Torque Wrench Suggestions

[TC]

Hi, I'm looking to get a torque wrench that covers 10Nm to 18Nm; any suggestions? Cheers, TC

[Set Square]

These are pretty low torque values - off the bottom of the scale of the sort of torque wrenches used by motor mechanics.

Have you tried suppliers of tools to model makers? They might have something in the right range.

[As a matter of interest, what are you going to use it for?]

[Dave Plowman]

Sounds more like you'd need a torque screwdriver.

[Grunff]

That's a teeny tiny torque wrench!

and search for 575-447

[Ian Johnston]

: I'm looking to get a torque wrench that covers 10Nm to 18Nm; any suggestions?

Britool do a huge range of torque wrenches. See

for a 5 - 33Nm one ...

Ian

[TC]

Its for my mountain bike. No wrench I'd found went this low but I've now found on at Halfords' website so will check that one out. It costs 50squid which seems a fair amount of cash though. Thanks, TC

[Al Reynolds]

I have this one which is 10-80Nm. Not sure how accurately you could set it though.

[Dave Baker]

Try Draper online for cheaper models. Anyway, most people don't use torque wrenches for small values like that. You do it by feel and that's good enough for an experienced mechanic.

Dave Baker - Puma Race Engines

I'm not at all sure why women like men. We're argumentative, childish, unsociable and extremely unappealing naked. I'm quite grateful they do though.

[Alex]

TC I am friends with a number of proffessional bike mechanics, and have been into the sport for a long time myself. In reality, the specs printed on the likes of Shimano's instructions sheets etc. are of no particular relevance as the torque can be varied a lot by dirty/siezed threads etc.

The only area on the bike that really requires accurate tightening is the crank bolt, for which you will probably get away with an automotive wrench, which you can get for less than £20 (although we're not talking Park Tools here!!)

HTH

Alex

[PoP]

When I was a hardware engineer fixing disk drives in the field the service kit carried the necessary torque wrenches. If the drive rails needed to be changed then getting the exact torque was very necessary, because the rails that the head carriage ran on had very fine tolerances.

No amount of experience was good enough for that job. And I should know - I must've been the residing UK champion for that product range for a couple of years given the number of lower platters I changed for customers on my patch..... ;)

Ah, the dear old HP7906. Fond memories.....

PoP

[Grunff]

But we're talking about bikes :-)

I don't think I've seen many torque wrenches in bike workshops.

[Andy Dingley]

I've got a 3/8" drive Sealey (try Partco) that does that sort of torque and seems accurate when I put it on a deadweight tester. Similarly I bought it for bike stuff, because my car wrench didn't go low enough.

Anything lower and I use a torque screwdriver with a 1/4" drive, which you'll find from RS. Damned expensive though - mine was surplus bought cheap on eBay.

[N. Thornton]

You can of course torque things up without a torque wrench. It means calculating how much force to put on the end of the known length spanner, scales then enable the force to be got right. I mention it just so you dont have to wait, can get the job done.

Regards, NT

[Paul Mc Cann]

Which is what I did many moons ago when I blew the engine on a Beetle. I used a spring balance and a length of pipe slipped over the spanner. It worked fine.

Paul Mc Cann

[David Green]

If you look at the excellent Park Tools article , you can see that the Norbar Slimline SL-1 which covers a range of 8-54Nm is ideal for everything on a bike. It has been strongly recommended in the uk.rec.cycling newsgroup before. I've never been able to justify the expense myself, but it is certainly on my wishlist.

The Halfords Pro is cheaper, but probably also suitable for bike maintenance.

[patrick j]

On Fri, 16 Apr 2004 10:13:37 +0100, TC wrote (in message ):

Hi

I do all my own maintenance on my bicycles which are all valuable as I am a Moulton enthusiast (an expensive make).

I don't use a torque wrench ever myself. Very often today manufacturers give values for torques in owner's instructions which are really just about covering themselves in case someone tightens a screw/bolt absurdly tight or loose and then sues the company for the consequences, or something like that.

A good example of torque values given rather pointlessly is that one of my bicycles has automatic transmission which is powered by a small battery. There's a little plastic door for the battery which is held shut by two philips screws for which Shimano (the manufacturer) gives torque values :)

Of course I don't know anything about your bicycle so there may be things there that really do need a torque wrench.

[Andy Dingley]

To be honest, on a bicycle you can just slam things together however you want, so long as you use anti-seize where needed, don't shear the brake caliper bolts, and never re-torque a crank without taking it off again first.

Engines (and especially Beetles) are critical because they're a long joint with many fasteners. _Variation_ in force between fasteners can cause a poor seal or distortion (critical on a Beetle crankcase). On a bike though, there just aren't any multi-fastener joints to worry about.

Unless you have an AMP girder front fork, or anything with a magnesium casting though. The torque screwdriver and the right threadlocker is _essential_ to rebuild one of those (finicky little bastards that they are). The minimum torque to stop it falling apart is a fraction below the point where the steerer block strips out.