I got these about a year ago and use them to get me within 10-15 foot ponds and follow up with my torque wrench and they are accurate enough to use as a stand alone torque application but my shop insists on torque wrenches for every bolt that has a torque value assigned to it.
Excellent review and general info. I have noticed that using these sticks with Milwaukee Fuel cordless impacts such as their Mid Torque model do not work well the impact wrench will make a strange clunking noise with these sticks and accuracy is off even in a lower power mode. My older Craftsman C3 1/2" impact wrench (essentially a re-badged Ryobi/Techtronic TTI tool) these sticks seem to work better with that impact.
if you are using a torque wrench this doesnt allow us to prove the quality of these sticks . You would want to use your low impact with the stick on it and then test with your torque to see where your torque wrench locks out at right ?
Is there a limit on the ft lbs output from an impact wrench that these can accept? I have an electric impact wrench that has 450ft lb of output and don’t want to break the sticks. Thank you
Thanks. I can see where these will be handy. I only use an impact for busting and snugging down. BUT.. I can think of a few times I cheated with frame bolts buried so badly I feathered the trigger simply because I didn't have the real estate to swing a torque wrench without removing a bunch of plumbing and crap.. Something like this will get me relatively close which in most cases is just fine (I know when to be a torque nazi and not to be)
Yes they're handy in that regard, I found I use them with hand tools because you can feel them start the spring and flex and you know you're right around a good torque number and then you can always tighten some up with a regular extension if you're worried about not having gotten enough Force
What about using these with a breaker bar? I've been thinking about these and I see people whine because they put them on their impacts and surprised when they break. I've been thinking about these and getting a breaker bar just for them, so I have something like a designated torque wrench
@@southpawyeti6039 yes, I learned this since posting this, they only work with impact wrenches, I've seen some material that suggests they work better with air impacts than cordless, though about deleting this comment but maybe someone else might be helped by it
Won’t work, breaker bars produce a consistent torque, whereas impact wrenches don’t. These work because they absorb impacts, resulting in a torque loss. Less material in the torque stick, the less torque it can transfer. They also work much better on air impacts than they do electric, as an air impact’s mechanism bounces back when it impacts, so stick springs back more into the gun.
Homework problem: what's the rated torque for putting 2 or more of these together, given the rated torques of the pieces? Not being any good at mechanical engineering, I really have no idea how to figure that out. Well, except to buy a set and a strain gauge and find out.
Basically, don't use a strong gun on these to prevent damage to em or the car. Use a real torque wrench when you are done or tighten by another 1/16th of a turn to 1/8th if you don't have a torque wrench have for the lugs on you
What about using these with a breaker bar? I've been thinking about these and I see people whine because they put them on their impacts and surprised when they break. I've been thinking about these and getting a breaker bar just for them, so I have something like a designated torque wrench
I'd seen them in the catalog, but had no sense of what they were for. This is one of the two reasons I watch all his videos: he explains why you'd want a tool. My other reason is that I really like having tools, and CM gives reliable reviews; I've bought quite a few things based on his videos, and I've never been surprised by what I got.
They only work with impact wrenches. They work by twisting to minimize the amount of torque when the hammer hits the anvil within the wrench, then reset when the wrench let’s up. Think lots of little hits. They don’t work for steady pressure since they can only deflect so far. If you want to use breaker bar get a torque adaptor
If you look at the packaging on torque stick sets, it says, "For use with impact wrenches." they are calibrated to limit the torque of the gun. Because you could easily over twist these extensions and end up over tightening the fastener and ruining your tool.
There are also some situations where it’s difficult to hold the nut still when torquing. I have a scooter with a CVT transmission rotating part and a nut that needs pretty high torque. It is impossible to hold still while you crank up a usual torque wrench. But the impulse using an impact wrench and the torque stick works perfectly.
