Which type of torque wrench do you prefer?

[ahausheer]

Needle types are apparently dead accurate and super cheap but they can be hard to read because sometimes to apply a lot of torque you are in some weird position that makes it hard to hold the toque steady enough to see the needle. If you mind loosing some clearance get the needle type. I have a 20 dollar one from harbor freight and it seems to work well but I have no way of testing/calibrating it.

[SFTiofoso]

You can test the accuracy of your torque wrench:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUD81N_TlS8"]How to Check the Calibration Accuracy of Your Torque Wrench (Video 2) - YouTube[/ame]

I have 3 torque wrenches. 1/2 drive 20-150 ft/lbs, 3/8 drive 10-75 ft/lbs, and 3/8 drive 20-200 in/lbs. I really need four though. I need one that measures beyond 150 ft/lbs.

Recently I had to tighten the entire subframe at 150 ft/lbs of a Corolla. I did it with the 1/2 drive torque wrench, but it was a pita. My advice is to get 3 torque wrenches:

A massive one (50-250 ft/lbs); you can use it for wheel lug nuts, sub frame bolts, some suspension bolts, half shaft bolts, etc.

A medium with a 3/8 drive (10-80 ft/lbs); it's important to have a 3/8 inch drive because sometimes you will run into clearance issues, and the head of a 1/2 drive wrench will just not fit sometimes, especially if you have a 1/2-to-3/8 adapter on there.

A small one (20-200 in/lbs); this one works great on brake/clutch bleeding nipples, valve cover bolts, oil pan bolts, or anything that has many bolts holding a sealing gasket in place.