Review on 🔩 ACDelco ARM602-4 1/2” Heavy Duty Digital Torque Adapter – ISO 6789 Certified with Buzzer & LED Flash Notification, Calibration Certificate by Jacob Diego

What looks like a great idea on paper turns out to be not very good in reality. I used an ACDelco (not made by ACDelco btw) when I replaced the lower arm and brakes. The bulkiness of the case often got in the way and required fumbling with extension cords to attach it. The device shuts down at one-minute intervals, which is extremely inconvenient and cannot be changed by the user. This made setting awkward mounting positions even more inconvenient as I would have to run to tighten the nut or the adapter would trip. You can easily overtighten the nut without noticing that the adapter is off. It should turn on automatically when tightened. Be careful not to damage the LCD screen, which may cause repair difficulties. The adapter has a peak mode, in which the last applied maximum torque is constantly shown on the display, or a trace mode, in which the amount of torque varies with the applied torque. When the user set torque is near, the adapter will emit an intermittent beep and then a continuous beep when the torque is reached. Keep in mind, however, that by the time the adapter goes from a pulsating beep to a solid beep, you're often well past the user-set torque, depending on how skinny your arm is. It's confusing and the torque meters on the side are useless. Perhaps most importantly, you can easily overdrive the adapter by using it at higher settings and relying on the beep for confirmation (ten percent above 147 ft-lbs). This will decalibrate the adapter. You will know when this happened because every time you turn on the device, the display will show "err". There is no easy way to recalibrate a device. I suspect you'll have to send it back to the factory, which will probably cost almost as much as a new adapter (plus wasted time - this can take weeks). Because the adapter is made in Tawain, it may not be possible to calibrate it at all. Interestingly, I called ACDelco about this exactly, and they had no idea what adapter I was talking about or who could calibrate it (I didn't put the number in the instructions because I didn't have it handy), even though they sell it adapters on their website. The adapter often needs to be removed from the nut and rotated as the indicator rotates out of sight (I prefer visual confirmation of torque as audible signals are not as accurate). I would forget what mom I just put on. Much faster with a standard torque wrench. Now there's a better use for this torque adapter. You can use it to calibrate regular torque wrenches. There are several videos on Youtube about this. A standard torque wrench will cost $60-$80 to calibrate, so it saves you money. The other thing to use is just too uncomfortable.