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Just realized torque wrenches can drift out of spec way faster than I thought

Saw on a Park Tool video that their calibration check found a 20% error on a 3 year old beam style wrench that got dropped once. Has anyone else had a torque wrench go bad on them without obvious signs?
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3 Comments
rubysingh
rubysingh1mo ago
Can you really trust a beam wrench's needle after a hard drop though?
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the_richard
the_richard1mo agoMost Upvoted
Honestly yeah that tracks. Beam style wrenches are tough but dropping them once can mess up the internal spring or pivot. Click type wrenches can drift too if they sit in a drawer at the wrong setting. Just had to replace my barely used 1/2 inch drive after it clicked but didn't actually tighten past hand tight.
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rubysingh
rubysingh1mo ago
Oh man, nothing like that "click click click... wait why is this bolt still loose?" moment! That 1/2 inch thing is such a pain, you trust the tool and it just lies to your face right when it counts. Must've felt real good when you figured that out after tightening a few things down, huh? Guess "barely used" doesn't mean "barely broken" these days. At least beam wrenches are honest about their problems you can literally see when they're bent!
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