Bought a cheap knockoff torque wrench and it cost me a cylinder head

I was doing a head gasket job on a 6.7 Powerstroke last month and needed a 1/2 inch drive torque wrench. Grabbed one from a discount tool truck for $60 instead of my usual brand. Torqued everything down in sequence, felt fine. Started it up and had a coolant leak from the back corner. Pulled it all apart again and found the stretch bolts weren't seated right because the wrench was off by almost 20 foot-pounds. Wasted a full Saturday and a $400 gasket set. Anyone have a reliable budget torque wrench they actually trust?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_susan3d ago

My uncle's old Craftsman from the 90s is still dead on. I check it against the digital one at work sometimes. Wouldn't trust a new cheap one after seeing that.

sage_moore373d ago

Old tools can drift out of spec too, metal fatigues over decades. My buddy's vintage tape measure was off by a full sixteenth after years of getting banged around. New ones might be cheaper but they're often built to tighter tolerances now.

riverdavis3d ago

Ever notice how cheap stuff always costs more in the end? Sage_moore37 is right, even old tools can fail, but at least they had a chance to prove themselves first.