Whether you’re a professional mechanic or just a handyman who can work on cars from their own garage, you’re no stranger to having to do a repair or two. Depending on what you are working on, those repairs can be time consuming, tedious, and borderline annoying; and because making these repairs are probably at the bottom of list of things you want to do, you’re probably going to find ways to cut a few corners here or there.

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One of the most common corners that are cut is when you repurpose a tool and use it for something other than its intended use, like use a plain jane wrench to tighten bolts on your engine instead of a torque wrench.

Well, in theory it should work, right? A wrench is a wrench, after all. While you may want to pat yourself on the back for a job well done, that corner you cut by using the wrong wrench could cost you a lot more than your weekend because you could blow a gasket or something worse.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a handyman or a professional, if you have to tighten a bolt in a tight place and make sure it is really tight, a regular wrench isn’t going to cut it. You’re going to need something called a torque wrench to get the job done.

Torque Wrench Guide

What Is A Torque Wrench?

You might be wondering what exactly is a torque wrench. Well, to understand what a torque wrench is, you need to know understand the torque definition. According to Dictonary.com:

Torque (tôrk/) 1. MECHANICS — a twisting force that tends to cause rotation.

A torque wrench is a tool that applies a specific amount of torque to a fastener (typically a nut or a bolt). These tools typically look like a socket wrench with mechanisms inside. The tool was invented back in 1918 by Conrad Bahr while he was working for the New York City Water Department. He designed the tool to prevent bolts from being overtightened on the water main and steam pipes while they were underground.

The torque wrench is used when it’s important that screws and bolts are good and tight. The wrench allows the operator to measure the amount of pressure that is applied to the nut or bolt, ensuring that it is matched to the recommended specifications for the application.

This allows for proper tension and loading of all the parts involved. The torque wrench measures the torque as a proxy for the tension on a bolt, which could suffer from inaccuracy if the wrench isn’t calibrated correctly.

How Does A Torque Wrench Work?

A torque wrench is a calibrated tool that is going to apply a certain amount of load to a nut or a bolt. The amount of torque that is applied depends on the mount of force that you apply to the tool’s handle and the length of the wrench. To figure out the torque, the torque formula is: force x length = torque.

So, let’s say your torque wrench is a foot long, and you apply 30 pounds of force to the handle. That means you are applying 30 ft/lbs of torque to the bolt or nut that you are tightening. If your wrench is twice as long (2 feet) and you’re applying the same amount of force to the handle (30 pounds), you are going to be applying 60 ft/lbs of torque to the bolt or nut.

The torque wrench tells you how much force you’re applying to the fastener because it uses a deflection beam or a spring mechanism that’s been calibrated. The tool usually features a scale or a display screen and it shows you the load that’s been applied.

These can be calibrated to read foot-pounds (ft/lbs), inch-pounds (in/lbs) or Newton-Meters (Nm). Usually when you’re working a car, the you will be using a foot pound torque wrench is going to read either 200 ft/lbs or 250 ft/lbs. It could also read 150 or 200 Nm.

The torque values for a fastener that has a 1/2inch (or larger) wrench size head will be specified in ft/lbs (English) or Newton Meters (metric). Torque values for fasteners with less than 1/2inch wrench head size is going to be specified in/lbs instead.

Different Types Of Torque Wrenches

When it comes to trying to find a torque wrench, you’ll see that there are nine different types that you could choose from.

Beam

The beam torque wrench is going to be the most basic type of torque wrenches and it was developed in the early late 1920s/early 1930s. It is made of two beams: the first beam acts as a handle for the tool, but also as a lever to apply the torque to the fastener.

The second beam is only attached to the wrench to the head of the wrench. This mean is going to act like the indicator beam. When the tool isn’t being used, the beams are going to be parallel to one another. When torque is applied to the tool, the second beam (usually located on the top of the tool) will move, indicating the amount of torque being applied. This type of torque wrench is simple, inexpensive, and fairly accurate.

Deflecting Beam

Kobalt 1 2 Digital Torque Wrench User Manual Pdf

This type of torque wrench was developed in 1948 and it uses the principle where torque is applied and uses a deflecting beam instead of a coil spring. This method was thought to help prolong the accuracy over the life of the wrench and have a hight safety marger with maximum loading.

It was also designed to provide the user with a more accurate and consistent readings with each wrench. The person using the wrench could hear the signal clicking, as well as see the visible indicator that tells you when the desired torque has been reached.

Slipper

The slipper torque wrench uses a roller ball and a cam mechanism. This is attached to the driving head and the roller pushes against the cam, thus locking it into place when a specific amount of force has been set. The force is provided by an adjustable spring, and if the amount of torque is too great, the wrench will slip and no torque will be applied to the bolt.

Click

The click type torque wrench is a more sophistocated and modern methof for presetting torque, thanks to a clutch mechanism. The common form of this will use a ball detent and a spring, where the spring is preloaded via an adjustable screw head, which is then calibrated in torque units.

The ball detent then transfers the force until the preset torque has been reached. When that occurs, the force then is exerted by the spring and the ball “clicks” out of the socket. This design gives you better precision and offers both an audible notification, but you can also feel it too. The wrench isn’t going to start slipping until that torque has been reached—instead it will click and bend slight at the head.

The person using the wrench can continue applying force to the wrench, which could lead to over tightening.

No-Hub Wrench

This type of wrench is specialized for plumbers so they can tighten the clamping bands on a hubless soil pipe coupling. These wrenches are usually T-handled and the ratchet only works in a single direction.

Electronic Torque Wrench

An electronic torque wrench measure by using a strain gauge that is attached to a torsion rod. The signal that is generated by the transducer is then converted to the necessary unit of torque (either Newton Meter or Foot/Pound), and that measurement is then displayed on the digital LED or LCD display.

These electronic wrenches can usually store several measurements and they can be transferred to a computer, or directly to a printer.

Angle Torque Wrench

These work a lot like an electronic device, except the tightening angle from the threshold is also being measured. The angle is measured by a sensor or an electronic g yroscope. The measurement process enables joints that have already been tightened to be recognized.

These readings can be stored to memory on the device and statistucally evaluated. These wrenches can also determine the breakaway torque, prevailing torque, as well as the final torque required to finish the job.

Mechatronic Torque Wrench

The torque of these wrenches are measured using the same method as a click wrench, but the torque is measured the same way as an electronic torque wrench. This tool can give you both electronic and mechanical measurements

Kolbalt 1 2 Digital Torque Wrench User Manual