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That time I tried a vintage torque wrench on a head gasket job
Picked up an old Snap-on clicker at a garage sale for $10, figured I'd give it a shot on my buddy's 350 Chevy. Thing was way off, ended up overtorquing three bolts before I caught it. Lesson learned, has anyone else had a classic tool let them down like that?
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jesse_nguyen5mo ago
Messing around with old torque wrenches is a gamble for sure. My buddy had one from the 70s that looked cool but we tested it against my cheap beam-style and it was off by like 15 foot-pounds. Best thing I did was just buy a new digital one and keep the vintage one as a wall hanger. If you really want to use an old clicker you can usually get them recalibrated but it costs almost as much as a new one. For head gaskets especially I wouldn't trust anything that hasn't been checked in the last year. Maybe just keep that one for non-critical stuff like valve covers or something light.
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mark_cooper5mo ago
Actually @jesse_nguyen, beam-style wrenches are usually more accurate than clickers over time since they don't have springs that wear out, so your cheap one was probably right on. For head gaskets though you're totally right, never trust a vintage tool for that kind of job.
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parkerh384mo ago
Grab an old beam style like @jesse_nguyen mentioned and test the clicker against it at different settings. I did that with a 1960s Skil screwdriver that I thought was broken, turns out it was just really stiff and needed WD-40 and a fresh bit. For head gaskets though, you're better off using the beam style itself since there's no spring to drift, plus they're dirt cheap so you can just buy one new and keep the vintage one for less critical stuff.
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