners on a small block Chevy engine that requires the use of Loctite. If I were to "quess" I would say that the Loctite sets up slowly and would probably act as a lubricant while torquing.

 

For weekend work, these are great at a great price. I bought a 3/8 and was a little hesitant. But they offer lifetime on it, so I thought what the hell.
I immediately took into our calibration dept (I work in a aviation maintenance building) and surprisingly, this wrench was pretty darn close to accurate! No regrets so far!

 

snapon

 

sears will not replace the wrench. they will change the head componets only and they will not recalibrate it under the replacement warranty.
the snapon is a good tool but pricey!!!! for the allen fasteners, if not radically torqued, you can use an inch pound wrench. the problem with using a larger wrench is that at low settings, sometimes the break over is not felt or heard. the direct read out is very nice but you can also use a beam wrench, way cheaper but accurate and if not abused, really does not need calibration but should be checked against another wrench if using on a critical fastener.
on usage, never use the wrench as a breaker bar and never leave it torqued up on the setting if not being used, always back it down to zero. the torque wrench is sorta on the way out as a lot of mfg's are now going to the stretch method so the wrench reading is not the final reading, only used to set a baseline.

 

I like Armstrong torque wrenches.