Toolpro Torque Wrench Manual
Ilario Grijalva
I want to start doing my own work on my motorbike and am looking at getting a torque wrench. Mostly chain, suspension, brakes and oil. Not planning on taking the engine apart. What brand and how much should I spend? On eBay I found a King chrome (Half inch) 20-200Nm for $100.
Those appear to be normal ratchet/socket wrench. I'm looking for torque wrenches.
Edit. Super cheap seems to start at $60 for a no name. Would rather drop the 100 on a known brand such as KingChrome.
I think its one of those how long is a piece of string questions. If you are just learning a cheap and cheerful torque wrench is more than enough. Just make sure to check your service manual to get an idea of the torque range required.
Long answer is the Aldi Torque Wrench was designed for use on light to medium passenger cars. A motorcycle should be no problem. I know what 150Nm feels like since many of my car's 14mm suspension bolts are around 180Nm. Even my budget short handle socket wrenches can handle double the torque.
Where the manufacturer of the Aldi Torque Wrench cuts cost is the ratchet action and the thickness of the 3 socket bits. The socket bits feel light and look thin. The socket bits isn't are not an issue for me as I just use my own socket bits instead the included ones. However the ratchet action sounds plasticy and its socket head has a small amount of wiggle, kind of like the looseness of my well used socket wrenches. I don't know if this is normal as I have never owned any other torque wrenches
The Aldi one is good enough. I work in the aerospace industry and we use expensive and frequently calibrated torque wrenches (actually when one of our torque wrenches fails calibration, they are still better than any car mechanic will ever know, so staff take them). But for shits and giggles, we had the calibration on an aldi wrench checked, and it was pretty close. Which for $25 is spectacular.
i don think Aldi still have the stock at the moment, do you know where else i can find some less expensive torque wrenches? I only need it to change engine oil (for bike). i am certainly not a big fan of any "premier brands".
The answer to your question lies in the answer to this question - Would you trust any cheap wrench with vital system components such as "chain, suspension, brakes and oil"? How much is your life worth?
I've got a few torque wrench's to cover all required ranges. I would go for any GOOD tool brand torque, and this is a case where the more money you spend the better quality you will get. You'll be fine with the ToolPro torque wrench's from Supercheap, they are surprisingly decent. Accuracy on these things over time is questionable.
I originally bought the Sidchrome torque wrench when I was redoing a head gasket on my car and needed to accurately torque the head bolts to 80Nm. I thought Sidchrome would be better quality at the time. I now think that it probably wouldn't have mattered if I just bought the Supercheap one only.
If you bought a Supercheap or ALDI brand torque wrench it is probably going to last you many years, and forking out extra coin for a decent brand isn't necessary. Use the coin you save to buy a decent six sided impact socket set and a 1/2 inch extension set, the six sided socket set will save stripping those tougher bolts.
Is it better to go for a clicky-type or maybe a digital? It's my understanding certain parts in the wrenches can lose their accuracy due to being 'wearable'. Are there wrenches that don't have these wearable parts?
I'm pretty happy with my Teng tools torque wrench. I put quite a bit of research into the decision a few years ago. Half inch and does 40-200Nm / 30-160 ft/lbs, so is perfect for the big stuff, clicky type with an angle gauge. Good quality, and made in Taiwan. I've never bothered with anything smaller, for lesser torques, hand tight is tight. But for head work it might be worthwhile.
Reason for looking at a separate wrench for in-lb is because of the camshaft bolts. Normally, on most (non-engine parts) bolts, I would turn a bolt until it bites, then give it a little gentle turn until it's snug. Don't know if you can do that with camshaft bolts.
I'm pretty happy with my Teng tools torque wrench. I put quite a bit of research into the decision a few years ago. Half inch and does 40-200Nm / 30-160 ft/lbs, so is perfect for the big stuff, clicky type with an angle gauge.
Thanks for the suggestion. The specs though show the need to tighten to 29Nm (22ft-lb), not sure if tightening to 40Nm would over-tighten the bolt and cause issues, but I'll check out their (Teng tools) range and see what else they offer :).
