Had to pick between a Snap-on and a Harbor Freight torque wrench for weekend work

I was doing a cylinder compression check on my buddy's Cessna 172 last Saturday and realized my old Craftsman torque wrench was way off. I went with the Harbor Freight one since I only use it a few times a month, and so far it's held up fine on 4 different engines. Anyone else use cheaper tools for GA stuff or is that asking for trouble?

2 comments

2 Comments

jaken234d ago

Nah man I gotta disagree with you here. A torque wrench is one of those tools where cheap can bite you hard, especially on aircraft stuff. I've seen guys strip spark plug threads on a Lycoming using a Harbor Freight clicker that was supposedly "calibrated" from the factory. That's a $500 helicoil repair and a lot of downtime. For weekend car work sure go cheap, but for a Cessna where your life depends on those cylinder bolts being right, I'd rather spend the extra cash on a known good brand or at least send the HF one out for calibration first.

skyler_anderson653d ago

@jaken23 calibrating harbor freight costs more than just buying a CDI.