Best Dirt Bike Torque Wrench

Having a dirt bike torque wrench is definitely a good idea if you want to make sure your dirt bike stay in tip top shape.

Just want to see our picks for the best torque wrenches?

If so, click on the button below to go directly to the list of torque wrenches we have selected as the best for dirt bikes.

If you want to know more about how we selected these picks and other handy tips then read on.

See Our Torque Wrench Top Picks

Why a Torque Wrench is Needed

Dirt bikes have a lot of fasteners that are critical to the performance and safety of the bike.

On top of that, dirt bikes typically have a lot of stress placed on the parts held together that tend to loosen those fasteners.

As you can imagine, fasteners coming loose on your dirt bike when you are riding it is not a good situation.

Some people may think, well I will just tighten the fasteners even more if they start to loosen.

There is a problem with just cranking down fasteners on your dirt bike as tight as possible instead of using a dirt bike torque wrench to tighten them to the proper torque value.

Small Fasteners

If you end up over tightening a smaller fastener there is a good chance you will cause obvious damage such as stripping the threads or twisting a bolt or stud off.

There’s not a much worse feeling than tightening a fastener and feeling it keep getting tighter and then loosen up.

When you feel this you know you have likely stripped or broken something, and then you get that immediate sinking feeling.

In the case of small fasteners at least you know immediately there is an issue with the fasteners, so you will not unknowingly operate the dirt bike with a damaged fastener.

Larger Fasteners

Maybe the bigger threat to the safe operation of your dirt bike is the over tightening of larger fasteners.

While small fasteners will often fail obviously and immediately when they are over tightened, a failure may not be so obvious when a larger fastener is over tightened.

Larger fasteners will many times be weakened but not obviously damaged when they are over tightened.

Because of this, damage to larger fasteners is more likely to go unnoticed when it initially happens.

The larger fastener that is over tightened is then likely to fail during the operation of the dirt bike.

As you can imagine, this is the worst time for something important to fail, when operating a dirt bike since a failure during this time will be much more likely to cause an accident.

Moving Parts

Dirt bikes have a lot of moving parts, and having the proper torque on fasteners holding these parts together is very important to make sure everything is working properly.

In addition to the obvious safety issues, over tightening fasteners that hold together moving parts can also cause premature wear.

Premature wear will cause components to have to be replaced more often than normal.

We all know how expensive some of these dirt bike parts are, so having to replace them more often can add up quickly as unnecessary expenses.

Torque Range

The dirt bike torque wrench you select needs to be the proper range for your dirt bike.

You may find some torque specifications in your dirt bike owner’s manual.

If you do not have an owner’s manual or there are no torque specifications in your owner’s manual then you can look for a shop manual for your dirt bike.

A shop manual will have much more detail than a normal owner’s manual related to disassembling, reassembling, and repairing your dirt bike.

As the name suggests, a dirt bike shop manual will give the type of details a shop would need to repair the specific model dirt bike it is written for.

If you can’t find a shop manual then you can contact the manufacturer of your specific dirt bike make and model to get the exact torque specifications to make sure you have to information you need to properly torque your dirt bile fasteners.

Two Torque Scales

There are two main scales used to specify torque values for dirt bikes.

You will see torque specifications in foot pounds (ft / lbs) for larger fasteners, and for smaller fasteners you will see torque specifications in inch pounds (in / lbs).

It is pretty straightforward to convert between the two scales since they are the same as length measurements of feet and inches.

There are 12 inch pounds in 1 foot pound, so it is easy to convert between the two scales.

For example, if a fastener has a torque specification of 10 foot pounds that would translate into a value of 120 inch pounds. You simply multiply the value in foot pounds by 12 to get inch pounds.

On the flip side, if you have a torque value in inch pounds you would do the reverse of above, and divide the inch pound value by 12 to get the required torque in foot pounds.

Torque Wrench Range and Accuracy

Knowing the range of torque values your specific dirt bike requires is something you will need to know before selecting your dirt bike torque wrench.

