Torque Wrench

North Idaho Wolfman said:

Oriental this or that (describing a region or object) is fine and correct.

Describing a person or individual as Oriental is considered offensive and a slur.

Calling them oriental rugs, Oriental foods, or this or that from the orient is fine.

So technically, an oriental Torque wrench is an acceptable use of the term.

But calling Jackie Chan an oriental is offensive, (Awesome actor and stunt person BTW!).

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Not intending to argue... but truly wish to have your viewpoint...
If calling Barack Obama the first Black President,... or Eddie Murphy a Black Comedian/Actor ...is not improper... Then why would calling Jackie Chan an Oriental Comedian/Actor be so?

I'm a white tractor owner. I'm not offended. (But I WAS born in Arkansas...am I a Razorback?)

I use torque wrenches in my shop on tractors, differentials, and airplanes. The Snap On, the MAC, and the HF brands I have ALL pass calibration every year equally within 2%. (And the HF ones work RH and LH because they ratchet.)

Geo. I just read this thread and noticed the discussion on the usage of the work Oriental. I have an opinion because I lived in the Far East for 6 years, but it seems everyone is looking to get offended. I have many friends from the Orient and to my knowledge they are not offended by mentioning their Oriental.

I guess the politically correct term now is "Asians".

When I grew up, "orientals" were from East Asia -- China, Indochina, Thailand, Japan, and the islands in between. Asians might be from anywhere, and a great many of them are Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi.

I have to agree with this thought, "As a rule of thumb should the need arise, I have to surely have the words in my vocabulary to accurately describe a perceived criminal to police without being politically incorrect. I can think of no other word to accurately describe a native of Japan / China / Korea / Taiwan other than "oriental".

I'm going to go get my Oriental tractor and get a bale of hay!

My take on the whole thing (not torque wrenches but getting torqued off over nothing is)...

If you are thin skinned or from California, it might be offensive but if you aren't (I'm not thin skinned or from California) it's no problem. Having said that, I've dealt with abusive comments in my life before and I've ignored them. You see, I'm 1/2 Negro, 1/4 Pennsylvania Dutch and 1/4 American Indian. I said Negro, not African American. I don't play that African American crap.

I tell people that everyone is of color, just that some people are a darker shade of tan than others.

When I'm farming, I get really dark. Don't bother me at all. Besides, you cannot tell from my hair in as much as I don't have any to speak of.

I'm not white nor am I black nor am I brown (redskin), I'm somewhere in between.

GeoHorn said:

Not intending to argue... but truly wish to have your viewpoint...
If calling Barack Obama the first Black President,... or Eddie Murphy a Black Comedian/Actor ...is not improper... Then why would calling Jackie Chan an Oriental Comedian/Actor be so?

I'm a white tractor owner. I'm not offended. (But I WAS born in Arkansas...am I a Razorback?)

I use torque wrenches in my shop on tractors, differentials, and airplanes. The Snap On, the MAC, and the HF brands I have ALL pass calibration every year equally within 2%. (And the HF ones work RH and LH because they ratchet.)

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No, Mr. Horn, the cheap HF wrenches might ratchet left and right but they will only indicate prevailing torque in the right hand direction, not in the left hand direction. I know, I've tried. You can loosen a bolt or tighten a LH bolt but they will not break at any torque setting.

Talenel said:

A good quality anti seize, steel wheels, and studs/nuts that have been set good, you might get away with marking because it will be really close.

But.... the same anti seize, studs/nuts that are set good, but with alloy wheels... retorque EVERY time.

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no alloy in my case.... good ol huge steel rims.

Good point on wet torque...... I need to find that figure!!!

The cheap torque wrench from harbor freight is garbage. Cost me a ton of money. Did an overhaul on a 1500 Kawasaki Vulcan and was torquing the barrel/head studs and the wrench wouldn't click. Went a little further trying to get it to click and it finally went snap. Figured it broke the stud. Nope. Broke the case half. Half not available separate from a case set, about $800 at the time. Cost more than the job paid, pretty good loss actually. Few weeks later on CL a guy had a nice snap on 1/2" drive for $50 and I jumped on it, had it calibrated, and have it cal'd every so often-it's never off.

