You know, this whole discussion, while elucidating a few myths and improperly applied formulae, also showed a huge lack of common sense for several parties...

As a money saving measure, the only way you're going to know exactly how much force you are applying to an extension of the handle is by keeping it perfectly perpendicular and adding weights, thereby circumventing your ability to tighten it (lack of rotation of your tightening lever), or by knowing exactly how much force you can generate--not likely. I've hand-tightened bolts before and tested them with a torque wrench out of curiosity. I've been well over 100lbs of torque with a 10-12" wrench. We're talking servo motors or hydraulics, maybe even a pneumatic system, with a very good control system. You can't touch a system like that for the cost of a good torque wrench.

Further, by adding an extension to the torque wrench, you lose a percentage of the torque, but who cares? You know it's going to be a loss of torque, and you are given a range to torque a fastener to. Set your wrench just above the top value, and keep the wrench as parallel to the fastener as you possibly can. You'll eliminate as much torque loss as possible. Double check it with the formula, if you don't feel comfortable. If you need more than a foot of extension, you probably need a better access point or further disassembly to do the job correctly.

Geez-us! Post the theoretical crap on the Talk side. Let's talk practical apps and real work on the Tech page. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />