Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I am looking to invest in a good quality reliable torque wrench that is reasonably priced. Anyone got any advice?

You need 2, generally I would say. Up to 50Nm and then 50 to whatever.
Reasonable price are Norbar. I have one 8-50 (3/8 drive)and one 50 to 250(1/2 drive).
I also have a track one for the exige ( set at 110Nm for the wheel nuts) and a secondhand, good as new Snap On 70 -350 for the Elan spinners (220 Lbs)
Patience on ebay for a good second hand Snap On may be worthwhile.

Why not look at these....I've got one and am happy with it...

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/prod ... /040215238

John

Strongly recommend Halfords Professional range - I bought 2 (low and high range) around 10 years ago and they have been superb and were very reasonably priced.

There are quite clearly re branded Beta but around 1/3 cheaper.

http://www.halfords.com/workshop-tools/ ... Gwod49YOnQ


Jon

The problem with torque wrenches is how do you know they are accurate and how do you know they retain it.

An engineering firm I worked for a few years back bought 6, at random, to check for their service engineers.

As I recall, 3 of the 6 were over 10% out and 1 appreciably more than that. The one they chose was not particularly expensive. You, apparently, do not always get what you pay for.

john.p.clegg wrote:Why not look at these....I've got one and am happy with it...

<a class="vglnk" href="https://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/040215238"

John

A fascinating device John. If you know it is accurate it would make a good checking device!

vincereynard wrote:The problem with torque wrenches is how do you know they are accurate and how do you know they retain it.

An engineering firm I worked for a few years back bought 6, at random, to check for their service engineers.

As I recall, 3 of the 6 were over 10% out and 1 appreciably more than that. The one they chose was not particularly expensive. You, apparently, do not always get what you pay for.

john.p.clegg wrote:Why not look at these....I've got one and am happy with it...

<a class="vglnk" href="https://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/040215238"

John

A fascinating device John. If you know it is accurate it would make a good checking device!

Hello Vince,
The short answer is: you don't.
I have three torque wrenches with the same ranges as above. The largest is for K/O's and the rear stub axle nuts on my Formula Ford.

I have them cal-checked every year by a local NIST certified shop. I also have an electronic torque meter that I use as a functional check/standard before I use a wrench on critical assemblies. I have that cal checked every year as well. If I drop one or realize its been over-ranged, I check it immediately against the torque meter.

For things like connecting rod bolts, I use a stretch gauge now.

Regards,
Dan

jono wrote:Strongly recommend Halfords Professional range - I bought 2 (low and high range) around 10 years ago and they have been superb and were very reasonably priced.

There are quite clearly re branded Beta but around 1/3 cheaper.

http://www.halfords.com/workshop-tools/ ... Gwod49YOnQ

Jon

I also have high (60-300Nm) and low (8-60Nm) torque wrenches from Halfords. They are very well made. The only downside is that they don't come in a storage case, just a flimsy plastic tube (cost saving). I thought they were made by Norbar as it says "Made in England" on the tube (and considering the cost I can put up with lack of storage case).

Rob.

I have used these deflecting beam style torque wrenches for 40 years. I have checked their calibration periodically and I have found them to never alter as they have no moving parts to wear.

http://www.warrenandbrown.com.au/precis ... 1$OR$2/140

I have a low range and high range one to cover what I need.

The only downside of these is that they are unidirectional and you cant use them for doing up your left hand wheel spinners. But standing on the right point on a fixed lever arm gives you an accurate enough result for this.

You need to also remember that torque is just an approximation to bolt stretch load and due to thread and under head friction variation it is only about +/- 50% in accuracy at establishing bolt load. This is fine for most applications but in really really critical ones such as big end bolts you want to use actual bolt load by measuring bolt stretch.

cheers
Rohan