Tools

Think of it as a full auto AR. Don’t go all Hollywood, short duration bips is what I find best. Don’t keep tapping once you feel vibratory feedback. Yes they are remarkably close to their rating. Yet suggest getting quality here, especially as so inexpensive

However, IF you already have impact driver(s), and only needing to hit torque specs for wheels (shudder to suggest this because virtually every fastener is antiseized, torqued, painted and safety wired or my guys likely to get killed), why not pop for high quality torque stick and wheel socket as it the cheapest route to quality torque for least expendature and requires hardly any physical effort

So I do have an electric impact driver a Dewalt - where would I find good quality torque sticks - obviously I'd need one for each of the different torque specifications for the different vehicles I have.  I've only ever seen them in a workshop

I would at minimum buy CDI or SnapOn or MatCo or FACom or Hazet or Stahlwille. They inexpensive and sometimes sold in kits of varying torque. Presuming your Dewalt a 1/2” drive, right? 

Truth told, if you check your torques, bet there are only 2 different settings. Most pax vehicles tend to group and only vary in full size trucks. 

Were one churlish, could suggest the torque settings should be burnt in memory so critical to safety are they

Hahahahahahahaha  THAT was funny!  Thanks for the laugh; really needed that!  First belly laugh I have had since this whole pandemic imbroglio.  Going to bookmark that for use with customers. 

Once had a good ole boy that had come into money so started tracking high performance cars.  He came up for a cornerweight and suspension set-up at a local track.  Once into the car mechanicals, noticed every fastener was either stripped or near stripped, stretched to hell.  So asked him who was doing his work to which he responded he was.  Followed up asking if he used torque wrenches and was aware of the torque specs for critical fasteners throughout the vehicle to which he responded affirmatively.  Being a good guy, didn't want to insult him so suggested he needed get his torque wrenches certified and calibrated to which he responded it was done annually.  Completely flummoxed I came out and stated that every fastener was thoroughly comprehensively overtorqued to which he responded and I quote: " I believe in overtorquing at least 50% because I want to be sure it is really tight and safe", seriously!  A friend, who is the singular best mechanic ever known and know guys wrenched LeMans winners, overheard this and literally doubled over laughing out loud. 

This video was almost that funny.  The guy actually delivered it completely deadpan.  It had to have taken multiple shoots to get this just right!

Cute.  If you actually watched the video instead of belly laughing at the man you might have noticed he has Parkinson's.  It's especially obvious near the end when he's just talking.  Could be why he struggled a bit and used the block to help out, eh?  

You know, despite that the fellow gets kudos for taking the time to show a bunch of us knuckle heads something useful.  I didn't see any jokes or freak show, and sure don't think he deserved ridicule and being made fun of.   Ya might wanna rethink that customer thing.

OK, let's have an adult conversation.

Your projecting that I was laughing at the guy's shaking (palsy) is absolutely unfounded and worse, untrue. Frankly, NOWHERE did I comment on his shaking as never noticed it until you raised the point just now.

Further, I perceived his speaking as extremely deadpan as in old Bob Newhart routines, not impaired in any way from my perspective.

Why would you think I get joy from somebody's affliction? Seriously, what have I ever posted or stated to you that would remotely lead you to such a supposition? Your allegations cut straight to character and want to know why you would so blatantly attack mine?

Irrespective of whether serious or the parody I thought it was, EVERYTHING suggested and demonstrated in that video is patently wrong and would lead to making bad decisions under the premise of employing scientific method. I ran the video by some of the best mechanics ever encountered and graduate degreed engineers from top programmes with all save one concluding, as I did, it a parody.

I could review the specifics but literally, as in actually, EVERY step undertaken is exactly NOT how to test torque nor any other precision element of an instrument. It is WORSE than useless methodology in that without doing anything, one would at least acknowledge they were working with instruments of unknown accuracy and precision whereas this provides a false sense that they are in fact calibrated to some remote degree, which they aren't. These are just facts.

