Dropped $340 on a cheap torque wrench and it cost me a whole engine mount job
Picked up a bargain 1/2 inch torque wrench off a tool truck sale about 8 months ago, figured I'd save a few hundred bucks. First real job with it was resealing a Lycoming oil pan on a 172 and I clicked it to spec, or so I thought. Came back two weeks later with a stripped bolt hole and found out the thing was off by almost 15 foot pounds at the low end. Cost me a helicoil kit, a new gasket, and a Saturday I could've spent fishing, and the customer wasn't too happy either. Anyone else have a specific torque wrench or calibration story that bit them hard?
Cheap torque wrenches off a truck aren't automatically junk though. Sounds more like it got dropped or never calibrated from the factory. A $50 beam wrench would've held spec better on that low end, the clickers are the ones that drift when they're cheap.