lee627•1mo ago

I thought a cheap torque wrench was fine until my head gasket job failed

I bought a $45 torque wrench from a discount tool truck for a 6.7 Powerstroke head gasket swap. I torqued everything down, but it started leaking coolant after a week. My buddy let me borrow his Snap-on digital wrench, and we found my cheap one was off by almost 20 foot-pounds on the high end! I had to redo the whole job with the good wrench. Has anyone found a decent mid-priced brand that actually holds calibration?

2 comments

2 Comments

casey_lane731mo ago

My uncle swore by his old Craftsman click-type wrench for years until his Ford 302 rebuild spun a bearing. He sent it out for testing and it was reading 12 pounds low at 60 foot-pounds. That kind of stuff makes you paranoid. What do you guys do to check your tools between big jobs?

gray_roberts1mo ago

Check the calibration on a known good fastener first. Like a head bolt or a suspension component with a published torque spec from the factory manual. If your wrench clicks way before the nut should move, you've got a problem.