I need to buy a torque wrench soon. What do you guys recomend as far as measurment range goes? (i.e., 20-100 ft. lbs. vs. 5-80 ft. lbs.) It seems the more expensive models have larger ranges and start at 5 to 10 ft. lbs. but I can't spend $300 on this thing. How often do I need to torque something below 20? How often do I need to torque something above 100? Right now I just need it to do my wheel bearings but I know I'll need it again in the near future. Any specific product recomendations would be good, too. Thanks.
-Michael

 

the answer also depends on how much you will use it for any other job. You could get a cheaper wrench now, but have to buy another one down the road b/c you need a certain ft/lb.

I just got a 3/8" digital torgue wrench that goes from 5-100ft/lb . Perhaps it is a bit overkill ($320) but I will never have to buy another one again--EVER.
http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....re&dir=catalog

 

i just bought a 1/2" from harbor freight... yeah it might not last forever like a snap-on, but i wont be using it everyday nor abusing it... and it was $12 .... i could buy like 30 of them for the price of a snap-on one...... even if i buy a new one every year until i am 50 that is still cheaper than the snap-on one.....


not saying snap-on isn't awesome, when i was a tire tech thats what we used and it was awesome and tough.... but for wrenching on my own truck the $350 wrench isn't needed when the $12 works

 

I second the Snap On digitorque wrench. I use it all of the time at work and have yet to snap another bolt in half. It is very expensive so if you don't use it often then I would suggest a Craftsman torque wrench, although mine went out of calibration within a year.

 

Bought a Husky Pro 20-100 ft-lbs torque wrench from Home Depot, for $70. The Craftsman only went up to 75 ft-lbs (for similar length and price), and was not sufficient for the wheel lugs.

 

i've got a couple. a 10-80lb 3/8" proto, and a 10-150lb(or whatever) HF 1/2" wrench. the proto is a really nice wrench, the harbor freight is...well, $12 worth of wrench.

the 3/8" one does most of what i need to do, like manifold nuts and head bolts, but i'd like to get a larger 1/2" wrench for big stuff like main bearing caps and such, as well as a 1/4" inch pound wrench for the small engines i work on.

 

I have a Husky 25-150+ ft-lb wrench in 1/2" and a Husky inch-lb wrench in 3/8". By far I use the larger ft-lb one. I'd say that that 80 ft-lb is on the low side, since lugnuts can easily range from 75-100 ft-lb.

As for needing one for torque specs over 100 ft-lb, pinions are up there and so should large suspension parts. In the end it would be unfortunate if you had to buy one again.