{"id":251,"date":"2015-05-22T21:46:01","date_gmt":"2015-05-23T04:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eyedtentea.com\/?p=251"},"modified":"2015-05-25T02:43:48","modified_gmt":"2015-05-25T09:43:48","slug":"digital-torque-adapter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eyedtentea.com\/?p=251","title":{"rendered":"Digital Torque Adapter"},"content":{"rendered":"

I keep a torque wrench in the trunk of my car. Unfortunately, I’ve stored\u00a0the wrench loaded all this time. The wrench was actually set and locked at 78 lbf.ft. The wrench is a mechanical click type. By storing it loaded, the pressure on the spring will eventually weaken it. Resulting in an inaccurate torque reading.\u00a0It’ll click before reaching the desired torque setting. (Check out this\u00a0article from\u00a0www.hotrod.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

I did some searching and stumbled upon digital torque adapters. Digital torque adapters measure the torque applied to a nut\/bolt and displays the pressure applied on\u00a0a digital screen. This can convert any\u00a0socket\u00a0wrench into a torque wrench. It will not prevent over torquing, but will signal (via audio and\/or visual markers) when the target torque setting is reached.<\/p>\n

Another feature of digital torque adapters allows the user to test the accuracy of their torque wrench. By knowing how far off the wrench is reading, the user should be able to fine tune the wrench.<\/p>\n

I picked up a Pittsburgh Professional Digital Torque Adapter<\/a> a my local Harbor Freight Tools brick and mortar store. After a 20% discount (via email coupon), the total only came out to $26.39. Harbor Freight always gets knocks on the quality of their goods (rather, lack of quality), but this device is fairly accurate (check out this article from www.hotrod.com<\/a>).<\/p>\n

I tested the two torque wrenches that I own. One is a Craftsman and the other is a\u00a0Gorilla Automotive<\/a> wrench (the one improperly stored). The Craftsman wrench was stored properly. In fact, the only way for it to fit in its storage case is when the\u00a0torque setting is set at the minimum\u00a0value (~ 20 lbf.ft). The Gorilla Automotive is smaller in size and can fit in its case on any setting. The Craftsman pretty much matched the digital torque adapter… maybe off by 0.1 lbf.ft. The Gorilla Automotive was off by 4-5 lbf.ft… it clicked before reaching the desired torque setting. I did weaken the spring on the wrench.<\/p>\n

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It took awhile, but I was able to adjust the Gorilla Automotive wrench to within 0.5-0.8 lbf.ft. I only use this for my lug nuts and that’s accurate enough for me. For added security, I’ll store the digital torque adapter in the trunk and use it whenever I use the Gorilla Automotive wrench.\u00a0Big props to dail2fast<\/strong><\/em> on YouTube. He did a great review on the Pittsburgh Pro Digital Torque Adaptor (link here<\/a>)\u00a0and a guide in calibrating a torque wrench (link here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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