I am not an elitist nor do I have great financial reserves; rather, EVERYTHING I undertake is endeavoured with the intent to do the best job possible. The video represents a reprehensible desultory attitude towards life and as the wife states: how one does one thing is how they do everything....

OK, let's have an adult conversation. 

...I am not an elitist nor do I have great financial reserves; rather, EVERYTHING I undertake is endeavoured with the intent to do the best job possible.  The video represents a reprehensible desultory attitude towards life and as the wife states: how one does one thing is how they do everything....

Well ok. I was rather shocked, considering your the fella that is asking for Urn's for your rescue dogs. I teared up seeing that, but don't use that soap. Tell you the truth your response bothered me on two fronts. One seemed out of character and two you bash the guy but haven't offered an alternative that doesn't set a fellow back a months allowance.

I took two new with paperwork wrenches the Taiwan in the first post and smaller Precision Instrument split beam that came in yesterday and did what the fella in the video did. My ears couldn't tell which clicked first or last for a give setting. Seemed to this old hill billy they confirmed each others cert. Am I gonna strip nuts and bolts at 1.5X the torque values. Pretty sure no. So how and why is that a "reprehensible desultory attitude towards life"? And what can I do on Sunday afternoon with the tools I have to check my wrench that you would care to share. I already do the weight thing and know the math...

Also I have one stupid question I never even thought of before yesterday. What's proper to torque lug nuts, dry or oiled?

I'm glad you guys got that sorted out.  To be honest the intent of that video went right over my head - I thought that everyone including the guy in the video figured that was the way to test a click wrench - I'm thinking, how does he know its the clicker that's off and not the beam??  Anyway, I'm glad I'm not losing my mind.  Im going to get some torque sticks and be done with it. 

If we can get a couple of days without snow I'm hoping to get the tire change over on my fleet started.  I also would like some temperatures above freezing too as my unheated garage gets a bit cool otherwise.  I'm really interested to see how that Jack and Jill of Tires tool works too.

...I thought that everyone including the guy in the video figured that was the way to test a click wrench - I'm thinking, how does he know its the clicker that's off and not the beam??  Anyway, I'm glad I'm not losing my mind.  

...I'm really interested to see how that Jack and Jill of Tires tool works too.

I think that's the beef of the vid.  I don't see much of an issue with the idea or technique frankly.  My two new papered wrench's did what was expected using the method.  But one wrench has to be good otherwise you learn nothing.  

Looking forward to your evaluation of the J&J.  I need to use a hand to push myself off the floor now.  hmmm  Bones are getting a wee bit worn.

Let's discuss alternatives:

For one, based on decades of experience with tool makers including Precision Instruments, "doubt" they would ship a torque wrench from the factory that had not been certified within limits and stickered with variance and date label on the wrench.  Did you buy it new?  Direct from PI or a certified dealer?  Any reason to believe it a second or counterfeit?  Presuming all these questions answered in a positive manner, you're golden there.  While strongly prefer the other brands listed, PI is a quality tool.

RE the Taiwanese tool, not familiar with that brand so therefore it in doubt to some degree.  Will suggest two methods to test: one halfassed, one the only proper way (under no conditions can performing the dual wrench coupling nut free hand possibly work for a plethora of reasons):

First a little theory:
on any but the highest end DOD electronic wrenches, the wrenches are only effectively accurate within the bounds of >20% of minimum setting and <80% of maximum setting.  thus if one wants to test a known accurate wrench against an unknown accuracy wrench, one need match up the test settings to be cross checked within the meat of the ranges: e.g., presume there is a known certified wrench having a range of 20-120NM and a second unknown accuracy wrench having a range of 50-200NM, the effective range the torque wrenches could be accurately tested against each other without introducing range errors would be 80-100NM.

First (halfassed) method:
Using the known certified wrench, torque a clean known good fastener to the lowest end of the crossover range between the wrenches, then leaving that fastener in place to the previously torqued spec, test the second wrench SLOWLY using the same socket with a thin piece of brightly coloured electrical tape with a pencil thin sharpie line on it (aim small/miss small) noting carefully if the socket moves at all prior to the torque setting or indicates meeting the spec prior to barely moving.  Repeat to the highest end of the crossover range.  What does this provide - well that the second wrench may or may not be trust worthy over a very narrow range of its total effective range - so not much.  Advisable at that point you proceed to test two.

