Halfords Torque Wrench

[Jamie]

I am thinking of buying a Halfords 3/8 drive torque wrench. Does anyone have any experience of this tool? I have bought three other 3/8 drive torque wrenches from other manufacturers and all have been returned as they were poor quality or defective.

Regards,

Jamie.

[Tony Griffiths]

You might be better off looking for a second-hand one by Britool - at least they were made in the UK.
Here's a well-used one:

[Chris KC]

First decide what range you need and buy the size of wrench that corresponds. Most of the 'sensitive' torques on an A7 - big ends, head studs, centre main bearing - fall around the 20 - 30 lbft mark. Don't buy a 150lbft wrench and try to use it on 1/4" bolts.

I have a Norbar 0 - 50Nm which I bought new and which has proved quite consistent.

Most professional workshops where torque wrenches are used also have a wall-mounted torque wrench checking gauge which is used regularly. This is because the wrenches themselves tend to wander in accuracy. Cheap ones very considerably so.

[Colin Wilks]

Hi Jamie 
I bought a Halfords 3/8" torque wrench but took it back because the range wasn't dead on for a seven (I'd already got a 1/2" 150 lbs/ft job) and setting it wasn't very certain. I bought a Britool AVT 300 A which is very simple and has a range up to 24 lbs/ft. Setting it to 19 rather than 20 for example is clear and easy, and its range suits the seven. A bit more money, but worth it I think.

[Nick Turley]

I use a small "snap on" torque wrench myself - just the ticket for Austin sevens

["Slack Alice" Simon]

I got a low range Norbar off Ebay - a nice bit of kit - for under £ 20.

Other people on the forum reckon the cheap bar and pointer ones are just as good, though.

[Colin Wilks]

There's one like mine on ebay right now at £51 with 30 mins to go.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274396501546

[John Mason]

I don’t use a torque wrench as there are to many variables I just find that the correct size spanner has a length to tighten the nut/studs correctly. That’s why spanner’s have different length to suit the size of nut they fit.
If you use nylock nuts for your big end caps you can’t use a torque wrench unless there is some way I don’t know about. I will add that I don’t go in for competitions or racing my Seven.

John Mason.

[Jamie]

Thank you for the replies and suggestions. I have an old half inch drive Williams torque wrench for the higher values and looking for one for the lower values. 

Chris: in what way was setting the Halfords wrench hard to uncertain?

Jamie.

[Colin Wilks]

Hi Jamie
A lot of people manage to rename me Chris, so I'm assuming your query is directed at me!

The attached photo is from Halford's site. The scale is clear enough, but the indicator line is sunk a bit below the scale and the action is a bit jerky. I wanted it for head nuts and big end bolts, both of which I set to 19 lbs/ft. This figure is rather towards the bottom end of wrench's range. The clincher for me was probably no more scientific than that Britool is British (although where the tools are made nowadays I cannot say). To be fair I use Halfords quite a bit and their no questions asked guarantee which replaces abused sockets without demur is a boon. I believe their torque wrenches are badged Norbar product. They gave me my money back without question when I decided against their wrench.