Wheeler Makes It Right
About a year ago, I purchased a Wheeler F.A.T. (Firearms Accurizing Torque) Wrench from the local Big R. I wasn’t overly impressed with it as the knob was a bit gritty when I turned it, and it came in a clamshell wrapper that was meant to be disposable. The bits were loose in the clamshell wrapper.
The end of the wrench was a male ¼” drive, with an adapter being required for use of the bits. I didn’t understand this, but it worked well enough. After almost a year, it went out. It got impossible to set, and overall just died.
I tried to take it back to Big R. They would not do anything – even though the F.A.T. Wrench has a one-year warranty, they refused service as they no longer carried the tool. They wouldn’t even send it in to be repaired.
I came home and contacted MidwayUSA. I’ve been a loyal customer of theirs, and maybe they could do something for me even though I hadn’t bought it from them (I needed it that day, or I would have!)
The next day I had a response from both MidwayUSA, saying they had contacted Wheeler Engineering, and an email from Wheeler. They requested I send the torque driver back, accompanied by a printout of the email.
I expected them to repair it and send it back.
The storage box is sturdy, the torque wrench itself has been improved – no more adapter necessary, a much smoother action, and refined printing on the tool itself. Along with the hard clamshell case, they included the calibration tag and a new set of bits. This was totally unexpected.
I have to give props to Wheeler and their parent company, Battenfeld Technologies ( www.battenfeldtechnologies.com ).
I will report back in a year and let you know how this refined version is holding up!
- Josh
