Anyone ever carry a torque wrench?

I think I would if I could have find a decent one, small and light enough, yet suitable for fasteners that require a bit of muscle. Until now I have gotten by with blue locktite and taking it easy.

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After 40 years in the garage.
The torque wrench is included in in my arms/hands

Feeling......

I have done but realised that if I really need one I can usually borrow one so don't any longer.

I was toying with the idea of an electronic one if I felt I needed one, but to be honest, I probably won’t bother.

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All i take is an adjustable spanner !!

I just took a look at the service manual for the Tenere 700. In the torque setting section. The torques ranged from 7nm to 148nm.

That means one could get away with one or two tiny digital torque wrench adapters for a standard ratchet or wrench. Probably not the most accurate - but for someone without torque feel in their hands from decades of turning bolts...

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Just look at the screws you have to deal with on a trip.
Can you handle those without one?

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No.

A spanner with numbers on the handle that's been heated, frozen, vibrated and has an out of date calibration certificate in your tool box at home is just a spanner with numbers.

Don't kid yourself otherwise.

The only things that need one are staged bolt patterns like cylinder heads.The numbers in manuals are put there by lawyers and warranty people to avoid giving gorillas with ten foot extension bars free stuff. I know, I write the odd manual.

My favourites are the workshops that fetch the wrench back from propping the fire door open, wait for the click, then give it half a turn for luck

Use the spanners of the length provided. Those clever Victorians made a half inch Whitworth AF whatever 9 inches long because your average human provides roughly the right torque at that length. Modern tools retain the tradition in traditional styles of hand tool. If things drip give them a tweak.

Andy

If you've been rebuilding Vespas in the middle of the Sahara I'm surprised you don't have 'calibrated fingers'.

If Ted or anyone else who wrenches for a living catches this discussion I'm sure they'll have an an opinion on how essential a torque wrench is on a trip but from my perspective I wouldn't (and haven't) take one. Most of the bolts / screws/ other fastenings you're likely to be dealing with at the side of the road will not be 'mission critical' - that is something that if it comes undone will cause serious damage / expense / danger to you. They'll just be regular 6mm / 8mm threads or similar that you deal with all the time in a workshop. If you don't deal with them regularly then is the side or the road - torque wrench in hand or not - the place to start?

If you're delving into the depths of a bike - engine work for example - then yes, a t.r. may be needed for some - mainly internal - fastenings but you're unlikely to be doing that sort of stuff in a car park.

I think I’m the odd one out here, as I take one on every trip! I’ll admit happily that I’m not mechanically minded, so I’m sure it’s just peace of mind for me. I don’t use it anywhere often enough to do this by feel, so the peace of mind for me is great. I don’t disagree with the above comment on spanners with numbers, but I’ve done my bit if anything goes wrong.

Like I said, I don't carry one, and never had a problem for it which I am aware of. Even if I have pulled a scooter into atoms, I considered myself a noob. I have not measured my own hands up against a torque wrench hundreds of times for all bolt sizes to know if my hands are calibrated. I've really only used one where it is noted that torque is especially important. It would be fun to test out the calibration of my hands though. Do I usually always tighten too hard or too soft? By how much am I off the torque wrench?

With noob fingers, working on the same bolts over, and over, or checking for tightness every now and then (by tightening a tiny bit extra ”just to be sure” like some do) - over stretching bolts and threads every time they are worked on... until one day the bolt snaps, the threads are stripped, or there is no stretch left in the fastner to hold it in place over time - slowly unscrewing itself. Or, the noob tightens tings so loose in the first place that everything rattles apart. It might not be mission a critical bolt like a cylinder bolt, and everything may seem well, but it can cause a lot of headache if your bolts go missing, snap or strip out threads.

Many years ago I broke my first torque wrench the first day I used it. It was the longest wrench I had, so now that I had such a beast with so much arm leverage, I might as well try loosening some large rusted wheel bolts on an old tractor - using might of course. I then stored the wrench without resetting it. Next time I came to use it a year later, I read the manual for the first time (don't know why - who would for such a simple tool?). It pretty much told me it was now no longer reliable. I then bought an identical one and tested it against the other. It was off by a significant amount. Back then I would never have thought how much you have to care for these tools. I could very well have been one of those guys who used it to prop up a fire door and obuse it in many ways, and continued using it for years while a
thinking that all is ok.

I'm no expert on these tools, but I still assume that an inexpensive $ 50-100 adapter for ratchets must be better than nothing at all, for a noob . I can't see how it can be very accurate, but I don't see a reason why it wouldn't hit the ball park either. Also, as the torque forces are measured within the adapter itself, where the sockets go, and not on the shaft or handle, I don't see how spanner abuse would matter. A small adapter like that can easily be protected in the luggage.

Now I am tempted to get one and simply leave it in the bike for a year, just to see how well it holds up.

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There is a adapter that is basically a extension bar for sockets that is a torque wrench, can get them in any size, 1/4, 1/2 ect. Turns any matching size socket handle into a torque wrench....

Generally the bigger the nut, the more torque is required. And the bigger the nut, the longer the spanner tends to be. So you get a feel for it.

There are some exceptions, which you could note from the bike manual, but I've not used my torque wrench for years.

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dont believe all you read in a or bike manual or a newspaper!! !

Personally no. And as a calibrated and rather sensitive tool, they don't travel well on unpaved roads. They're also rather heavy.

Although, you can get torque wrenches that you can use to loosen fasteners now. So it can double up as the only socket driver you need.

FYI, you should NEVER loosen anything with a torque wrench or go past the 'click' or 'beep' of your torque wrench unless you want to ruin it.

The only time you really need a torque wrench is on engine work. Or where you setting the load on a bearing such as a head-bearing.

In my experience as a mechanic, I find that most people massively over-tighten things if they don't use a torque wrench or if they lack experience. The worst being sump nuts and oil filters.

I came across a guy in Egypt who stripped his oil-sump thread whilst doing an oil change in a carpark in Egypt. His trip was pretty much over.

However, this was the FIRST time he'd ever tried to change his own oil. Even after owning the bike for years and having years to prep and learn how to do it before he left home.

Practice any job you're likely going to need to do on the road before you leave.

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
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