torque wrench to loosen wheel bolts?
 

I have been using my torque wrench (purchased at Tire Rack. the cheaper one) to loosen weel bolts. It is longer than the (standard simple) wrench included in the Mercedes-Benz tool set in spare tire area, so it makes the loosening job easier.

However, some people told me not to use torque wrench to loosen bolts. Have I been damaging my torque wrench?

By the way, where can I have the wrench recalibrated? How much does it cost?

I sometimes use my 1/2 drive torque wrench to loosen lug bolts. Hard to see why this would hurt the calibration. Even if it did, so what. If you are using this one exclusively for lug bolts then close counts. Exact precision not required.

I also bought a cheap 1/2 drive electric rattle gun at Harbor Freight for something like 30 - 40 bucks. I only use it to take the bolts out. Never to
put them in. Nice time saver.

Steve

If you are concerned with your torque wrench maintaining its calibration, do NOT loosen lug bolts with it. You can buy a 1/2 inch breaker bar relatively inexpensively. In almost all cases, I use niether. I typically use the factory lug wrench for loosening lug bolts. It's pretty difficult to damage.

Good luck,

One of the best tools in my box is the Hazet Lug bolt socket, 17mm 1/2 drive. It is encased in a plastic cylinder. This protects the inside of the bolt hole on the alloy rims.
Available on line.

Steve

Yeah, get an 18" breaker bar (1/2" drive) for loosening. Save the torque wrench for the critical bits.

Always use a 1/2 inch breaker bar. I use the thicker wall sockets made for air impact tools. I have broken the chrome sockets with stubborn lug nuts.

Use the torque wrench for its intended use. On the click type I always turn the indicator back to zero for storage.

Griot's Garage (Mail oder catalog) offers a torque wrench test service for $25.00. I have never used the service. (www.griotsgarage.com)

Guess I should clarify my use of torque wrench for loosening. I have a nice one, and I have a couple of Chinese cheapos. In my opinion, the cheapos are close enough for lug bolts.

Wouldn't use them for anything critical.

However, for most of the things I work on, limited, I just use muscle memory from a whole bunch years tightening bolts on cars and for a few years building Boeing jets.

Steve

My click type torque wrench measures torque only for clockwise rotation, but I loosen bolts counterclockwise. So I thought using it for loosening bolts would not affect the torque wrench calibration at all.

$25 for the torque wrench test is quite expensive. The cheap TireRack torque wrench is $29.99.

I've always just used the factory lug wrench that came with the car. I put the wrench on the nut, and step on it to loosen the nut. I tighten with the torque wrench to 82 ft/ lbs.

Is stepping on the wrench bad?

I thought this was an interesting question,I came across this link.Its pretty detailed and worth a read,Johnny http://home.jtan.com/~joe/KIAT/kiat_3.htm

I checked my click type torque wrench ($29) at 80 foot pounds setting against Sears beam type torque wrench (also $29) .

I put female 17 mm to one, and male 17 mm to the other.
When I went close to 80 foot pounds operating two torque wrenches at the same time, the viewing angle was not optimal and my hands were slightly shaking. So I could not read the beam type torque wrench precisely at the moment the click type torque wrench clicked. But I think I can say it was 80 +/- 5.

Fortunately, it did not go off much yet, but I will stop using it to loosen bolts.