Folks, I'm looking at buying a torque wrench. My current need is for a half inch drive type largish one (170lb ft min) and I'm not looking to break the bank. So, my question is - are there many reverse thread bolts on the P38? The one-way wrenches are cheaper, but how much use will I get out of the extra function?
My two, one dial and one electronic, both have ratchets. I guess I would struggle tor recall a time that I have ever had to torque a LH thread, on the Defender, or the P38 - but sometimes I've used it to remove a nut if it was in a funny location and for whatever reason the wrench had the "right" geometry for access. So it can be a useful function to have IMHO, unless it's going to save you zillions of £s
Well I've got a decent 1/2" breaker bar which definitely HAS been handy :)
I know I'm risking the old adage of buying cheap but.. this looks like it'll do me for a while at least.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-2-DRIVE-HIGH-RANGE-TORQUE-WRENCH-50-250FT-LB-70-350NM-RATCHET-IN-CASE-SS031/283543800938
What do you reckon? Garbage or worth a pop? I'm not in the market for a Snap On, sadly!
Or.. for double the money I could nip down to Halfords and get one of these with a lifetime warranty: https://tinyurl.com/y9c7mo6w
hmm. I'm not feeling very decisive today!
Or there's always Machine Mart https://www.machinemart.co.uk/categories/?search=torque+wrench
i'm no fan of ratchet torque wrenches, although I have a Norbar one. Never seem to have the feel that a classic Britool or similar has.
The one Morat linked to is very short for a high range torque wrench, barely 2 ft so will need a fair old heave.
Seems to be a good week for Britool on E-Bay. Choice of used ETV3000 around the £50 - £60 mark. Simple, robust and usefully longer. Push the square through and flip over to reverse.
My big one is a Britool HTV version, 3/4" drive and getting on for four ft long. Can be a cumbersome beast, light it isn't, but don't need to heave unless things are very serious.
Clive
That sort of money, I’d hang on for one of the halfords advanced, they often come up on eBay around that price.. (£50)
Well, I got carried away and two Halfords Advanced slipped into the basket. The model 60 and 300 which should cover me from 12-300nm (10-250lb ft) Tools are an investment! (as I keep having to say)
Also, I don't think I want to half-ass the axle nut and the hub bolts on the front of my jeep! Bad things (tm) would probably happen.
Britool FTW! lol
I have a 1/2" drive 300Nm Tekton torque wrench but needed a bigger one for my Disco 2 hubs. I bought a 3/4" drive 560Nm Britool HVT5000 off of eBay for 104 quid. I still need to take it to Norwich to get calibrated.
\If you know your Tekton one is calibrated correctly then you can use that to check the Britool one...albeit not to the top of its' range
i have axle nuts on VW hubs 300 ft lb, i don't own a tension wrench for that i just use an extension bar on the strongarm . you will need a 3/4'' drive at least as i have damaged 2 1/2'' drive ratchets on the axle nuts on the rover. a 4' bar will do the trick IMHO
Well, the Jeep axle nuts are only 170 lb ft so I'm well in range :) 300 sounds pretty fierce!
I just crank wheel nuts up with a 1/2 bar.
On the P38 you could well be overtightening them, the correct setting is only 80lb/ft
Morat wrote:
On the P38 you could well be over tightening them, the correct setting is only 80lb/ft
and they are still to tight for a 1/2'' drive socket
when you have been doing this stuff for that long you just know how tight somethings should be?
This is US but I've had a $50 Tekton 1/2" torque wrench now for a few years and it's stayed accurate enough for my home use needs.
Interestingly, the P38 wheel nut torque is 80, but my D2 with the same wheels is 100 (this from memory but I think I'm right).