Anyone know anything about torque wrenches?

Mark A

Mark A

Mark A

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Lancashire
Just received an ex display sealey STW1011 torque wrench from ebay for a few jobs I'm doing on my car. Ive just had a look at it and it seems to be just working like a normal wrench. On the lowest torque setting (7nm) it just turns and makes no sound or anything and just keeps tightening up the nut.

Theres a hex bolt on the side of the wrench but I'm not sure what its for so haven't tried adjusting it. Ive received no instructions with it either as its ex display but it was like this when i opened it.

Any suggestions?
 
Its just doing the same thing on all settings, just tightens up and makes no sound or feeling. It just feels like using a normal wrench.

It cant have been damaged in the post as its in a blow molded carry case and was wrapped in loads of brown paper.

Theres just the knurled handle that you turn to set the torque and then a smaller one under it to lock it in place. Theres also a hex bolt on the side but i don't want to mess with that in case its for calibrating it.

medials4.jpg


This is the wrench.
 
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best thing is to borrow a mates torque wrench and set the bolt to it's setting and see what it does on a bolt that's not torqued up and one that is... you can back to back compare then on a bolt.
 
Ther is normally a small flat heat screw about half way up the wrench for calibration. (dont touch it!!!)

Set it to about 80nm and try doing up one of you wheel nuts. It should make a distinct "click" and move a couple of mil, sort of feeling like you've snapped something :)

The Hex (19mm) on the bottom of the knurled bit I think is for helping to set it to the higher torque settings if you have a girly grip, the small knurled round knod is for locking the adjusting knurled bit in place.
 
I'll try the wheel nut suggestion tomorrow but it should work at the lower torque settings. The main reason i got it is so i can set it to 15nm for my spark plugs :(.

The 3/8" square head seems loose and slides back and forward by a mm or so. Could this be something to do with it?
 
15nm/11lbf ft it says in my Haynes manual.

Ive emailed the guy but i doubt he'll email me back any time soon.
 
mine are 28

as for torque wrenches, i have 2 and they both 'click' when you reach the right torque - the handle will move whilst the ratchet bit doesnt, if that makes sense
 
yeah i know what you mean, thats what i though it would do but it doesn't. I cant get my head around what could be causing it to do this.

In fact I'll go and try it on a wheel nut now and see what happens.

EDIT: no luck :(
 
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To be honest mate - i found my torque wrench (which looks identical to that one) pretty obvious on how to use, and when it was torqued.

It sounds broked :(
 
Yeah looks like it but i would have thought they would have tested it before sending it out. Theres no way it could have been damaged in transport either. This is the only problem buying from ebay i guess, the guys a power seller and claims to be a national Sealey distributor so hopefully he wont try to rip me off.
 
Nice :D. Thing is though i only need to do a few jobs so its not worth splashing out on a decent one. £30 is my limit really, i thought i was lucky to find this Sealey one for that price but obviously not lol.

Ive emailed them so if they don't get back to me within a few days I'll open a dispute and buy another one. I really wanted to get these spark plugs in and don't trust myself to do it be hand.
 
It's probably not "ex display" at all but rather one that has been returned because it is faulty. Get it returned! Even if it didn't click as has already been said you would "feel" something. You could double check by setting it to a highish setting and attempting to tighten an already tight bolt like your wheels nuts.
 
Mark just do the spark plugs by hand. Tighten them with your hand just past hand tight. Do not go tightening them up like a wheel nut :D

You'll be fine. I've done a number of spark plugs this way and never had a problem *touches wood*

You'll have to feed the plug in my hand anyway to make sure it's dead centre.
 
mattpc said:
It's probably not "ex display" at all but rather one that has been returned because it is faulty. Get it returned! Even if it didn't click as has already been said you would "feel" something. You could double check by setting it to a highish setting and attempting to tighten an already tight bolt like your wheels nuts.
Click to expand...

Yeah i was thinking that myself, especially as it said in the listing: Wrench is individually tested to standards with ±4% accuracy and each wrench is issued with an individually numbered test certificate. I didn't get a test certificate with it :mad:. I'm going to send it back and buy one from a proper on line store, even if they mend it and send it back theres no guarantee that its calibrated properly.

I set the torque to 7mn, the lowest it will go to and tried tightening my wheel nut, put loads of pressure on it and it didn't click or anything it was just tightening the nut. Well they are incredibly tight as it is so it was just doing nothing. I then tried it on a higher torque all the way up to the highest and it did the same.

I guess this will teach me to try and save a few quid. Although to be fair the guy has a lot of positive feedback and a decent looking site.
 
I await to be shot down in flames for this but... for the amount I'm likely to use it, spark plugs and checking wheel nuts after getting tyres fitted mainly, my £15 one from Machine Mart seems to do the trick. Lowest setting on mine is 28nm though but they do a 1/2" drive which I think has a lower range on it for the same price.
 
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