A little background -
I'm a casual self-taught wrencher. My father wasn't a really handy guy. At all. I think he owned maybe two or three screwdrivers, a hammer, and a corded power drill that he bought from K-mart in the early 1970s. I still remember the price tag on the box of his K-mart drill - I think it was $11.97. One year, my folks decided they needed some shelves in a closet. My folks went to the hardware store, bought some wood, and my mom cut all that plywood with a handsaw and nailed/screwed all those shelves to the wall while my dad watched in amazement. So I'm all self-taught --- I never had the opportunity to learn about taking care of "stuff" from my dad.
When I graduated from undergrad in the mid 90s, I got a job as a faceless-suit, and I bought my first car and a bunch of tools from Sears. Guddumit, I finally had a little income and I was gonna learn that great American pasttime - shade tree mechanics!!!! My understanding at the time was that outside of hideously expensive tool-truck brands, Craftsman was supposed to be a mark of quality at a reasonable price. Indeed I remember most of those tools were made in the USA. One of those tools was a 1/2" drive torque wrench.
As a casual wrencher, I used that torque wrench for straightforward stuff - suspension work - struts, springs, shocks, wheels on/off, brake work, etc. I used that torque wrench maybe 800 torques per year at most. That 1/2" drive Craftsman torque wrench broke in 2012.
I went to Sears in 2012 to exchange the torque wrench, and much to my consternation, Sears wouldn't exchange it. Something about how Craftsman wrenches were covered, but torque wrenches, with their moving parts, were not covered at all. So sorry, would I like to purchase a new one?
By 2012 I was a sleep deprived father of children with no shame, so I caused enough of an embarrassing scene at the hardware section of Sears such that in order to make me go away, they gave me a new 1/2" drive torque wrench, good to 150 lb-ft, retail price $69.99. By this time, with increasing demands on my time from kid-stuff, work travel, and other trappings of mid-aged adulthood, my ATPY (Average Torques Per Year) had declined precipitously - perhaps to 250 torques per year. So of course, that new Craftsman torque wrench broke by 2015.
The locking collar broke. Since the collar no longer locked, it was difficult to "set" to a torque. The best I could do was spin the setting to a desired torque, try and torque a bolt, and 6 times out of 10 it would torque "CLICK." 4 times out of 10 it would kind of go "CLICKETY-CLICK-CLICK" and skip a beat or two, which meant that somehow the setting wasn't working and I had to rotate the collar again a few mm and try again. Coupled with the fact that the rotating collar never really matched up well with the stamped torque markings on the shiny shaft (and it was tough to read), I hated this Crapsman torque wrench with a vengance.
I finally chucked it. I bought new one from Amazon for $69.95.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BYG66BT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This new torque wrench is beautifully made! Designed in the USA (Georgia specifically), and made in China. The manufacturer even emblazons this on the wrench (as if it were an iphone or something.) It goes to 250 lb-ft, and the adjustment mechanism is super clear and precise. Unlike that stupid stamped-gradations-on-the-shaft thing, there is a rotating drum behind a little window that indicates the setting. The locking mechanism is not a twisty-kind, but a simple thing where you pull the bottom out to unlock, and push it in to lock. The finish is a nice matte finish, and the rubber grip is good. It comes with a certificate that shows its accuracy (serial number is engraved on the unit), which is promised to be within 3%.
I should have chucked that Craftsman years ago.
Here are some pictures comparing it to a 3/8" drive Husky that I bought some years ago.... It is clearly nicer than the Husky. The ratcheting mechanism is also much finer. I just checked the torque on my car's wheels this morning and this wrench was a pleasure to use.
www.bluetools.com
![[500Eboard] IMG_9559.jpg](https://www.500eboard.co/forums/data/attachments/111/111721-ace4d51e6a3ed6366ca68b3f8ace1208.jpg?hash=rOTVHmo-1j "[500Eboard] IMG_9559.jpg")
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www.harborfreight.com
