[Phreaddy]

Hey all,

I have a nice, heavier-duty Craftsman torque wrench. I'd like to start using a torque wrench on bicycle stuff, but I assume that my 0-200 ft-lb Craftsman wouldn't be accurate for bike stuff that's generally at the lower end of the scale.

Park sells wrenches in the 0-60 inch range and the 0-600 inch range. I don't really see the need to pay Park prices, and I'm sure their wrenches are made by someone else anyway -- so what do you guys recommend? I didn't see any sort of lightweight-ranged wrench (the lowest was 75 foot pounds) on the Craftsman website.

Thanks!

 

[johnbryanpeters]

The 0-60 is accurate for torques from 12-48 in-lb.
The 0-600 ditto from 120-480.
Principle is 20%-80% of nominal maximum torque.
Note that neither will be accurate in the 49-119 in-lb. range.

Any reputable tool maker would be OK. Buy Snap-On if you're rich.

J

 

[fonseca]

Craftsman has a 0-75 ft-lb model that is under $20 and works okay for the higher torque components. You really need two torque wrenches though. You can also get a small one from Lowes or Home Depot for $15 just like the Park one, which works well for all the little low-torque bolts.

I prefer the Park 0-50 ft-lb wrench to the Craftsman 0-75 model, because the range is better for bike use, and it reads in inch-lbs instead of ft-lbs. It's worth $10 for me to not have to multiply everything by 12 whenever I use it. I bought mine from Performance with a 20% off coupon. I own both and the Craftsman is what I lend out.

The Craftsman torque wrenches do not have a lifetime warranty, btw.