Probably the most important thing to consider is the torque range of the torque wrench when looking for the best dirt bike torque wrench.

The main reason that a torque wrench’s torque range is important is pretty obvious and that is the fact that you need a wrench that is able to measure in the range the fasteners on your dirt bike need to be torqued to.

Another very important reason the torque range is important when selecting the best torque wrench for your dirt bike is that in most cases a torque wrench will have a different accuracy when measuring torque values in the middle of its range and near the upper and lower parts of its torque measuring range.

Let’s look at an example.

Say you have a torque wrench and that torque wrench has an accuracy of 5% within 20% to 80% of its specified torque measuring range.

The torque range of the torque wrench is 45 foot pounds to 120 foot pounds.

Then you have a bolt on your dirt bike that has a torque specification of 50 foot pounds.

Doing a little math we can see if 50 foot pounds falls within the 20% to 80% of the torque wrench’s range.

lower_accurate_torque_range = 45 x (45 x .20)

upper_accurate_torque_range = 120 – (120 x .20)

When we calculate the lower accurate torque range we get 54 foot pounds, and when we calculate the upper accurate torque range we get 96 foot pounds.

This means this particular torque wrench is accurate to 5% of the indicated value when measuring the torque of fasteners withing the 54 foot pound to 96 foot pound range.

Some torque wrenches may also give a separate accuracy percentage when measuring torque values outside of the primary specified range of the torque wench, in this case 20% to 80%, but many torque wrenches are not reliable at all outside of that range.

If your torque wrench does not list an accuracy for a part of the range it supports then you should assume that particular torque wrench is not accurate (and not suitable) to measure torque values outside of the ranges it gives an accuracy for.

This is extremely important since some torque wrenches can be very inaccurate when outside of their specified torque ranges.

Direction and Accuracy

Here is also something else to keep in mind when selecting the best torque wrench for your dirt bike that many people overlook.

Most torque wrenches will have a different accuracy depending on which direction the fastener is being turned to tighten it.

Most fasteners you will encounter on dirt bikes will be what is called right hand threaded.

Fasteners with right hand threads are tightened by turning them clockwise (to the right), so that is where the name comes from.

In contrast some fasteners are what is called left hand threaded.

Fasteners with left hand threads are turned counter clockwise (to the left) in order to tighten them.

If your dirt bike has fasteners with left hand threads then make sure to check if the torque wrench you buy lists its accuracy for the counter clockwise direction.

Many times you will see counter clockwise abbreviated as CCW and clockwise abbreviated as CW when looking at torque wrench specifications.

Best Torque Wrench

So what is the best torque wrench for your dirt bike?

Now that we have gone over what you need to look for when selecting the best torque wrench for your dirt bike we can go over our top picks.

We are going to provide some suggestions on some dirt bike torque wrenches that support torque ranges that are common the dirt bikes.

Of course, you should verify the torque specifications of your bike to make sure the torque wrench supports the correct range before you purchase it.

You Will Likely Need Two Wrenches

Depending on the torque specifications for the range of fasteners on your dirt bike you will likely need more than one torque wrench for your dirt bike.

Some of the small fasteners will probably have torque specifications around 20 inch pounds, so you will need to get a torque wrench that has a starting range that low.

The larger fasteners on your dirt bike will probably out of the range of an inch pound torque wrench.

Our Top Torque Wrench Picks

These picks are for standard torque wrenches.

If you are looking for a torque wrench for your wheel spokes then take a look at our spoke torque wrench article.

Inch Pound Picks
Top Pick	Summit Tools 3/8 Digital	Check Prices
	BULLTOOLS 1/4 Click	Check Prices
	TEKTON 1/4 Click	Check Prices
Foot Pound Picks
Top Pick	Summit Tools 1/2 Digital (WSP4-135CN)	Check Prices
	Summit Tools 1/2 Digital (WEP4-200CN)	Check Prices
	TEKTON 1/2 Click	Check Prices