Second (proper) method:
Start phoning Snap On dealers enquiring if they have a torque testing service and price out the cheapest one.  Perhaps indicate you are not seeking any liability protection as just a private user (noncommercial)  Barring that check with major tool distributors for a fixed operations torque tester - nearly every medium town with any industry of accumulation of garages has such a place, maybe your local airport FBO might know of one.  Get creative.  They will check throughout a range to arrive at a report that will be good for longer than the certification states provided you care for and store the wrench properly.

I absolutely stick by the characterization of the guy in the video having a desultory view of life.  Not only does he not care about doing a critical job such as checking a precision instrument for accuracy properly but also demonstrates he doesn't care enough about the public good by creating a video advocating others adopt his errant ways.  If you want to argue his diminished mental capacity due to disease, will stipulate that but still inadvisable.

Good question regarding dry vs lubed torque values.  Manufacturers of end products rarely spec whether dry or wet torqued BUT there are standard tables of metals and fastener diametre/pitch tables that have this info.  One easily accessed source are quality tool manufacturers such as CDI, FACom, SnapOn & Stahlwille among others another is the fastener engineering institute all available online.

I've now changed over the tires on 2 out of the 4 vehicles I have to do - my daughters Honda Accord and my F150.  Naturally I had a few issues arise - first off the Jack and Jill of all Tires doesn't work all that well.  Its a function of design/construction that leaves a little too much flex in the thing so that stuff moves slightly which means studs and holes won't be aligned precisely when trying to re-install.  With the accord it was more of a nuisance because the wheels aren't heavy and its easier to just lift the whales on - I'm working with a floor jack.  The F150 wheels are 20' or 21' diameter and are heavy.  I was able to get the J&J to work ok to get those wheels on.  Another issue with the device is that you can't position it on the wheel to be removed until you've taken off the nuts because its obstructs access - still manageable.  All in all, I think its ok but with some design improvements could be better.  It did help me avoid lifting the heavy wheels into place from a crouched/kneeling position which was the goal.  My knees and back are a bit stiff this morning.

The other issue that arose was that the wheel nuts for the summer wheels (OEM) on the F150 appear to be metric, or if not metric then some non-standard size.  This is the first time I've done the changeover on the F150 myself so this was new to me - also new was that the winter wheel nuts have a socket adaptor which hadn't been stored in the truck but rather with the summer nuts.  Good thin I never had a flat to change on the road because I'd have had some problems.  My bad for not checking.  Now the issue with the summer nuts is that my impact socket kept getting stuck on the nuts and required some effort to get off.  I don't have metric impact sockets because I've never needed them.  I have three Hondas and they all have imperial nuts while the Ford has metric.  Go figure.  My old Ford (1999) had imperial as well.  This whole metric - imperial thing is a pain.  Canada changed over to metric in 1989 I think - I was an apprentice carpenter at the time.  I can recall having to determine whether the plywood you were using was metric or imperial depending on what you wanted to do with it - if you were sandwiching 1/2" ply between to 2x4 to make a header 1/2" and 13mm aren't the same and you won't get the right result - You had to check if the plywood was a 1/2" OR A METRIC 1/2". Now you have vehicles that maybe made in USA or over seas but they will have both metric and imperial fasteners/hardware on them depending on where the parts came from or how the supplier felt at the time.  Its a pain - you have to have two sets of wrenches and sockets.  Maybe that's not an issue for the pros but for average guys it is.  Then there's the issue of screw heads n Phillips, Robertson (square drive), slot, hex, star. I also suspect that some overseas manufacturers just produce random sizes through a lack of concern / poor quality control.   For crying out loud, how hard would it be to standardize ?

So do I buy some imperial wheel nuts or a set of metric impact sockets? 

At least I know that the other two changeovers (Pilot, Odyssey) should go smoothly.