Easy way to tighten/torque lug nuts - DigiWrench or similar?

Yes, also $90 is a lot to pay for a one-trick pony.

The advantage of a regular clicking torque wrench is that it can be used for a variety of auto repair jobs. If you use a 4" or 6" extension, you should not have to worry about scratching the finish of your car.

If you need a socket other than one of the four provided with this DigiWrench, where will you be able to purchase one?

 

It uses a standard 1/2" socket drive so any impact 1/2" drive socket will work. You may need to purchase 1/2" drive "deep" impact sockets as Toyota wheel nuts are buried in the wheel quite deep. They are easy to find.

The only problem I see is the small handle. Remember, when you torque a nut there is a reaction force back through the wrench. I suspect this unit uses gearing, so the reaction force may be greatly diminished.

Overall, it is much the same as an "air wrench" with adjustable torque setting. I wouldn't trust it until I tested it, but if it actually works as advertised it would be a good solution.

 

Hi David,

Note that the cord is attached to a cigarette lighter plug. Hence the most power that the unit can draw is ~10A, before popping the Prius fuse.

Assuming that the Prius is READY, the DC bus produces around 13.8V. Hence, 13.8V x 10A = 138W of available power, and the motor will have an efficiency factor since some of the power will be converted to heat.

Meanwhile, the wrench is advertised as being to exert 250 ft.-lb of torque. It is hard to reconcile the advertised figure with the wrench's power consumption.

 

That looks like a rather cheap tool to me. I personally use an 18v DeWalt impact wrench and a torque wrench but if I wanted to use my DeWalt to torque them I would just get a Torque Stick for the DeWalt. AccuTorq torque Sockets, torque sticks, torq sticks, torq sockets

 

There should be plenty of power for it to work with a 10 amp fuse. Most electric torque impact wrenches run about 1 RPM a full torque so that would work out about to .048 HP. That is 36 watts of power out and I would assume 75% efficiency on the motor and 50% on the gear reduction. This would put the watts in at 95 watts. All bets are off if the full torque is faster though.

 

Torque Sticks are what most shops use for torquing lug nuts. They are a professional grade tool and have a lifetime warranty.