jcpups608

I need a torque wrench. I would like to find one w/ as large a range as possible. I don't want to have to buy two or more. Quality is important to me but I also know some torque wrenches can get extremely pricey. Please let me know if you have any info.

thanks.

J T CUNNINGHAM

Of the two sizes that you will need, the smaller one ( 1/4" drive )

will be of more use.


Regards,
J T

ebrady

I guess it depends on how much you plan to use it. I needed one to do periodic maintenance on my my rear cassette and bottom brackets, other then that it collects dust in the drawer. So it was pretty much a no-brainer ---> Harbor Freight

If you are running a repair shop, go with something of higher price / quality...

Retro Grouch 

I think that's an unrealistic expectation.

I only use a torque wrench for bottom brackets, crank arms and higher end stems. Bottom brackets, crank arm bolts and cassettes require around 30 to 35 lb/ft of torque. thompson stems, for example, require 4 lb/ft of torque. That's a lot of range to expect the same tool to do both well.

Wanderer

HF, 1/4" IN IN LBS, AND 3/8" in FT LBS.

Don't drop them, EVER. Store them in a safe place, always with the tension removed; and, NEVER use them for loosening, only tightening...

jcpups608

The 0-600 in/lbs torque wrenches(I know park makes one-$45ish) seems to cover almost all of the shimano torque specs. Now just trying to find the best deal.

thanks for all the help.

wrk101

+1 HF, get two, one is not enough. And if you use it a lot, then get a better grade than what you find at HF. And while you are there, if you don't own one already, pick up one of their digital micrometers. Well worth it.

jcpups608

Hf?

Wanderer

Harbor Freight

ThinLine

I just bought a Whia Torque-Vario S, made in Germany. Not cheap but you will never buy another and comes with all the bits and variable torque settings you will ever need for everything.

I have used it on my Tomasso, which has carbon fiber everything.

https://www.wihatools.com/200seri/285vario_s.htm

jcpups608

Duh, my bad.

T3hk1w1

If you're gonna use it more than once or twice I would recommend a decent brand like Craftsman. The HF stuff can be real iffy on quality.

jcpups608

I hate to judge a product based on price but in my experience you get whet you pay for, to an extent. I'll probably go w/ craftsman or another reputable tool company for the ft/lbs wrench ( you can find them pretty cheap) and a nicer(and most likely more expensive) in/lbs wrench or driver. The parktools 0-60 in/lbs or the whia stuff looks very nice.

J T CUNNINGHAM

"the smaller one ( 1/4" drive ) . . ." QUOTE.

DUH !!!

Sorry, what I meant to write was 3/8" drive.


Regards,
J T

jcpups608

That the 3/8" is what I need or that it's the smaller one? because...

DaveSSS 

A cheap beam type from Sears will last a lifetime and never need calibration. Click types can malfunction, resulting in the wrong torque and the need to return them to the manufacturer for repair and calibration. Click types are great if you're torqueing a large number of bolts at once, but not needed when for one or two readings on BB cups, cassette lockrings and other crank bolts.

nitropowered

I have a syntace 1/4" click type. Its made by norbar.

HillRider

Despite the 0-600 in-lb rating, a torque wrench of this capacity will be very inaccurate at the low end of it's range. The rule of thumb is you should not rely on any instrument being accurate at less than 10% of it's full scale. So for this wrench, I wouldn't trust it below about 60 in-lbs. This is no where near good enough for small bolts like stem and handlebar clamps.

Short answer, you need two torque wrenches. Generally, a 1/2" square drive for high torque jobs (bottom brackets, crank bolts, lockrings) and a 1/4" square drive for all the small stuff.

Psydotek

You will absolutely need a beam torque wrench.

https://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...4690000P?mv=rr

Why? It will measure torque when wrenching in both directions. Extremely useful for bottom brackets and pedals and won't go out of adjustment if you drop it or use it as a breaker bar (it'll just measure how much pressure it took to loosen that BB cup).

Then get a smaller one that measures in inch/lbs:

https://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=2696

Don't forget to get a set of metric hex bits.