Torque Tool Used to Loosen?

Tech Tech Help
1

my Pedros pre-set torque tool says “(clockwise) only”.

Is this interpreted as the torque will only be limited in the clockwise direction?

Or, I recall hearing somewhere, that the tool should not be used in the counter clockwise direction, I.e. to loosen, as this may damage the tool?

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thanks!

2

It means it will only “click” in the clockwise direction. That being said, it’s generally not advisable to use a torque wrench for loosening as there is a potential for effect on the calibration. This may or may not be true of all models and designs, but a torque wrench is way more expensive than a standard wrench, so I use other tools to loosen, and save the torque wrenches just for tightening.

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3

Compre to prestacycle

4

Dave Rome wrote an article about this at the “old place”: https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-racing/cool-tool-tuesday-11-talking-torque-wrenches-part-two/

Short answer: for that torque wrench, I wouldn’t use it to loosen bolts.

Longer answer: There are various designs of torque wrenches. I would put them in three broad categories:

  1. Can be used clockwise to tighten a normally threaded bolt to desired torque. Should not be used anti-clockwise at all.

  2. Can be used in either direction to tighten to desired torque. I still would not use to loosen a bolt (the breakaway torque is often much higher than the torque it was initially done up with, as bolts seize over time). Use anti-clockwise only to tighten reverse-threaded bolts.

  3. Can be used to tighten to desired torque in clockwise direction, but safe to use anti-clockwise, bypassing the torque mechanism completely (i.e. safe to use to loosen).

For pre-set torque wrenches, they generally fall in category 1 unless the explicitly state they are safe to use to loosen (e.g. Prestacycle “TorqKey”). Most generic adjustable torque wrenches are in category 2.

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