Which Torque Wrench?!

[TC00GT]

I'm in need of a torque wrench for the re-assembly of my front end. I haven't looked up all the torque specs yet, but I'm wondering which wrench to get. They come in 3 torque ranges.

25-250 lbs
10-75 lbs
20-150 lbs

I was thinking on the 20-150 lbs one. Will that be good for everything? Do most of the torque requirements fall into that range? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks

 

[geostang351]

I would agree with your statement. 250lbs way to much and probably not as accurate and 75lbs would be too small as some heads require over 100lbs if you plan on doing that later on.

 

[96 DOHC Cobra]

The 20-150 lb version should have your needs covered. I just bought one today. Sears has their Craftsman clicker type 1/2" drive on sale for $60.

 

[amorrow]

I use a 250-lb Snap-On click-type. This covers pretty much everything suspension and engine-related. I forget the torque-specs of the main bearing caps on my 289 (it could've been around or over 150 ft*lbs), so if you do engine work maybe you'd be better off getting a bigger one. And I'm not expert wrt tools, but I'd guess as far as accuracy is concerned, a good 250-lb wrench should be calibrated to the same (or very close) accuracy as a 150-lb.

 

[86bluecobra]

yep i would pick the torque wrench that went up to 150lbs. I would also pick up a 3/8 drive one that goes to 50lbs.

 

[mo'factor]

Torque wrench

I have two. When I started my front end work on my '68 I had a 3/8 inch drive craftsman that went to 75 ft-lbs. There were some things like TCP strut rods, Piman arm to steering box nut, etc. that it wouln't handle. The steering box to pitman arm nut I torqued to 200 ft-lbs. I went out and bought a Husky 250 ft-lb wrench for that and the strut rods. The front rear spring eye bolt was also 90 ft.-lbs.

 

[TC00GT]

Thanks everyone. 96 DOHC...I saw that sale too, hence the post. I'm on my way to sears.

 

[danny clemens]

An inch lb. torque wrench comes in handy too.