"torque" is just a manufacturer's way of "you" measuring the stretch of the fastener. Some fasteners are able to have their stretch actually measured, like through bolts on connecting rods, but blind fasteners not so much. So there's two ways...measure the torque it takes to stretch or go to a certain torque and then a certain degree of turn further. Both are educated guesses by the manufacturer of the parts and the fastener. On some, if you don't stretch them enough, the parts that they're fastening won't seal or stay tight correctly, or if you go too much it could end up like what I did, cost a lot of money to fix. Small Block Ford windsor engines are sensitive to torquing the intake manifold, specifically the corner bolts. If they spec 23 lb-ft and you go 30, or if the wrench is off, it's possible to break the corner of the manifold right off. Usually it stretches/breaks the bolt/stud but not always. On rod bolts, if the wrench is off, it'll stretch the bolts beyond their yield, and they WILL fail during operation (if they don't break while tightening) and of course broken rod bolts make a huge mess of an engine.

I agree the cheapo wrenches that HF sells are basically junk but then what do you really get for 12 bucks today, not much. The new Icon wrenches in 1/2" drive and 3/8" drive are not. They are repeatable and accurate (I've checked them against my Snap-on dial wrench which I have calibrated every year and the indicate torque in both directions, not just right hand.

When it comes to clicker wrenches, the lower the pre-set torque value, the more 'touchy' it becomes due to the mechanics involved in the actual audible 'click', which is why, for low value torque settings (a good example is firearms), I always use a dial wrench with 1/4" drive and it has to be in inch pounds, not foot pounds.

You get what you pay except with Snap-On and MAC where you get to pay for the honor of having the name on the tool and the truck that brought it to you....lol I have both but I bought them on Flea-Bay or Craig's List.

The exception is the 12 volt test light I bought off the truck. 99 bucks and made in China but in a Snap-On branded box...whoopee. I got suckered into that deal. Nowhere on the box did it say 'Made in China'. Said it on the tool itself though. Should have bought it at HF for 10 bucks.

I have 2 a clicker of some nondescript manufacturer and last time I had them done it was spot on, the other is from back in the stone age, a snap on dial always spot on. But then I dont worry about about being to accurate any more for what I do now. And there is a 1/4 in in inch pounds a craftsman always been good

When ever I see the snap on guy around I talk to him and he sends them in for me I think last time it was 20 bucks a pop

SidecarFlip said:

No, Mr. Horn, the cheap HF wrenches might ratchet left and right but they will only indicate prevailing torque in the right hand direction, not in the left hand direction. I know, I've tried. You can loosen a bolt or tighten a LH bolt but they will not break at any torque setting.

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One of the irritating things I do find at HF is their penchant for different "Item" numbers for what appear to be identical tools. I suspect it has more to do with what back-paddy shop produced them in some province somewhere... but in any case, the HF torque wrenches I have in my possession calibrate torque in both directions. Perhaps we have different item numbers? Mine are 1/2" 25505, 3/8" 32888, 1/4" 23414. They each torque both RH and LH.
I admit that my Thorsen and MAC DIAL torque wrenches are still the ones I prefer for engine assembly tho, and the little 1/4" MAC is the only one I've ever been able to trust for bearing pre-loads on transmission/rear-axles.

GeoHorn said:

One of the irritating things I do find at HF is their penchant for different "Item" numbers for what appear to be identical tools. I suspect it has more to do with what back-paddy shop produced them in some province somewhere... but in any case, the HF torque wrenches I have in my possession calibrate torque in both directions. Perhaps we have different item numbers? Mine are 1/2" 25505, 3/8" 32888, 1/4" 23414. They each torque both RH and LH.
I admit that my Thorsen and MAC DIAL torque wrenches are still the ones I prefer for engine assembly tho, and the little 1/4" MAC is the only one I've ever been able to trust for bearing pre-loads on transmission/rear-axles.

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Mine don't but the new Icon one does. The one I really trust for repeatability is the Snap-On dial wrench I have.

