Torque wrench

[SMok3-11]

Well everyone I'm going to give it a whirl... Just received all my parts to do my struts and shocks. It's my first time ever attempting to do so. I've read post on how to, watched a few Youtube videos. Doesn't seem that complicated at all.
My question is which (cheap) torque wrench should I use for this task? BTW yes I will be attempting to compress my own springs... Any help please?

Will start on car when garage heater arrives......
Edit: hope this will do
http://www.bestcovery.com/michigan-indu ... h-kit-2460

[CMNTMXR57]

"Cheap" and "torque wrench" are not two terms that necessarily go well together.

[SMok3-11]

"Cheap" and "torque wrench" are not two terms that necessarily go well together.

Gotcha!

[00Beast]

Aim the strut away from yourself when compressing, and don't get your fingers in there!

[Jfridge92]

I agree with Lane, invest in a good torque wrench. You definitely want to make sure those bolts are torqued accurately, you don't want suspension parts coming loose while you're driving.

For example: I bought a $10 torque wrench at Harbor Freight with a coupon I had. It was "rated" for 300+ft lbs. I was torquing my tires back on after rotating them before our trip to Chicago a few months ago, (tires are torqued around 100 ft lbs or so) and the wrench literally snapped mid way through. I'll definitely never buy one of those again.




**edited so people don't destroy their hubs/wheel studs hahah

[00Beast]

Wheel nuts should be 100 ft/lbs on H-bodies Joe...

[CMNTMXR57]

I was gonna say, GM passenger car lugs are 100 lb/ft. :p

[Jfridge92]

Typo lol, I'm at work trying to multi task


Although that would explain why every single one of my wheel studs snapped in the process hahaha


But on a serious note, a mechanic buddy of mine hooked me up with a really nice set of snap on's that he was selling so he could get a new set. The quality is so much better than the HF one's is not even funny.

[CMNTMXR57]

Yes! Snap-On/Mac/Matco > than all other.

People argue this constantly on the tubez here, but until your livlihood is predicated on working fast, efficiently, and accurately, do you become appreciative of the precision, compactness, and overall quality of one of those brands for automotive repair vs. our own crapsman. I get into it with the tool guys here all the time too. I'm a Snap-On person personally.

[00Beast]

I wish I could afford to be a Snap On/Mac/Matco/Cornwell guy...

[SMok3-11]

Aim the strut away from yourself when compressing, and don't get your fingers in there!

My thoughts exactly.... was going to do them in the basement, but opted out on that! Will just go ahead and purchase a good torque wrench... Thanks for the heads up Guys!

[BonneMe]

If you're a guy in your own garage doing something a few times a year with one? Craftsman.

If you're relying on it for work, pseudo work, have a race car, or will use it every week for something, then one of the big boys is a better idea.

Even more important is getting a range thats good for the work you're doing. If you're always doing lugs @ 100lb/ft don't buy a wrench that goes 20-110lb/ft. They're most accurate in the middle. And when storing them, set them to maybe 25% of the max so they don't loosen up.

[DaMaroon]

Shouldn't a torque wrench rated for 300ft-lb be at least 6ft long?

[CMNTMXR57]

I always set them back to zero.

Just as an FYI, our warranty on torque wrenches (Craftsman), are one year.

So if you buy a Digitork for example, use it once or twice, then the third time, 3 years down the road, the internal mechanisms in the dial handle break, go out of alignment, etc, you're S.O.L.

And yes, I got into it with one of the heads of our tool business when this happened to me.

Length can be important, but not paramount. Some are high capacity wrenches but meant to get into tighter spaces.

[SMok3-11]

So the torque wrench in my original post should be fine?