Long. twisty bolts or studs take a moment or so for the entire force
action on them by the wrench to come to completion. A click-type wrench
drops the torque before this is done. So there are some applications
where the old beam style wrench works best.

One thing, no matter which style is used, they must always be calibrated
periodically. When I worked for the airlines as a mechinc, for every job
requiring a torque wrench application, we had to calibrate the torque
wrench just before doing the work. We had a calibration unit in the shop
for just that purpose. Overkill for the average shadetree mechanic, but
having them checked before doing heads is a real good idea.

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

Jake Beaulieu wrote:

>I could have swore that I read in the Bentley that click style torque wrenches cannot be used on head nuts in 1980-1983 air cooled Vanagons, but now I can't find that warning anywhere.  Did I just make it up?
>I found an article in the archives where somebody claimed that the problem with click style wrenches is that the torque is reduced when the wrench clicks.  Apparantly the torque needs to be held for a moment or two in order for the head gasket to properly form to the surfaces of the head and jug.
>If this is the case, what is a guy to do.  Of course there are beam style torque wrenches that should work.  Craftsman claims theirs have an accuracy of +/-4% which is compareable to the click style (+/-3%).  However, I wonder how much that accuracy drifts over the years.  Are there any other torque wrenches out there that don't click, but are not the beam style?
>Jake
>
>Jake
>
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