You're going to need two. No way to avoid it that I know of.

 

What he said. So no need to start another thread. Use the time saved to fill out your profile.

 

Sears is supposed to run a tool sale this fall and the Microtech torque wrenches will be on sale for $59.99. You can pick up 2 wrenches for $120. That will cover you for about 99% of your torquing needs.

At least that is what the local Sears Hardware store told me.

 

-What are those values in Foot and Inch pounds? If you want answers from the masses then you should speak their language.
-I agree with needing two wrenches.
-Craftsman sells a 3/8" drive Inch pound torque wrench.
Try to keep your torque values in in the middle half (quarter / half / quarter) of the torque wrench.
-Always use 6-point sockets.

 

-What are those values in Foot and Inch pounds? If you want answers from the masses then you should speak their language.

Sorry to tell you, NM is used by the masses (majority), foot pounds are used by the minority. It's a metric bike after all.

This might help:
http://www.unitconversion.org/energy/newton-meters-to-foot-pounds-conversion.html

Scarlett Harlot is correct, I would look for some torque wrench sales at Sears in the next 2-3 weeks.

 

Sorry to tell you, NM is used by the masses (majority), foot pounds are used by the minority. It's a metric bike after all.

This mighty help:
http://www.unitconversion.org/energy/newton-meters-to-foot-pounds-conversion.html

Scarlett Harlot is correct, I would look for some torque wrench sales at Sears in the next 2-3 weeks.

Metric bike in the United States of America!

 

Torquing of Starting Another Thread...

It seems my attmept to draw the masses attention to this thread, by starting a link in the DL1000 Specific forum, have been deliberately thwarted. No worries. :angel_31: I only did that because traffic over there is greater than over here, and things do get seen/responded to much more quickly. I hope I have not offended the sensitivites of some.

Moving on...I am not going to escape the opportunity of buying a few (2 or 3) torque wrenches. I can understand buying one from say 1Nm - 50Nm, and another from say 50Nm - 150Nm, but it seems that nearly all of the torque wrenches I have reviewed--and there have been lots--all seem to have no SIN (standard industry norm) settings/ranges. How odd is that?

The next big question: do I really want to spend all that money on buying specialised tools that will probably spend more time in their boxes than out. Probably....erm...not sure...

Anyway, thanks for your input, guys. :thumbsup:

 

I can understand buying one from say 1Nm - 50Nm, and another from say 50Nm - 150Nm, but it seems that nearly all of the torque wrenches I have reviewed--and there have been lots--all seem to have no SIN (standard industry norm) settings/ranges.

I found the Sears Craftsman Microtork series of torque wrenches have ranges that are complementary with little overlap. My 3/8" drive wrench ranges from 3-28 n-m (and has divisions of about 0.11 n-m) while the bottom end of my 1/2" drive goes from 27 to 203 n-m (with divisions about 1.35 nm). These have worked out pretty well for me, anyway. I see on the Craftsman website that many people have had problems with the lock rings on the 1/2" drive wrench. Hmmm. They must have changed the design as mine is over 10 years old and has never given me any problems.

 

One thing to remember is that a torque wrench is only as good as its last calibration.

What plan do you have to keep yours in calibration?

I am very lucky in that I have access to calibrated torque wrenches, but for the typical owner...how can you put blind faith in something that can go out of adjustment if dropped, bumped, (ab)used to loosen fittings, etc.?

Generally, the 'click type' require the most maintenance (calibration), dial indicating the second, and beam the last. Just because it's a Sears clicker doesn't mean it'll be accurate today or ten years from now, unless it is calibrated.

Not to pee on anyone's leg or anything...just a fact.

 

I have no idea how/where do have a torque wrench calibrated. Can you shed some light on this? Do you have some suggestions?

Rob

 

Good Point

donstrom6: good point. The quality ones I was reviewing all come with a calibration certificate, which, I presume, would suggest they would be good for a number of years of careful/proper usage. And don't forget, it is a tool that is meant to be 'worked', so by keeping it mostly boxed, as I said I would, it/they would only come out if I needed to do certain upgrades or maintenance jobs on the bike which would require their usage.

As in most things, quality costs...but if I was relying on an obviously cheap (import) torque wrench to be accurate, then it is I that would need a good talking to.

