In the army we had one about 5 feet long. Was for torquing the Jesus nut holding Huey helicopter main rotor on.
There is room for a lot of variation when torquing most things. The tool itself only tells someone how much resistance there is to the pulling force you are putting on the wrench. That resistance is also conflated by variations in the finish of the threads in the two parts. Ever tighten a bolt into a hole and it starts easily and then suddenly it won't turn and you have to use a wrench just to get past the tight spot? Or you run a bolt into a hole to check depth and then it doesn't want to come back out? There are lots of cl***es of threads. Notice how smoothly the spindle turns on a micrometer.....those threads are put there with a grinding machine and are very smooth...and precise. Some threads are rolled in place by pressure against v shaped dies. Then there are the ones that we cut with taps and dies. Thread lubricants are reccomended in most cases but the lubricity may vary........and how many of you actually lubricate before torquing ? We strive to be precise, but in the end all we can do is rely on doing the best we are equipped to do and hope its right..............A beam will get you in that realm consistently. A digital will make you think you got it perfect......even if its out of calibration. There is a lot that goes into maintaining calibration (yearly) and 99% of us don't do it..................yet 99% of the time it works just fine anyway.
Ideally, every fastener on a vehicle should be torqued. The OEMs do this by the simple (but expensive) expedient of furnishing tools designed to deliver the exact torque needed for individual tasks on the production line, everything from trim screws on up. No one else can afford to do this, so we get by with 'universal'/adjustable tools to take the place of these specialized tools. Very few of us will have every size needed for the same coverage. But most of us don't even avail ourselves of the more common sizes. 'Back in the day' most guys owned a 0-150 ft lb beam type, maybe a smaller one if you were bucks-up, both used for engine ***embly. Everything else just got 'tightened' and that was good enough. Over the years a few more 'must torque' items got added to the list; aluminum wheels (especially with shank-style nuts) and most disc brake components if doing common repairs or maintenance. I use two of mine for probably 80% of what I torque, my 0-80 and 0-150 ft lb wrenches. ***embling a new motor? Then I'll add the 0-200 in lb to the mix (great for sheetmetal valve covers and oil pans), maybe the 0-250 ft lb one. All the others only come out for specific tasks (bearing preload, etc). The 2-36 in lb screwdriver works great for ***embling carbs. Some of the current torque thinking addresses modern and/or race motors more than our less-stressed ones. When you're running close to the edge though, it can become critical to have everything as close as possible.
when torquing head bolts, main and rod bolts I use the same wrench and shoot for middle of the specified toque range, I look for consistency maybe even more than the absolute number.
The Jalopy Journal
