do you trust your torque wrench?

my torque wrenches are the halfords ones, ive got 3 to cover all nm and lbs,
thing is i very rarely wait for it to click out as i'm scared of it stripping the cheap suzuki alloy?

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by kwak zzr

my torque wrenches are the halfords ones, ive got 3 to cover all nm and lbs,
thing is i very rarely wait for it to click out as i'm scared of it stripping the cheap suzuki alloy?

I trust mine, but always set below the required torque, wait for click then set correct torque and wait for click. Mine are Halfords professional. just torqued up a load of suspension bolts and brake bolts, so they better be right!

Mines a Machine Mart own brand one.

I'm normally ok and torque it right up to the click.

Slightly nervous on smaller bolts (brake calipers for instance) so go very gently.

[embee]

Like they say.

I have one certified 2% torque wrench (Britool) which I use to check others against.

Most cheapies over-read in my experience, which is the safer way to be out, but rarely much more than 5% and I can't remember seeing one more than 10% out. That might sound a lot, but it's only 3Nm in 30Nm after all, and perfectly adequate for most general purposes.

Most torques given for fasteners in manuals are for the original assembly condition, which is basically dry. Oil or grease on the threads and underhead will reduce the torque required to achieve a given tension, especially with flanged heads and nuts (like many fasteners are these days).

Loctite or other thread sealants surprisingly tend to increase friction even when wet, so the nominal values are often appropriate.

I tend to tighten to about 2/3 of the specified torque first go, and see how it feels. Fasteners into alloy I rarely do up to more than 80% of the specified value, so 20Nm instead of 25Nm for example. This has come from experience of tightening things by feel and then checking what I've ended up with.
Steel/steel fasteners, nuts on bolts, are usually much more predictable.

Critical fasteners (like con-rods and head bolts) are usually more robust in design anyway, and the specified values are usually the ones to work to.

Fine series metric into alloy is very touchy.

It's most useful if you do a bit of reading to understand exactly how fasteners work (boring I know), like http://www.boltscience.com/pages/glossary.htm

thanks peeps! ive got a week off work so i'm planning to get all the torque settings and go all over the bike.

Are you going to have time for that between cleaning sessions?

You did take the bike out in the wet the other day...!

Originally Posted by thedonal

Are you going to have time for that between cleaning sessions?

You did take the bike out in the wet the other day...!

i didnt take the bike out in the wet i went out in the dry and then it bl@@dy rain'd BUT shes now as good as new

Originally Posted by embee

It's most useful if you do a bit of reading to understand exactly how fasteners work (boring I know), like http://www.boltscience.com/pages/glossary.htm

Great link, embee. Thanks!

If you want your torque wrench to stay accurate, don't leave it set to a high torque when not in use or use it to undo things.

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by Flamin_Squirrel

If you want your torque wrench to stay accurate, don't leave it set to a high torque when not in use or use it to undo things.

Which is why I bought a breaker bar.

Mine are kept in thier little boxes with zero setting.