Rant: That $15 'budget' torque wrench from Harbor Freight cost me a water pump replacement

Found out after snapping a bolt on my own Accord last weekend that cheap torque wrenches can be off by 20% or more, something a Machine Shop Tools forum post broke down with actual calibration tests, has anyone else had a budget tool fail at the worst time?

3 comments

3 Comments

daniel47414d ago

and what gets me is people don't realize a torque wrench isn't a set-it-and-forget-it tool either. even a decent one can drift out of spec if you leave it under tension or drop it once. pretty sure the real lesson here is to test your gear on a junk bolt first before trusting it on something critical.

bennett.nora14d ago

Hang onto that thought and apply it to half the stuff we buy now. It's like people think a kitchen scale or a tire pressure gauge works perfectly forever without any maintenance. I've seen guys swap out a perfectly good torque wrench just because they left it set to 80 foot-pounds for a month and assumed it was ruined. A quick test on a known bolt would tell you if it's still good, but nobody wants to bother with that step.

elliotm7014d ago

@daniel474 nope, totally agree here. a drop and it's done.