The $30 harbor freight torque wrench I swore I'd never trust

I bought one of those cheap click-type torque wrenches from Harbor Freight back in March just to hold me over for a lug nut job on my neighbor's F-150. I figured it would be off by half and strip something, but I checked it against my Snap-on and it was dead nuts on 3 out of 4 settings. Last month I used it to torque a head bolt sequence on my own 5.3 and the engine's still ticking fine. Anyone else had a budget tool that surprised them, or am I just lucky so far?

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morgan.rose28d ago

My buddy bought the same one in the 1/2 inch drive size for his truck and it's been through like 4 tire rotations plus a brake job and it's still clicking right. I mean, I checked it against my dad's old Craftsman beam style and it matched up within a couple foot pounds, which is good enough for me. Maybe it's just me but I think people sleep on those cheap ones because of the name on the box. I've had a couple expensive tools fail on me way faster than this thing has held up. Honestly, for lug nuts and basic engine work it's been solid, and if it ever does go out I can just buy another one and still be under what a truck stop brand would cost.