About how much should i spend on one of these? I see alot on ebay for a bunch of difference of price ranges, idk what to get but i really need to get one but idk what range i should get and whotnot.

 

I am a little strapped financially, so I went with the cheapest thing I could find:

Harbor Freight - torque Wrench

I haven't had any problems with it, and lets face it, at that price- it is basically disposable!

 

I had a nice one then it stopped working and broke a valve cover bolt. I bought a snap on 3/8s torque wrench. It wasnt cheap but its snap on so pretty much lifetime guarantee. Check sears or something, just a regular needle torque wrench is accurate enough

 

STEER CLEAR OF CHEAP TORQUE WRENCHES. I had one cheap torque wrench once, all it ever did was snap bolts or strip holes. There is a reason for expensive tools, mainly they work and they work good. Cheap torque wrenches tend to me WAY off. Don't have alot of money? Go look in Sears, they are not bad, +/- 3% or so, but I use Matco ones that are +/- 1% and they come with charts showing each indivdual wrenches test results. You get what you pay for, the lowest I would ever go for tools is Sears and I am not saying Sears is junk b/c it is not, i own alot of that too.

 

Yea mine came with a chart its 4% accurate though. The ones with the needles that go around are the most accurate at 1%.

Try and get a 3/8 torque wrench maybe from 5-75 or so. I dont think you need more then that for the bike anyways. i think the axles at 69ft lbs are the most. Mine goes up in .5 increments as well. You can always buy an adapted for the 22&27mm for the wheels.

 

sears wont even fix your trq wrench. all they will do is send it out for re calibration and they have to send it out to texas to have it done ! other then that your **** out of luck . the wrench doesnt even fall under the life time warranty (which sears only considers a life time as 7 years) and if you tell them its for commercial use it drops the warranty to 90 days !

 

also i don't know about you guys...but a 3/8 drive isn't great....i need a 1/2 drive for my big sockets, e.g., the axles and stem nuts....you're not SUPPOSED to use an adapter as it could throw the torque spec out of whack a bit, but i think i am going to do that rather than buy another...just don't want to spend the cash right now....

 

yea it does throw it out of whack but by what maybe .5% for an adapter if that. Adapters are ok to use, extensions i wouldnt. Even a 3/8s extension, ive used it on my plugs and things and its fine thats why a high quality torque wrench is critical.

 

I've got a 1/2" Craftsmen which I think is accurate enough for wheel lugs and things like that, but I wouldn't mind spendinga little more (but not in the Snap-on range) and getting a nicer 3/8" for better readings.

 

Clutch center bolt is rated at 80ft-lbs. Just saying, there are some hefty bolts that warrant purchasing a nice torque wrench.

For what it does, go cheap on your sockets, spend your money on the torque wrench. Although if you can be patient, you can fill up a tool box with respectable tools in a few months.