What are some recommended torque wrenches? How much should I be willing to pay for a nice set? Thanks in advance!

 

I think that the click wrenches tend to be better than the needle wrenches. I used a needle wrench once to torque water pump nuts, but it ended up overtorquing and snapping the stud.

I bought a click wrench that day and re-did it without incident.

I got mine from OSH...I believe it's Craftsman brand. Depending on what kind of work you do, you probably need one for small torques < 30Nm and one for bigger torques < 100Nm. Mine was around 50$.

 

I have a Craftsman one from Sears.
I bought it on sale for about $70

 

I got the one off of tire rack

 

I use a harborfreight one, which considering how low quality most of their parts are, is actually a very good torque. My friend bought the same one, rebadged w/ a different brand, at a quality place for $50.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...Itemnumber=239

Supposedly clicker wrenches can get miscalibrated if you drop it, or just from wear. So I bought a 2nd one later for $10, works for me.

 

I bought the Tire Rack wrench; it's fine. Compare it to what Home Depot sells; regardless it should be a click type.

 

SnapOn

 

^^^

I have two of them. They have worked fine for me. I paid about ~200 for them including some red storage cases.

 

I have a 1/2" drive craftsman for high torque use, and a 3/8" drive snap-on digital for low torque and more precision works.

 

Even the Craftsman brand Torque wrenches are not foolproof-none are really. Realize that any TW can go out of calibration. And for you who kept your original packaging notice that the clicker Craftsman TW is not a lifetime guarantee --it is limited. HOW do I know? I snapped a bolt off of my motorcycle triple clamp when my Craftsman did not click last year. Sears would not exchange it. Sure others may have different experience but it clearly states a limited guarantee while most tools are lifetime.

I now have a $25 beam style craftman which is lifetime. Snap ons are better but big $$$.
I am no wrencher at all but I expected my barely 1 year old TW to click when I set it. I will now use it as an expensive breaker bar. live and learn.

 

Husky from Home Depot, IIRC, all Husky tools are guaranteed forever

$69

http://www.homedepot.com/ , search for: torque wrench

 

Just today I picked up one from Harbor Freight for $14. Its similar to xizor's but I got the 3/8" one 0-80lb.

 

You're supposed to get them calibrated yearly, depending on use. If you buy the expensive type like Snapon, Mac Tool, Matco, etc...those warrant the $150 that is an often cost for re-calibration. If you buy a craftsman for $70, why pay almost double the amount to calibrate it? Also if you drop any tw, it doesn't matter what brand, but generally it will fall out of calibration, that spring or knuckle is very sensitive to impact. It is also a very good idea to set the tool back to zero after use.

Myself, I have a craftsman brand at home, but at school we used Mac Tools or SnapOns.

The cream of the crop is snapon, especially the CDI brand.