That Harbor Freight torque wrench was off by 20 ft-lbs

Snapped a lug stud on my Subaru after torquing to spec. Cheap tool cost me a hub replacement. Anyone else had a calibration fail ruin their day?

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2 Comments

nina_sullivan611mo ago

Hate to be that person but a 20 ft-lb error on a Harbor Freight torque wrench is actually pretty common for their cheaper click-style ones. The problem is people treat them like precision tools when they're really just for rough tightening. You gotta check the calibration on those things before using them for something like lug nuts. I've seen them drift way more than 20 ft-lbs after being dropped once or left in a toolbox for a season. Always test yours against a beam-style wrench first if you're doing anything important.

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xena_miller311mo ago

Honestly, you're mostly right but I gotta push back a little on the "always test against a beam-style wrench" part. Beam-style wrenches can be just as inaccurate, especially if the needle is bent or the scale is off. Ngl, I've seen cheap beam wrenches be off by 15-20 ft-lbs right out of the box because the factory didn't bother setting the zero right. A better test is to use a known good click-style wrench that's been recently calibrated, or better yet, a digital torque adapter. Tbh, those are pretty cheap on Amazon and way more accurate than guessing with a beam. You can check your Harbor Freight one against it in a few seconds. That said, your main point about them drifting after a drop is totally spot on.

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