Harbor Fright is getting much better. Used to be everything was junk. Now some things are junk and some aren't but the stores still stink inside like cheap 'oriental' rubber.

I always go when they are giving away 'Thunderbolt' batteries for free. Not bad batteries...for free. Predator engines aren't bad either. I have a couple. One replaced a Honda I blew up on my rear tine tiller, the other is on a pressure washer. Very reliable. My big issue with HF is you cannot find anything in their stores. It's all mumbo-jumbo.

HF is smart. The 20% off coupons don't apply to items like the Icon torque wrenches or the welders or anything that has one of their brand names except the Chicago branded stuff and the one use throw away hand tools.

I do like the lifetime warranty they have on tools though and where else can you buy a full set of impact sockets in SAE or Metric for 20 bucks, nowhere. The cashier told me if I broke one, just bring it back and they'd replace it. So far, I haven't broken any and I've tried as in removing the wear bar from the bottom of the snow plow with my 1/2" drive IR impact. I have 30 CFM of air available so I just held the trigger down until the nuts either came loose or the bolts snapped.

SidecarFlip said:

Mine don't but the new Icon one does. The one I really trust for repeatability is the Snap-On dial wrench I have.

Harbor Fright is getting much better. Used to be everything was junk. Now some things are junk and some aren't but the stores still stink inside like cheap 'oriental' rubber.

I always go when they are giving away 'Thunderbolt' batteries for free. Not bad batteries...for free. Predator engines aren't bad either. I have a couple. One replaced a Honda I blew up on my rear tine tiller, the other is on a pressure washer. Very reliable. My big issue with HF is you cannot find anything in their stores. It's all mumbo-jumbo.

HF is smart. The 20% off coupons don't apply to items like the Icon torque wrenches or the welders or anything that has one of their brand names except the Chicago branded stuff and the one use throw away hand tools.

I do like the lifetime warranty they have on tools though and where else can you buy a full set of impact sockets in SAE or Metric for 20 bucks, nowhere. The cashier told me if I broke one, just bring it back and they'd replace it. So far, I haven't broken any and I've tried as in removing the wear bar from the bottom of the snow plow with my 1/2" drive IR impact. I have 30 CFM of air available so I just held the trigger down until the nuts either came loose or the bolts snapped.

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I'm on my second set of harbour freight impact sockets. One set I used for 8 years at work. 1 1/8" and 15/16" sockets got moat of the use and hammered pretty good. The 1 1/8 gave up the ghost at 8 years. Took it in and they swapped it out with out issue. Bought a set off the Matco truck to replace those for the shop. Took that batch to the house for garage use. I ended up buying another set last year from harbour freight to leave in my service truck.

I split a Snap-On impact socket while removing the wear bar, why I got the HF set. The Snap-On truck wasn't handy at the time. I have no mercy on impact sockets anyway, what they are for. I'll have to try my 3/4" extended anvil impact on them (with a 3/4 to 1/2 reducer). I'll probably break the reducer instead. The 3/4 IR makes 2300 foot pounds break torque. the 1/2 IR makes about 1300.

The HF set is unbeatable for the price, even with no guarantee. 20 bucks isn't even a 12 pack of beer, unless it's really cheap beer.

My 3 made in Australia B&W Torque wrenches-
Dual Signal pin pops out and you can see and hear it when the torque is reached
1/4"drive to 20 ft.lbs
1/2" drive to 200 ft.lbs
3/4" & 1" drive to 800ft.lbs

Hank

My 1/4" Snap on is only in inch pounds. Heck with the wrenches, I'l take the Micro Bus.

Think I'll start a new thread, Harbor Freight tool you like or dislike...

my 1/4" drive is also in inch pounds and newton metres
the other two torque wrenches are in foot pounds and newton metres
my farm truck is a 1958 VW Single cab- drop sides handy rig
cheers
Hank

DaTow'd said:

my 1/4" drive is also in inch pounds and newton metres
the other two torque wrenches are in foot pounds and newton metres
my farm truck is a 1958 VW Single cab- drop sides handy rig
cheers
Hank

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My brother had an army green double cab with drop sides back in 1970 that he called "the toad". Cool rig