Depending on the "fingers" 2 Nm is about finger tight. and just light tension on a small spanner would be near 10 Nm, no ideal how critical it is to get those exactly right, my guess is that just the friction in the thread would be +/- 2 Nm
All the cheapest Taiwanese ones are the same! So no point paying more for a "Kincrome" brand for $99 when it is identical to a "Mechpro" or generic brand for $49, all with the same characteristic 24-tooth mechanism. I'm unsure on who the original manufacturer is. :)
The cheapest "professional" quality brand is Norbar, who are a British torque wrench manufacturer recently accquired by Snap-On, they also make torque wrenches for Beta tools and others, and they start at $179 or so IIRC from Amazon with free shipping from the UK.
Understandable about buying good, but in my case, it would likely be a use once or twice and stored away. Used on a regular basis I'd certainly consider a higher quality wrench.
Definitely agree about lending too.
----------------
I jumped onto Amazon AU and noticed a few wrenches. There were a couple on there that fit within the specs, had a lot of purchases and good reviews. Not familiar with the brands though, so could be generic brand. Anyone heard of them before?
They are the same as the Mechpro torque wrenches I linked above. You can see the design is identical (24-tooth mechanism with those two holes on the ratchet head) and they all come from the same supplier. So you can really just go with whatever one is cheapest or most convenient.
They are all calibrated by the company that makes them. I think +-5% they say, but that can drift a bit if you do multiple tensionings in a row, but it should be within 7-10% which is more than good enough for amateur/DIY use. :)
So 10 Nm is roughly 1 kgforce applied at a distance of 1m leverage, causing a 10 Nm torque or twisting force. This is the same way force on the piston is converted to torque on the crankshaft by the leverage (stroke) of the conrod's attachment point on the crankshaft to make it rotate.
for DIY you can get some decent stuff at the lower end of the price range per the videos. for what you're doing I'd go that route, if you intend to start building K Series engines that you want to rev to 9,000RPM then buy the best you can find
One would be a low range "precision" wrench. These are usually in the range 1-10Nm. Used for lighter torque applications such as small 2 stroke motors, bicycles, especially anything involving carbon fibre (which normally has a max of 5Nm).
The other would be a much bigger torque wrench which goes maybe 30-200Nm. These are using for things like wheel nuts, where you might be tightening to 170Nm. Much higher torque, but less precision is needed.
TBH I think you could get away with the incremental tensioning without a torque wrench. All that's really important is that you bring them all up to final torque (about 10 M-n) in a number of steps, with roughly the same torque on all bolts at each step, and without going too far in any one step.
If I had just the one TW (say 10 to 60 N-m), I'd do them all to snug with a driver handle (just like a normal screwdriver with no extra leverage), then I'd repeat with a basic T-handled driver (just single handed wrist twist pressure), then one more time with the TR set slightly under the minimum calibrated range (say about 7 N-m). As long as the spring is engaging and providing pressure they will normally work a little below the spec'd min range, just with a bit less than specified accuracy. Then of course the final tensioning to 10 to 11 N-m using the TW within its calibrated range.
I also have a Teng Tools torque wrench and am very happy with the quality, but wondering if these are just the same as the cheaper amazon ones. Teng Tools seemed to have the fewest negative reviews around accuracy compared to the others.
The clicky ones are a glorified ratchet. I wouldn't trust cheap ones.
A friend had one, he kept blowing Mini head gaskets (45 ft lb). Wondered why.
I torque tested it against my beam one, his needed to be set at 72 to achieve 45 ft lb.
Rubbish.
And it was near new.
Edit
I own 3 deflecting beam ones- 2 Craftsman and one W&B.
With Kincrome and Mechpro I didn't notice straight away. I had assumed Mechpro had been made in China because of how cheap it was and only noticed later it was made in Taiwan. But it's self-evident that the design, case design (apart from the colour), calibration certificate and so is identical, apart for the screen-printing of the brand name. So you may as well get the cheap one (albeit with less warranty). :)
ff7609af8f