Torque Wrenches

I am in the process of tear down on a Briggs & Stratton 14.5HP OHV Quite engine. I have been looking at the torque specs for rebuild and need to find an inch/pounds wrench for this build. The head bolts are supposed to be torqued to 220 inch/pounds. Does anyone have a recommendation for a decent torque wrench for this build ?

I'm not sure on brand, but I'd say pretty much any 3/8" drive torque wrench for small engine stuff. I have a 3/8" needle torque wrench for my motors.

Ive heard great things about the accuracy and price of the torque wrenches at Harbor Freight (no I do not work for them). But I don't have any firsthand experience with them, so take it for what its worth

You can get a 3/8" torque wrench from Harbor Freight for less than $12 with coupon. I have one of each size, love em all. Just be sure to unwind it to help save the spring inside.

The tension bar torque wrench is a good choice because you can do more with it, it's the one that has the main bar that bends with the handle on the end and has a small separate rod that comes from the socket holder and runs up to the gauge on the handle For example, if you can't find a torque rating of a bolt you can use this torque wrench to loosen the bolt and watching the gauge you can get the torque rating when the bolt frees up by moving slow. This is usually the cheapest too but if you know how to use it it's a real good torque wrench. I also watch the gauge when tearing down motors to see how the bolts are torqued to get an idea on how good the engine was put together. For example on auto engines, I loosen the head bolts, all bolts should be the same when they loosen in theory but it's usually not the case, or main caps for the crank when 9 out of ten loosen at say 65 lbs and one loosens at 45lbs, you can tell there was an issue there, maybe heat caused or the builder just got lazy and will lead to a better build. You can learn alot with this one and just because it's cheap doesn't mean it's not a good wrench.

The other kind is the kind that clicks when you reach the preset torque setting set on the handle. This is limited by only clicking when reaching the setting and doesn't have a gauge to watch. Even the fancy high priced electronic ones just beep, but if you pay enough money it will do both beep and have a gauge.

As for accuracy of any torque wrench, just hog wash, unless you see damage done to it it's almost always accurate within a couple of lbs of specs. The purpose of torquing a bolt is to make sure it doesn't come loose, break, and to provide even pressure from bolt to bolt. The only time you need to check the accuracy of a torque wrench is if you are working on an airplane where it will matter. Just keep in mind, every torque wrench is slightly different from any other torque wrench so using one torque wrench only for all the work is very important.

To help, Most torque wrenches are in foot lbs and very hard to find one that measures in inch lbs, if you get a torque rating in inch lbs then divide the inch lbs by 12 to get foot lbs. For example your 220 inch lbs would be divided by 12 which would be 18.3333 ft lbs and you would round up to the next whole number so it would be 19 ft lbs. (The 12 is used because there is 12 inches in a foot)

220 divide into 12= 18.3333, round up to 19.

Thanks to everyone for all the information, it has been a great help. I am looking at this wrench from Tekton as I own their 1/2" torque wrench that goes from 10-150 foot/pounds and it has worked well for a couple of years. I am considering this one now. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C5ZL2EG/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2KQJMGBTO7J3K&coliid=IRGOKJXR7JPJS

Has anyone had engine building experience with this wrench ?