What ever would possess you to make a comment like that ?!?

 

Harbor Freight sells quality torque wrenches very reasonalbly priced. That being said I have purchased 1/4 , 1/2 , and 3/4 inch drives from them. They are accurate and I have never had a problem with them. RIGHT TOOL FOR RIGHT JOB

 

Wha....? Huh?

I have to call you on that one. I wouldn't be afraid to use one that's brand new on something non-critical.....but then again if there's a toque value called for it's likely critical to have accuracy and precision; and that's NOT Harbor Freight torque wrenches!

You are right about the price though....they're reasonably priced. I'll give you that one.

 

Got one o those from Princess Auto, (Canadian version of HF). To say its capricious is an understatement. Its one of my "You can't afford cheap" trophies. You'd think a guy would learn.

 

HF is where I'm purchasing the torque wrenches from. Plus, my riding buddy calibrates tools for a living. He said he'll check them when I get them, next week.

If I'm going to use torque wrenches for a living, I'll buy a better quality. For something that I'll use a handful of times a year, Harbor Freights is fine.

 

And, reset the torque wrenches to zero when finished and stored.
I also rely on the HF inch pound torque wrench, used frequently on carbon fiber bicycle components. Never an issue. Lots of fasteners you can develop a feel for, small fasteners thru carbon is NOT one of those.

 

there have actually been some reviews of hf torque wrenches that showed that they were at least as accurate as some higher end name brand and more accurate than some midbrands.

http://www.hotrod.com/articles/ccrp-...rench-testing/

 

Just for fun, I looked at HF and they have most of their torque wrenches an sale, for $20.00 apiece.

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalog...=torque+wrench

 

scratch - I've seen that article a number of times and the problem for me is 1) it never tells you the accuracies or even the part numbers of the equipment they're using to test the torque wrenches and 2) it doesn't address the root cause of the problems people have had with harbor freight torque wrenches...

They use aluminum and even soft iron ball bearings, their springs are sub standard, their production levels are kinda shoddy (i've opened up two of them for adjustment and found absolutely no lubricant, like that step was totally skipped in manufacture), and probably worst of all, the slip faces (the parts that rub together and then break at the applied torque setting) are rough and unmachined.

Please don't get me wrong, I'm not saying everybody needs to buy $200 torque wrenches just to work on their harley's. Sometimes a $20 tool is all that's needed.

But there's no way on earth Harbor Freight torque wrenches are on the same level of quality as CDI, Stanley-Proto, Snap On, or even most Craftsman wrenches.

 

I agree with you, but for a tool that I use a couple times per year, i'm good with it. if it were something that I was making a living at, yeah, it's never a bad idea to go for the good stuff.