 

Rob,

The company I work for has a lab that calibrates our wrenches.

But for a guy without that resource, where do you go??

The first place I looked was Google, check out "Team Torque"...they're so into it they even have a Torque University you can attend :bom_rolleyes: You ship your tools to them and they come back calibrated (hopefully not dropped off the UPS truck on the way back)

http://www.teamtorque.com/index.html

Here's another one...MicroPrecision:

http://www.microprecision.com/capabilities/torque_wrench_calibration.php

But I'm sure there are places near you that can perform this service. Our company specifies recalibration every year, and that assumes daily use. So I would think that we shade tree bike techs could probably go 3 years (just a guess).

The whole point being a torque wrench needs to be calibrated to be of any use. Might as well use a breaker bar and tighten til it smokes (then back off one flat) if the torque wrench isn't maintained.

In fact, there was a thread on Stromtrooper not long ago (I can't find it) from a guy who did the valves on his 650, and when he went to start it up, all the bolts holding one of the cams just popped off. After much speculation, he found that his torque wrench was clicking at 3X the amount he dialed in...those bolts were so tight they snapped as soon as the engine heated up.

Try a google search, or your local phone book for a service you can deal with.

Good luck!

 

My 2004 Ford F150 was all metric, built in USA.

Our Airbuses are SAE.

Go figure...

 

My 1993 S10 was built in Lousiana and is both with mainly SAE. Had two Camaro's and the 1992 was built in Los Angeles (last year) and the 1995 was built in Canada. Ford Crown Vic's and Chevy full size pickups are built in Canada along with many others makes and models. Announced today that the Toyota plant in Fremont California is being closed with 4,600 employees going going gone. One of the best selling motorcycles in Japan was the Goldwing built in the USA and now that plant is being closed moving the line to Japan. Kawasaki KLR's are manufacturered in Thailand where to plant "used" to be known as the General Motors of the East.

This is a large world and I suspect it will become larger before smaller.

I have attended many KLR Tech Days and valve adjusting is taught in both SAE and metric. The metric is usually by the engineer type person. I can simply teach someone how to adjust valves by using Numbers (ex 255) and thousands (ex .004). Torque specs are rarely referred to in anything other than foot or inch pounds and that comes from the engineer type persons that teach metric valve adjustments. When you are adjusting six sets of valves at one time you don't need to be teaching someone a new math. When you are torquing a rotor bolt at 85 foot pounds and 144 foot pounds you don't want to make a mistake with a metric converion.

 

Check your Sears circular. The Microtorks are on sale as promised.

 

I always get my torque wrenches recalibrated from one of the tool trucks, Cornwell to be exact. He has a line on a place that does it for him for $20. Or ask at a Napa store.

 

Or

Or you could buy the beam-type wrenches, which never need recalibrating (other than to bend the pointer back to zero if it gets bent). Not quite so precise, but plenty accurate for nearly every application. Fastener torque is a highly inexact method of determining clamping force anyway, so folks that insist on getting torque to the exact measurement are kidding themselves. Oh, and if you go the 'clicker' route, be sure you return the wrench to zero before storing it.

 

100Nm + 50Nm = 150Nm or Not?

Thanks for the input, y'all. :thumbsup:

Rather than start a new thread, this thought just occurred to me: if I obtain a torque wrench rated say 20Nm - 100Nm, and say I had to torque a bolt/nut requiring @ 150Nm - would I be okay to first tighten the bolt/nut to 100Nm and then reset the torque wrench to 50Nm and then apply that directly to the bolt/nut (currently at 100Nm) which would then equeal a total 150Nm of torque applied, and thereby by okay?

Thanks...and your patience :angel_13:

 

Thanks for the input, y'all. :thumbsup:

Rather than start a new thread, this thought just occurred to me: if I obtain a torque wrench rated say 20Nm - 100Nm, and say I had to torque a bolt/nut requiring @ 150Nm - would I be okay to first tighten the bolt/nut to 100Nm and then reset the torque wrench to 50Nm and then apply that directly to the bolt/nut (currently at 100Nm) which would then equeal a total 150Nm of torque applied, and thereby by okay?

Thanks...and your patience :angel_13:

Uh, in a word: No. If you've already torqued it to 100 then tightening it to 50 isn't going to get it any tighter.

 

:thumbsup: