Pittsburg Torque Wrench, Accurate For $20?
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- čas přidán 5. 09. 2024
- Batch testing, was I originally just lucky?
Model Torque Range Ft-Lbs Accuracy Claimed Tooth Count Warranty Made In
63882 20-150 +/- 4% 24 Lifetime Taiwan/Vietnam
Product Link
Pittsburg 1/2 👉 www.harborfrei...
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I’m glad you tested multiple torque wrenches of the same brand.
Several people have said that that’s the only way to confirm consistency.
Yep, I was really curious if I just got lucky. Wish I could test more like this but that’s way out of my budget.
@@Tools-Tested I have seen so many negative comments about this torque wrench.
However, I bought it based on your video, and it seems to work very well.
I used it for a brake job, and I’m sure that it doesn’t have to be perfectly accurate for that.
I do engine work, i have a snap-on torque wrench, but this video actually made me go the other way.
Can't see how testing something so vigorously would lead to a conclusion of Not to use them.
That’s what I’m trying to figure out, what was the justification for that statement if they tested well. I know for the internals of engine rebuilds it would be best(Snap On Torque wrench) to get the most accurate torque but I can’t imagine being a hair off with the Pittsburgh that it would cause a issue. Maybe I’m wrong but that statement threw me off lol
I used to work at Snap On, so I'll never buy any of their tools for any kind of work...
I had a grand opening of a HF right near my house. They had all 3 size of Pittsburgh torque wrench for only $12 each!
Nice!
I don't know who the hell would build engines with one of those for the last 10 years.... 👀 All jokes but mine has been good as far as I can tell. Cool test!
Because most of the bad reviews are people who hold them wrong. It's.not a top level tool, but the constant complaints partly stem from improper use.
"Exercise your torque wrench" is valuable advice. I've had to replace one due to lack of exercise. Worked fine when new, but failed to click after 2 years of non-use.
Thanks for the review, just picked up one of these wrenches on sale for $12
No problem! Glad it helped!
I got both 3/8 and 1/2 for $12 each, an absolute steal.
I remember you saying the other year that it would be neat to do this kinda test, cool to see it happen and I’m shocked again by how well these cheap HF torque wrenches perform.
Yep I was slowly collecting them lol, it really is crazy how well theses cheap torque wrenches perform.
Just bought the 1/2 for $11.99. I’ve used the 3/8 for years but not very often. Hard to spend tons of money on a tool I don’t use much. I use my in pound torque wrench tons so I have a higher quality one. I’m glad too see they are that accurate.
I work with a guy that used the 1/2" and 3/8" Pittsburgh to rebuild an engine. The only issue he had was a slight oil leak, but he admitted that he never exercised either of them.
Honestly as a diy guy I've done alot with the 1/2 in Pittsburgh...all the suspension stuff that comes up and engine stuff also..now years later I've got a snap on for stuff I really want to be sure on but that Pittsburgh has been good..js..mine I bought prolly 7 years ago
I played with mine with a torque adaptor. I found with practice I got much more consistant and accurate. Don't hit the click at full force and you won't add several more ft lbs.
Nice to see good products at great prices being sourced from countries other than China.
I keep that exact model in my offroad toolkit. It's been rare that I've ever had to use it, but it helped ensure that I got off the trail and back to a place where the repair can be either redone properly or at least given a final check.
Finally! It is super super super helpful to put several examples like this to the test. Lots of folks just do one and call it good and it's nowhere near conclusive. A sample size of 6 is a good start and starts to show some patterns.
Yep, hopefully someday I can do the same with other torque wrenches.
appreciate the efforts on this video. thank you!
Glad it was helpful! No problem!
Price != quality. Seems like whoever is making these for Harbor Freight has good people working a good process turning out a good product.
What it really illustrates is how out-of-control, greedy, and/or careless so many other brands have become.
Thank you for taking the time to test this!
No problem! glad you liked it!
Got mine around 10 years ago. Pittsburgh Pro made in Taiwan with O-ring .
One stretch of several year I didn’t use it .
It was hard to turn the setting .
End up spraying it with some very light dry lubricants spray . And exercise the heck out of it .
Last year I bought a Quinn electronic digital torque adapter .
It seems that after 10 year the Pittsburgh Pro click type torque wrench is still within the specs .
So I didn’t touch anything .
Nice! you really cant beat theses cheap torque wrenches.
I’ve experienced twice where the wrench would not click over after a bit of usage. Luckily caught it before damaging a part. Thanks for the test.
same here
Truly appreciate this. I see tests with just about every product and I always think about the consistency of products over time. Stuff can change especially with prices going up and your video demonstrates that.
I actually have a complete set (1/2 - 1/4) of both these pittsburgh torque wrenches and Matco electric angling torque wrenches. One set cost me $1300, and the other set cost me $35. I got them because a master tech I work with told me that he uses the pittsburgh all the time on less particular bolts and to save his expensive torque wrenches from wear and tear. Your videos made me a lot more confident that all those lug nuts I've been using the pittsburgh on are at a good spec.😂😂
Yeah its crazy, I will admit before actually testing the Pittsburgh I would have laughed and said no way that thing is accurate.
For anyone wondering hes done this with a few icon torque wrenches compared to others and one of the icons pretty much failed. i had the icon split beam but idk i dont like the dial on it or the latching mechanism went with a husky instead but also got a pittsburgh one too & still paid cheaper than the split beam lol
I believe that the Tekton failed too.
The 1/2 comes in either Taiwan or Vietnam. The 3/8 comes in either Vietnam or China.
I really appreciate nice quick honest reviews. Thanks.
No problem! Glad you like them!
Thanks for the thorough testing! I just bought one a few days ago and was skeptical about it, but I'm not a mechanice so this should be sutiable for my needs :)
No problem! Glad you found it helpful!
Each of vehicles has the 1/2" torque wrench from HF. Great for torturing the wheel nuts to specs. Too many times people over tighten wheel nuts either by hand or with an impact and it makes it difficult to remove the wheel. In one case the rental car i had got a flat and i couldnt get the wheel nut loose and even the road service had to use the impact for a couple of minutes to get the wheel off. Ive found the HF cheap torque wrench to be accurate enough for this type of use.
Yep very good point, perfect torque wrench for lugs.
Thank you. I've wondered about that for a while now. Seeing several tested purchased covering more than one source over time is convincing. I agree, don't build an engine with it, but wheels and other general chassis work that requires a torque, go for it.
No problem! Yep good for general torquing.
They aren't bad for what they are, but they aren't very nice to use. The Icon is like 50x more enjoyable to operate.
I find it accurate for higher torque work, but terrible at low end torque. Mine kept wanting to tighten on a 13ft lbs application. I put it to a bolt already torqued at 100ft lbs and it kept wanting to torque.
Yeah I can see that at the lower end.
Probably so cheap because of how long they have been produced. Mine is labeled Harbor Freight and Salvage. Was bought in the 1970's. Probably handed to me directly by the founder of the company. Still use it regularly.
Yep thats a good point, nothing to redesign or retool for.
The only Pittsburgh I've got is a 1/4. So far, it's done well, but I keep it clean, lubed, and set the torque back to 0 when I put it back in the case. I have been meaning to replace it with a better one, just haven't gotten around to it yet. I wish Icon would come out with smaller sizes of their split-beam.
I got one free last weekend. Will put on our CDI at work.
That was a good video. Who would have thought those torque wrenches are accurate. I would like to see you do a video on the icon line of torque wrenches. Enjoy watching your videos. Keep them coming.
Thanks! Yeah would have laughed someone out of the shop before seeing these results, crazy.
I have tested almost all of the Icons, but they are scattered in multiple videos.
How accurate are the harbor freight digital torque adapters? I didn’t like the 3/8 Pittsburg one so I got those to use and set myself
I have one in 1/2. The Quinn brand. I'd like to know as well. There are other videos out on this though
The first torque wrench I used 56 years ago was a beam type. Watch the pointer till you get to the torque you want. I would take this Pittsburg over that thing any day!
Got both of mine for $12 years ago. Not complaining at all
I don't understand the advice of not using this essentially if you are a mechanic. All 6 were accurate and cycled 1000 times. What else do you want from a torque wrench?
super useful man thanks
No problem!
What a time to be alive
Buuuut, if you've proven it's accurate why wouldn't you use it on an engine? Accurate is accurate. Especially if you have a tester avail.
I've torn my truck down multiple times with these fellas, built turbos shamelessly. My 3/8 keeps snapping bolts when going into aluminum. Is that a torque wrench / lack of accuracy at the low end? Or twisted / damaged hardware? both?
Which is better for torqueing sparkplugs: QUINN 3/8 in. Drive 5.9-59 ft. lb. Digital Torque Adapter ~OR~ PITTSBURGH PRO 3/8 in. Drive 5-80 ft. lb. Click Torque Wrench?
I would go Quinn if you can afford it, but if not get this one. It’ll do.
I have no idea why you were surprised, H.F. wouldn't be able to sell those for decades if they were trash. Mine are so old that they were only $10(!) back then. I have the 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2", all made in Taiwan, and they are all within specs...and yes, I do cycle them a few times first and store them at near zero.
I did find this useful!
Glad it helped!
Thousands of accurate torques but DON'T DO ENGINE WORK WITH THESE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!! Just buy a reliable torque wrench that costs 35 times as much as the Pgh Brand and get that piece of mind.
Great point!
What use cases would you actually recommend for these cheapie torque wrenches?
Honestly, if you are a diy mechanic, meaning you work on your own car and know how, then this would be perfect. I wouldn't open a mechanic shop with it, but for as much as a normal person works on their own car, this would be the last one you bought (lifetime warranty also). I have all 4 sizes and they're flawless
Lug nuts
I’m not sure which to use to calibrate my torque wrench as I’ve seen some adjusting by the thread which the sleeve screws on with the settings on, but also have a small hole with Allen wrench inside which some have said use this but doesn’t do a lot so why are both options on the torque wrench, thanks
0:56 "Cycle the wrench 5 times at the setting" - what does that mean?
With a micrometer torque wrench you should cycle it a few times before use allowing the mechanism to free up.
They are an old, well proven design, so they should be accurate within their specification. I would have to ask why some wrenches you test fall outside of spec from new.
If this was $100-150 you'd say it's the best wrench on the market. Your videos have shown consistently that it performs well. Even better than more high end wrenches. What's keeping you from trusting it? You've shown that even high end units can fall outside spec. Even if this one fails, I highly doubt it'd be worse than any other wrench you've tested.
Its great for diy and small engine work, but I would never use it to rebuild an engine. If I showed up to a customers shop and pulled this out to work on a 150K engine they would probably kick me out.
I've had my 1/4", 3/8" and 3/4" for years (I've got a Dewalt 1/2" for wheels) I trust them..
I have a Gearwrench 3/8" digital w/angle for engines..but pretty much anything else is Pittsburgh cheapies...🏁
Thank you for this
No problem!
Harbor Freight’s been upping their game, I’m not sure why people are are still so shocked by this. Sure, they still have some subpar products but overall they’ve come a long way. Now they just have to shake that old reputation.
Do you really have to ‘exercise’ the torque wrench by setting it to high torque and then to your desired torque each time before use?
Yeah you really should exercise it, defiantly if its been sitting a few months. I have exercised a few on the tester and found the accuracy around 10% before they were cycled a few times.
@@Tools-Tested ok great info , thanks
WTF. Testes multiple wrenches, after 1000 cycles. Still accurate +/- 4%….. the snap on tester itself is accurate +/- 5%…. The tool is more accurate than the snap on tester. 😂 But he still doesn’t trust it for engine work? 🤷🏾♂️ That makes no sense.
.5 not 5
People forget that the reason you torque something with a torque wrench is to get a certain amount of tension into the bolt. Torquing something is an inherently inaccurate way to accomplish this compared to other methods. If you need an accurate amount of tension in the bolt, torque + angle, or measuring the change in bolt length is a much more accurate process.
Can’t say I would buy one even after seeing multiple tests where they pass. Just to afraid of that one day it doesn’t.
I paid 10 for mine… in 2011.
Nice, o the good old days...
$11 on sale lol
Yep can’t beat that!
Well it doesn’t matter. Their swing arc is so wide, and the pin detent is so weak, their tool is all but useless to me.
I was working in a very tight area. And the Quinn 3/8 digital, a tool more than twice the size from the Pittsburgh 1/4 drive, unit was more useful, due to the ability to retain its socket, and having a smaller swing arc.
swing arc doesn't matter much to people who are in the market for a $20 torque wrench. These would be used by people doing higher access simpler jobs.
You aren't those people, your opinion is pretty much irrelevant.
Either way the accuracy of the wrench matters more than its ability to swing in a tight spot or dropping sockets, because overtorquing and breaking bolts (somebody buying a $20 torque wrench is likely to be more inexperienced as well) in blind holes is a much larger cost of time and money than picking up a socket or fumbling to get a tooth to click.
this wrench is trash...mine doesnt even click.
Would this be safe for torquing sparking plugs on and f-150?
Yeah, but I would recommend using the 3/8 version. Accuracy is normally higher @ the top end.
@@Tools-Tested ty!! that was my plan. a 3/8 would cover everything I need to do.
@@Tools-Testedmy exact question! So the 3/8 is recommended over the 1/2 for more accurate torque of spark plugs? I just need it for spark plugs..