I was dead wrong about digital torque wrenches for a solid 3 years

Always figured they were just overpriced gadgets that would fail when you needed them most. Kept using my old beam-style Snap-On for everything, even after the needle started sticking a bit. Then last month I had to do 20 wheel torque checks on a 737 at the gate in Phoenix and my wrist was killing me. Borrowed a CDI digital from the guy next to me, finished in half the time, and the readings checked out perfect on the test rig. Has anyone else made the switch away from beam or click types?

2 comments

2 Comments

jennifer_fisher15d ago

Honestly, I had a buddy who swore by his click type for years too. He was out in the garage one Saturday, trying to torque down his truck's lug nuts after a brake job, and his old click wrench just stopped clicking. He cranked on it and one of the studs snapped clean off. He had to call a tow truck and everything. So he finally broke down and tried a digital one from a coworker, and now he's all about them. Ngl, it was a rough way to learn the lesson but he says the digital readout is way more reliable than he ever thought.

gavin_mason3115d ago

Do you ever just spray a little WD-40 on your click wrench's mechanism every few months? I do it on all my old school tools and it keeps the internal springs from gumming up like that. But yeah, once you go digital you never look back, the consistency alone is worth the switch.