Torque wrench

I have been real happy with my CDI torque wrenches. They are made in the USA and a division on snap-on. Not the same quality ratchet heads as a snap-on but good enough for my needs.

http://www.cditorque.com/about.html

I bought most of mine on Amazon.... I may have a few.... Just bought the 600 ft*lb 3/4" drive monster to help my friend put a 4.5" Carli lift on his F350. One of the bolts needed almost 500 ft* lbs of torque!!

If you can only get one, get one that is good for 30-150 ft lbs (torque wrenches aren't real accurate on the bottom 20% of the scale). But (in my opinion) you need two or three to cover all fasteners that you would need on the Jeep. One that goes up to about 250 in lbs, a 100 ft lb one, and a 250 ft lb one. That would allow you to torque everything from about 4 ft lbs to 250 ft lbs. The 250 ft lb wrench (of the top of my head I can't think of anything that needs over 125 ft lbs) isn't really needed on the Jeep but the longer wrench helps to make the Control arm torque easier.
 
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If you were only to get one. Buy both 3/8 and 1/2. lol

Seriously though I'd get a 1/2" for sure.

This is what I use.
ImageUploadedByWAYALIFE1426184064.099514.jpg.
An old made in the USA K.D. Tools (known now as Gearwrench and made over seas).

And a MAC 3/8"

Believe it or not this old beam type Craftsman is accurate and Will definitely get the job done. Snagged it for a buck in its original box at an estate sale.
ImageUploadedByWAYALIFE1426184510.949437.jpg.
ImageUploadedByWAYALIFE1426184529.483447.jpg.

I know I've said this a few times on this forum. Take a look at garage sales and estate sales. Truck brand tools are crazy expensive when brand new. Get them for pennies if you just take the time to look and are patient.
 
catahoula said:
To be honest I bought a HF one for 9.99 wit cupin. I use it all the time when rotating, installing part. I have over 74,000 on my rig and have not had a problem if that means anything. In fact when I bought my Jeep I had to get tools to work on it courtesy of HF. To each their own.
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I'm not sure where I read it, but I seen a article once comparing torque wrenches. It spanned a very large price range. Believe it or not but the harbor freight wrench was the most accurate over the whole test. It did state that durability was not tested though. For the price of the HF wrench you could afford to buy a new one every so often. Just thought I'd share. I wish I could remember who wrote the article. Maybe popular mechanics?
 
Lil Nasty said:
I'm not sure where I read it, but I seen a article once comparing torque wrenches. It spanned a very large price range. Believe it or not but the harbor freight wrench was the most accurate over the whole test. It did state that durability was not tested though. For the price of the HF wrench you could afford to buy a new one every so often. Just thought I'd share. I wish I could remember who wrote the article. Maybe popular mechanics?
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The interwebs....... Bonjour!!!
 
Linebacker said:
X2. I've had mine for 20+ years. Made in the USA!
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Everything Craftsman that I see, now, is made in China, too. 3 or 4 years ago, I bought some made in USA 6 point combination wrenches. Went to Sears a few months ago & couldn't find anything made in USA.
 
I can't find the article now, but there was a review of several torque wrenches (1/2" with up to 250 ft lbs). I remember that it covered CDI, Snap-On, Crafstman, Harbor Freight, and a few others. This review said the Snap-on was best (of course) but listed CDI and Craftsman as best buys. More importantly, it stressed that when you are finished with the torque wrench it is imperative that you back the torque back down to 0 ft to relieve the stress on the spring. That was a major contributor to the wrench being inaccurate. Example, the HF wrench actually started out pretty accurate (he tested the torque at several settings, 60, 80, 140, 200 ft lbs or something like that). But after sitting for 10 days at 80 ft lbs, that wrench was 10% off on it's readings ( 80 ft lbs was now 72 ft lbs). The Snap-On faired the best with that scenario, but still saw some damage from sitting at 80 ft lbs ( something like 2 lbs off I think)
 
jedg said:
More importantly, it stressed that when you are finished with the torque wrench it is imperative that you back the torque back down to 0 ft to relieve the stress on the spring. That was a major contributor to the wrench being inaccurate.
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I've read this before somewhere.... Oh yea post #19 ;)
 
wayoflife said:
Yup, the Craftsman that JeepFan mentioned is what I have in my garage and what I use for installs/maintenance. However, I do carry a cheap Harbor Freight one in my Jeep and just for trail use.
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Thought I was the only one, now I fell better. :thumb:
 
My craftsman broke within two years. It was always kept in a case. So no abuse from tossing it. They would not warranty it.

Snap on from here out on torque wrenches ..
 
piginajeep said:
My craftsman broke within two years. It was always kept in a case. So no abuse from tossing it. They would not warranty it.

Snap on from here out on torque wrenches ..
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X2 on the craftsman warranty of the torque wrench. No luck. Just picked up a temp Tekton to have something.
 
piginajeep said:
My craftsman broke within two years. It was always kept in a case. So no abuse from tossing it. They would not warranty it.

Snap on from here out on torque wrenches ..
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Geez... that sucks. This is what I have in my garage.
 
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