31 May
2005
31 May
'05
5:40 a.m.
On Tue, 2005-05-31 at 08:54 +0100, Gordon JC Pearce wrote:
Or lots of cheap crappy spanners that can be heated up
and bent
been there, done that. I have ended up making all sorts of tools for car
work - just don't think I'd be able to make a set of bristol spline
keys...
> That'll do nicely for assembly.
> I have encountered VW bus rear axle nuts that needed WELL over 1000 ft lbs
> to break loose. I would never subject a torque wrench or even a ratchet
> to that kind of force. The Craftsman 3/4" breaker bar just bends.
Ouch. Not often I've ever needed more than about 150lb/ft on a car,
exception being removing cylinder head studs that are corroded into
engine blocks. I've known 1940's machinery that's been in that sort of
state though (and heating the right bits with a gas torch has been the
only way to loosen them up)
I bought a (relatively) cheap breaker bar from
Halfords (expensive car
bits chain in the UK). It's actually bloody good - a lot of their tools
they stock are made by Draper or Sykes-Pickavant, so I guess their "own
brand" stuff might be made by someone like that.
I've found that too. A couple of the ratchets I've had from Halfords
have proved to be bomb-proof so far; I bought them in a hurry for a job
a long time ago figuring I'd get some better ones later, and they're
still going strong with no signs of wear.
Same deal with one of their 1.5 ton trolley jacks; it's had a huge
amount of use over the last 8 years or so and is only now starting to
show signs of distress.
>>Don't forget the odd sizes. Very few UK
spanner sets include 11/32", but
Hmm, I had to get one of those, can't even remember why now though. I
have a feeling 15/32" isn't that common either.
Dental mirrors are great.
Yep, one of those items (along with sanding blocks) that seem to be dirt
cheap from car boot sales too.
Regarding system zero screws, if they're what I think they are then I
have come across them before - think it was in an old Sun disk unit, but
I'm not certain. A decent pair of pliers with no slop in the joint makes
short work of them though.
cheers
Jules