From looking at my manual, it looks like I need to buy a torque wrench. Do you have any suggestions? What kind should I buy (range of torque), and how much should I expect to pay?
Thanks,
Nick
Need a Torque Wrench
Started by nickinohio, Mar 05 2003 08:58 AM
6 replies to this topic
Posted 05 March 2003 - 08:58 AM
From looking at my manual, it looks like I need to buy a torque wrench. Do you have any suggestions? What kind should I buy (range of torque), and how much should I expect to pay?
Thanks,
Nick
Posted 05 March 2003 - 09:04 AM
Sears has some pretty good ones that are reasonably priced. Just make sure you understand the differneces between nm (Newton Meters) and foot pounds, and inch pounds.
Posted 05 March 2003 - 10:55 AM
Snap-On is the best, and priced accordingly. www.snap-on.com
Proto is the best balance between price and quality. Available everywhere, but the cheapest seems to be www.jlindustrial.com Once you get to J&L's site use their search engine to find torque wrenches.
Sears brings up the rear with being easy to find and cheap to buy.
Do not be afraid to pay the bucks for a good torque wrench, it will last the rest of your life and the better ones can be re-calibrated 10-20 years down the road for a very reasonable fee. And torque wrenches are also very useful to do automotive repairs, saving money to buy more tools
As far as types, you'll need at least two. One "big" one, 1/2" drive, that will go from 30 foot-lbs to over 200 foot-lbs for things like axle bolts and such, and a "little" one that will handle say 25-250 inch-lbs. Notice the difference in units. Inch pounds are way smaller than foot-lbs, so the "little" wrench will typically be either 1/4" or 3/8" drive.
One note about the quality of the wrench, pay attention to where it's made. If it's USA, Japan, or Europe it's a good one. Taiwan or shudder China, it will make a nice paperweight, nothing else. NOTHING ruins the day like a snapped off bolt you were tightening verrry carefully.
Proto is the best balance between price and quality. Available everywhere, but the cheapest seems to be www.jlindustrial.com Once you get to J&L's site use their search engine to find torque wrenches.
Sears brings up the rear with being easy to find and cheap to buy.
Do not be afraid to pay the bucks for a good torque wrench, it will last the rest of your life and the better ones can be re-calibrated 10-20 years down the road for a very reasonable fee. And torque wrenches are also very useful to do automotive repairs, saving money to buy more tools
As far as types, you'll need at least two. One "big" one, 1/2" drive, that will go from 30 foot-lbs to over 200 foot-lbs for things like axle bolts and such, and a "little" one that will handle say 25-250 inch-lbs. Notice the difference in units. Inch pounds are way smaller than foot-lbs, so the "little" wrench will typically be either 1/4" or 3/8" drive.
One note about the quality of the wrench, pay attention to where it's made. If it's USA, Japan, or Europe it's a good one. Taiwan or shudder China, it will make a nice paperweight, nothing else. NOTHING ruins the day like a snapped off bolt you were tightening verrry carefully.
Posted 05 March 2003 - 11:00 AM
hey nick,
here's a tidbit of advice -- it's not possible to have just one torque wrench which will suit all needs. the camshaft cap bolts, for example, require 7.2 ft-lbs of torque. on the other hand, the steering head nut requires around 100 ft-lbs. you will find it difficult to get a wrench that covers this wide range AND is accurate near the extremes.
my suggestion then is to start small. i say that because it is much easier to snap off a 5mm dia bolt on your engine than the bigger bolts on your frame. what i mean by this is that accuracy is critical when you are talking 7.2 ft-lbs but not so critical when you are talking 100 ft-lbs.
so my recommendation would be to get a decent 3/8" drive torque wrench that goes from about 10 to 50 ft-lbs. this will cover lots of bolts on your bike including the critical fork tube clamp bolts.
later you can get a 1/4" drive torque wrench, one that goes from about 48 in-lbs (4 ft-lbs) to 240 in-lbs (20 ft-lbs). this allows precise tightening of internal engine parts, like those cam caps.
finally you can get a big 1/2" drive unit, that goes to 140 ft-lbs or so. used on rear axle, steering stem nut, etc.
by far i get the most use out of the 3/8" torque wrench. when you change your oil you'll need this (or perhaps you can use the 1/4" drive) to tighten the oil cover cap bolts. if i recall correctly they are torqued to around 17 ft-lbs.
as for brands...
as i have opined several times before, i think that STANLEY-PROTO represents the best value in torque wrenches these days. basically they are Snap-On quality at 1/2 the price. you can occasionally pick one of these up on ebay for a really nice price. but sears/craftsman also have some nice wrenches, as does husky and so forth. the torque wrench topic has been discussed many times before, just do a search and change the search timeframe out to a year or so.
fwiw, i have 2 PROTOs (1/4" and 3/8") and a husky (1/2").
jim aka the wrooster
'01 wr250f
here's a tidbit of advice -- it's not possible to have just one torque wrench which will suit all needs. the camshaft cap bolts, for example, require 7.2 ft-lbs of torque. on the other hand, the steering head nut requires around 100 ft-lbs. you will find it difficult to get a wrench that covers this wide range AND is accurate near the extremes.
my suggestion then is to start small. i say that because it is much easier to snap off a 5mm dia bolt on your engine than the bigger bolts on your frame. what i mean by this is that accuracy is critical when you are talking 7.2 ft-lbs but not so critical when you are talking 100 ft-lbs.
so my recommendation would be to get a decent 3/8" drive torque wrench that goes from about 10 to 50 ft-lbs. this will cover lots of bolts on your bike including the critical fork tube clamp bolts.
later you can get a 1/4" drive torque wrench, one that goes from about 48 in-lbs (4 ft-lbs) to 240 in-lbs (20 ft-lbs). this allows precise tightening of internal engine parts, like those cam caps.
finally you can get a big 1/2" drive unit, that goes to 140 ft-lbs or so. used on rear axle, steering stem nut, etc.
by far i get the most use out of the 3/8" torque wrench. when you change your oil you'll need this (or perhaps you can use the 1/4" drive) to tighten the oil cover cap bolts. if i recall correctly they are torqued to around 17 ft-lbs.
as for brands...
as i have opined several times before, i think that STANLEY-PROTO represents the best value in torque wrenches these days. basically they are Snap-On quality at 1/2 the price. you can occasionally pick one of these up on ebay for a really nice price. but sears/craftsman also have some nice wrenches, as does husky and so forth. the torque wrench topic has been discussed many times before, just do a search and change the search timeframe out to a year or so.
fwiw, i have 2 PROTOs (1/4" and 3/8") and a husky (1/2").
jim aka the wrooster
'01 wr250f
Posted 05 March 2003 - 12:45 PM
" I love this place. "
We think of it, to use the words of Racer X magazine, as "Total Devotion".
You will learn more here than anywhere else on the web, and as a bonus, it's four stroke specific
Bardwell's shipped my new E-cam yesterday and without this site, there's no way it would go as smooth as I know it's going to go.
We think of it, to use the words of Racer X magazine, as "Total Devotion".
You will learn more here than anywhere else on the web, and as a bonus, it's four stroke specific
Bardwell's shipped my new E-cam yesterday and without this site, there's no way it would go as smooth as I know it's going to go.
