Tools

Snap on tools for you sir?

oooh.... suits you sir.... Shall I wrap that for you?

In article , "Stuart Gray" About torque wrenches, make sure you buy a good one that has the lower

Don't think such a thing exists. I've got three. Oh - and a torque screwdriver.;-)

In message , AndyC the WB writes

Almost everyone will over torque by a considerable margin. The stuff I work with often is small diameter and the youngsters often shear things off. We don't routinely torque load the small stuff (5 -10Nm) but I often set up a wrench so that the youngsters can feel how little force 5 Nm is.

Dave> A torque wrench is essential for some jobs - more probably Dave> if you're inexperienced. Experience will tell you how tight Dave> to go with non critical things without one.

I have a cheap torque wrench for just that reason - lack of experience. If I ever have to do head gaskets or anything else where torque is critical to a successful job, I'll buy a better quality one.

The other day I got two people to do up the wheel nuts on a range rover using a "dial" type torque wrench - i.e., one that doesn't "click", you have to watch the dial to tell when it's tight enough. I hid the dial and said "tell me what you think is right".

The specified torque is 80Nm, and we had one at 120 and one at more like 180Nm

These guys had both been working on their cars for the last 20 years or more.

AndyC

--

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Andy Cunningham aka AndyC the WB | andy -at- cunningham.me.uk | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | - Everything you wanted to know || about the P38A Range Rover but were afraid to ask. |+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+"And everything we want to get/We download from the InternetAll we hear is/Internet Ga-Ga/Cyberspace Goo-goo" -- from "Radio Ga Ga"/"We will rock you"

And if it was Rangeys they'd been working on for 20 years, their instinct wasn't too far out, especially given that they were using an inappropriate tool. What torque would they have achieved with their own choice of wrench, not an odd bendy one?

I don't know which model of Rangey they were working on, but my manual (AKM3630 Ed 7) quotes 12.5 to 13.35 kgf-m for alloy wheels, which works out at about 120 to 130Nm. Medal for one man, at least. YTMV.

-- Kevin Poole

********Use current month and year to reply (e.g. snipped-for-privacy@mainbeam.co.uk)************** B42CF, B270NZ, SA 1838, TC 8512, GAN3/48519, GAN4/63840, GHD5/324616 Tiltbed car transporter trailer hire - £25/ day. Near Derby. May even tow it for you.

Facom don't make the Halfords stuff. I've seen it written in many places (i.e. everywhere) but they don't.

-- James

Selling my car wouldn't pay for that set.

-- James

I've got three socket sets. 1/4", 1/2" and 3/4". The 1/4" gets into the gaps that the 1/2" won't fit into. Having the right sized socket set stops you from breaking stuff, if you've got something small like T25 torx headed screws holding your front brake discs on, you'll struggle to shift them with a 1/4" set where as the 1/2" set will round the heads with no problems (as I found out). The 3/4" set I've got doesn't get used much, but for things like wheel hub nuts or drive shaft nuts the 1/2" set just doesn't do the sizes needed.

3/8" is a common size used garages and I'm tempted to buy myself a nice set but I don't really need it since the other three sets cover almost every eventuallity.

A 1/2" 18 inch breaker bar is a useful addition to any 1/2" socket set for shifting stuff that's being a bit awkward and a lot cheaper than buying a

3/4" set (and is probably my favourite tool too).

-- James

You develop a feel for whether something is still tightening or is in fact tight, then you try using that feel in a different material (e.g. aluminium) and it's quickly time to get the helicoil kit out...

-- James

1. Socket set and spanners do different things so you will need both. I would go for combination spanners (i.e. one size open and ring). A torque wrench will be very useful as virtually everything (from sump plug upwards) has a torque now!

1. Quality depends on what you are doing. I have technicians with over £20,000 worth of tools but this may be over your budget. I would buy a middle price set and expand when you need things.

2. See above, get a set?

1. See 2.

2. You get what you pay for but if you are willing to take the risk you can get some deals.

Finally, I have a really cheap socket set and spanner set that is 20 years old. I don't use it much and the chrome is going in places but they haven't broken yet.

halfords SELL facom stuff :)

buy spanners in a set halfords do a few sizes and they haven't let me down yet, from 8mm right up to 24mm they look the part as well :)

sockets are a new problem altogether ecause you have to think of it in stages

1/4 drive is the small piddling stuff (but it's usefull for getting into the akward places that a 3/8 drive won't get to, upper limit is 13mm 3/8 drive is for the majority of normal sized car mechanicals, with the upper limit being 19mm then you have the 1/2 inch stuff, which is sutable for the majority of the other aplications you'll need it for, wheels, hubs, big ends, head bolts, crank pulley's and the like i've also got a 3/4 drive set which comes out when i feel like a lazy bum :) but be warned that i've broken wheel studs with this baby and it starts from a 19mm and goes right up to a 50mm socket (great for removing bushes with the bolt/nut/washer business :) )

after this you'll also want to invest in 2 torque wrenches one for the smaller stuff and one for the bigger stuff i had to buy another one simply because the one i had didn't go up as far as i needed to go with the poundage and it was too far to hoik the 8 foot bus wheel tightener upper one :)

this should cover you for most things tool wise obviously you need screwdrivers and other things like pry bars and scrappers and testers and the million and one other specialist tools that you'll only use once, but buy them as you go along and need them rather than buy them for the sake of it

things like pullers and stuff, if you can egt a cheap set them fine, but don't fork out loads on a whole wall of them when you'll never need more than one bit of it (unles it's too good to miss)

:)

I bought a halfords professional set, the 150 piece one I think it is, has sockets metric & imperial, impact sockets, some rachet spanners, open ended spanners, 3 rachets, torx bits, etc.. lifetime warranty. Wouldn't use it if I was using them for work but for home stuff its ideal.

Selling my house probably wouldn't :/

Both, I've got a set of 1/2" halfords professional sockets which are excellent, a very cheap 1/4" set for small stuff and a set of cheap double ended spanners. Most people on here would say you need a torque wrench, but I've never got round to getting one. Most jobs can be completed just fine without one.

I'd get a decent large socket set and cheaper other tools, just replace the ones you use most with decent stuff as you need it.

If you can get your hand to your oil filter you shouldn't need a oil filter wrench, a hex/star socket set can be useful (or just buy them as you need them), a selection of screw drivers, a few different pairs of pliers.

Other useful thinks that you may want at some point; a ball joint spliter, a scaffolding pole, a mig welder.

Just get a AA/RAC membership and a mobile phone. A leatherman can be useful though.

I couldn't even raise enough ebaying my first born.

Indeed, and another is anything where the threads go direct into ally.

I was mainly referring to using open end or ring spanners where the length is in proportion to the size, so a decent pull will give near enough the correct torque on a non critical fixing. Of course this doesn't work with a socket set where the handle is the same for all. Hence my recommendation for a 1/4 and 3/8 drive set for smaller sizes as the handles on these are shorter.

As regards wheel fixings, the use of torque wrenches is pretty recent. We seemed to manage ok without for years. It was far more common for a thread to be stripped or stretched through gross overtightening at a tyre shop than for a wheel to come loose. A goodly heave on the supplied wheelbrace should give again the correct torque as near as matters.

It's only their pro range, though, their ordinary stuff ain't that good IMHO. I read it in an article on Facom on their takeover of Britool. Perhaps you'd tell us who do make them, then?

I've got pretty comprehensive 1/4 and 1/2 sets as well as a few 3/4, but my 3/8 is the one of choice for most things. Of course it will depend on what 'most' things are.