Torque Wrench

If you are only ever using it for a car project now and then those are just fine. I have a spring loaded "clicker" that I use but I use it quite a bit. Our installers have very nice ones that have to get re-calibrated once every two years, I believe. Something about safety I guess.... ;)
 
That torque wrench will work just fine for many years as an old heavy duty mechanic i have used them before when wanting a very accurate rolling torque but will work very well in all applications. You can get a small ratchet adapter for it that will be helpful.
 
If it is for a one time use. I would rent one from Autozone or O'Reilys. Most of the time you just have to put down a deposit and when you bring it back you get the deposit back.
 
Thank you. Will get back to this after LDI. Trying to find a friendly shop where I can use it. I should be able to get it finger tight and then just check it in a few minutes with a torque wrench. It is just 5 bolts.
 
I caved and bought a CDI Torque Products (Snap-On Branded) wrench for my car work. $120, and it's a very nice tool.

Two things drove my decision - the tool is partially manufactured and wholly assembled in the USA, and I can send it in to be recalibrated if needed. A $30 harbor freight wrench that can't be calibrated means another $30 harbor freight wrench if it has issues, and that will add up over the years I think the CDI wrenches will last based on their quality.

https://www.amazon.com/Industrial-C...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=6P58T4MCYZCS90WRSSR6
 
I caved and bought a CDI Torque Products (Snap-On Branded) wrench for my car work. $120, and it's a very nice tool.

Two things drove my decision - the tool is partially manufactured and wholly assembled in the USA, and I can send it in to be recalibrated if needed. A $30 harbor freight wrench that can't be calibrated means another $30 harbor freight wrench if it has issues, and that will add up over the years I think the CDI wrenches will last based on their quality.

https://www.amazon.com/Industrial-C...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=6P58T4MCYZCS90WRSSR6

I will consider but at nearly 65, and never having had much interest in working on my car or vehicles in general, just not sure its time to start thinking about how long it will last.
 
I will consider but at nearly 65, and never having had much interest in working on my car or vehicles in general, just not sure its time to start thinking about how long it will last.

With that mindset just borrow one from the store. Hell you could prolly go in to the store and ask them to torque it for you real quick if you hand tighten it on. Just dont drive over there like a crazy person ;)
 
Like buy one, go out to parking lot, use it, and then return it, i'd changed my mind? (The number of reputable rigging contractors I've met that do that when they don't have a tool - like go buy a 1/2" drill motor at Home Depot - drill a few holes - and then return it. Crazy times.)
 
No... that would be wrong. You can literally borrow one at Autozone or places like that and they will give it to you with a deposit and return it and get back your deposit.
 
Yep, at autozone the deposit is usually the full price. At least they don't end up taking a loss having to sell a bunch of returned ones as "open box"
 
Follow up:
Well, I found a torque wrench similar to the one I linked in original post at Menards (I think a Midwest only big box chain) for $5.99! Go bad could it be. Seems to work fine. No ratchet so a little slow but for 5 bolts on the hitch - just dandy.

So I tried to use it on my lug nuts on the trailer. Works but 85-90 ft pounds is tight! I may go to a tire shop and see what they want to tighten further.

Hand packing the wheel bearings was an unique first time experience. And getting continuity on the ground of an import trailer kit is a challenge.

In any case chassis is complete and operational. Now onto the cabin!
 
It's not something that I would call a precision instrument but it's probably fine for wheels. If you ended up in that 90 ft/lbs range then you should be good to go. You really can't trust a lot of tire shops either. A lot of them don't even use a torque wrench, and just hit the lugs with their impacts until they're tight. A lot of the time that means that the wheels are torqued to tightly and potentially overstressing things. It also makes is really hard to remove the lugs yourself if your stuck on the side of the road somewhere. I always break the lugs loose when I get home from a tire shop and torque them to spec myself. In my personal experience they in the proper range about half the time, and the other half I have to pull out my impact to break them free.
 
I think draw bar is rated at 3500 pounds. I expect to be in the 1000-1500 range max. I'm guessing if the torque is in the ballpark I'll be fine.
 

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