Pittsburg Torque Wrench from Harbor Freight

[kumpy]

Anyone know the quality of these torque wrenches offered by Harbor Freight? Sears also sells them? They're cheaper than the Craftsman but I'm wondering about quality and durability. For those of you who do use torque wrenches, good for you. Thanks guys.

[Degsy]

Wirelessly posted

David. Would you buy a $40 camera?

You get what you pay for with torque wrenches. for what you need one for, I would buy a craftsman. I have a craftsman 3/8 drive torque wrench I'll sell you for short money. I just upgraded to one that was scary expensive.

[OreoGaborio]

40 dollar torque wrench for 40 dollar nuts, I say!

I just upgraded to one that was scary expensive.

You'll never use all those foot lbs.

[ZX-12R]

My 3/8" and 1/2" Harbor Freight torque wrenches have worked flawlessly for years but I'm not a full time mechanic so I'm lucky to use them 2 or 3 times a month. While I don't have them officially calibrated, I do periodically check them against beam style torque wrenches at my work that are calibrated quarterly and both are tighter than their 4% tolerance spec with the 1/2" being around 2% and the 3/8" around 3%. The tolerances start to increase in the upper and lower 10-15% of their full scale range but this is common for clicker type wrenches at any price point below $200.

If your livelihood depends on your tools always working, I would spend more on one of the name brand clickers (Snap-on, Matco, Mac, Craftsman) if only for their exchange policies should something break. In any case, you should be regularly calibrating your torque wrenches because even the super expensive ones will eventually fall out of tolerance and require adjustment.

[ZX11D]

Craftsman is the way I went. Why bet your life on over or undertorking a nut or bolt.