New Craftsman Torque Wrenches Don't Work
I bought a brand new 25 to 250 in-lbs clicker type Craftsman torque wrench today so that I could properly torque down the 4mm bolts on my handle bar stem. The Ritchie directions said to tighten to 5 N-m and I set the wrench to 4-N-m to kind of ease into it. I snapped the bolt off before it clicked. So I played around with it a little bit and I was able to snap off another 4mm bolt before there was a click or any indiction that I was over torque. OK so I took that wrench back and got a replacement, set the wrench to 40 in-lbs and tested it on some bolts on my car. No click or any indiction of when I got to torque.
The directions say "At low settings the release is gentle and there is no audible click. Learn how different amounts of torque feel . . . . " I don't need to buy their torque wrench to get this result.
What is going on here? Does 25 to 250 in-lbs really mean 100 to 250 in-lbs? This was the smallest they had in the store although the directions seem to indicate smaller ones exist. Do I need to get a smaller wrench for 40 to 80 in-lbs range? Or did Craftsman make a bad batch of wrenches and are wasting my time with this?
About the bike. I apparently over torqued the stem onto the handle bars. When I realized this I backed off of the torque. The bar does not appear to be crushed. There is a scratch on it but it appears to be superficial. I was just going to get a couple of new bolts and keep the same parts. I hope this will OK?
The bummer is this is my only bike and it puts me out of service for commuting.