Torque Down The Little Ones
By Eric Dykstra
For every nut, bolt, and fastener on your car or truck, the factory probably recommends a specific amount of torque to tighten it down to. Mac makes two models of adjustable 1/4″ torque screwdrivers — the TSM4-22 and the TSM16-88 — that measure torque from 4 to 22 in./lbs and from 16 to 88 in./lbs respectively. With these little guys you can torque down even delicate fasteners without winging it.
A window on the driver’s handle shows the amount of torque with an accuracy of ± 6%. You adjust the screwdriver to the desired torque setting with an allen wrench — once you’ve applied the desired amount of torque, the driver disengages. Contact a Mac dealer for prices and availability.
Find A Local Dealer [Mac Tools]
June 30th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
These must be pretty new. Tried the part #’s listed above at the MAC website and they’re nowhere to be found.
June 30th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Kind of like a MAC rep… no where to be found.
July 1st, 2008 at 7:22 pm
http://tinyurl.com/2qr8dv
July 2nd, 2008 at 5:23 am
I have built a lot of cars without one…….
Is this really needed. Come on. How many Stereo installs ahve been done with out using torque specs.
July 4th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
I could find a use for this on bicycles. More and more components for those are coming with torque specs, and as the materials become more carbon and aluminium than steel I’d be happy to get it right rather than crunch something expensive.
July 29th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Grainger has these…been around for a while now.
But then again, I’ve not seen a Mac truck in years.
November 25th, 2008 at 10:50 am
[...] require careful handling. If you don’t care to keep up with the digital age, an “old-fashioned” torque driver will do — but if you’re interested in the tools of the new [...]
March 18th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
What’s up with Mac these days? Lost our guy over a year ago! I haven’t seen any of those truck around any more? Can’t get any warranty work done, called their corporate office several times, they keep telling me someone will get with me. Never happenes…
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:12 pm
As a prior Mac guy, I can say that things are not looking good for Mac anymore. My district manager gave me some insight just before he left the company…after being offered an expanded territory and a cut in salary. Huge personnel cuts in corporate — all the way down into the field. I just sold my route and got out with nice profit before things got real bad. The last two were very difficult. I was a “Platinum” dealer for three years, Gold for the remaining but these times have changed. Mac has gone through 3 CEO’s in two years and was recently absorbed into the Vidmar/Stanley Supply Service last month. I saw a recent post where S3 sells mac tools online at prices far below our “distributor net” which is a huge slap in the face. I’ve also seen our discontinued line on Liquidation.com. If someone offers you to be a Mac tool distributor…run away…as fast as you can. Sorry to say, 3 or 4 years ago, I would have recommended it. The truth is, only one in ten who graduate mac’s “tool school” will make it beyone the first year and highly unlikely to make it beyond two years. Most go under and bankrupt. Don’t believe me, as the question to a “recruiter” – watch them dance around this question. Mac makes more money off recruiting new “fools” than selling tools these days.
It’s changing times, new techs who see though the “tool truck account” and know that it’s easier to build credit using MC, Visa and still pay $30 month, rather than $10 per week. Many of my major dealerships kicked out all the tool trucks during business hours, can’t blame them, why pay techs to shop on all the trucks while they’re on the clock. Newer insurance laws wouldn’t allow us into the bays anymore. All we could do is wait in the parking lot at 6:30 am and 5 pm and hope techs would come shopping, after a long day at work…not! Smaller independent garages are also drying up – Its a tough market.
Sorry Andrew, your best bet is to go to find a retailer that sells warranty tools which you can swap out on the way home from work.
April 17th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Old Mac Guy…you said your share. As a tech myself, I’ve seen many Mac men come and go…while Snap-On keeps their routes for many-many years. But, I refuse to pay their absurd prices and shop online for deals. After all, a tool is a piece of metal…and easier to exchange at Sears/Lowes/HD/Napa on the weekends than wait for the tool truck each week. In most cases, if you take care of your tools, don’t use cheater bars or beat on them, they’ll last a very long time and do the job.