Lying Torque Wrenchs

Posted by BigKev On 2023/11/5 13:14:43

So I've ways had this love / hate relationship with click style torque wrenches. I've never really trusted them, especially "cheap" ones.

So I bought a digital torque gauge, which can be used to turn any wrench into a torque wrench and also test torque wrenches.

I set the digital torque gauge to show max torque reached.

Torque wrench #1 set to 35lbs, it clicked at 30lbs max on the digital guage. Retested it 4 times with exact same results.

With the torque wrench set at 40lbs, it clicked at 35lbs on the digital guage. Again repeated 4 times.

On torque wrench #2, set to 35lbs, it didn't click until 51lbs, again repeated 4 times. Which mean if I had used it, I would have over torqued that bolt.

I am sure a higher end torque wrench would yield better results, but cheap ones are for sure all over the map.

I guess I'll be using a regular socket wrench with the digital guage from now on.