Torque Wrench

[pipedope]

Hey, did you ever have a bolt broken off flush?
Especially a steel bolt in an aluminum part?

Next time you do, instead of drilling, get a nut the size to fit the bolt (or close) and place it centered on the broken bolt. Weld through the center to fuse the nut to the broken bolt. Now apply a wrench to the nut, easy, it will likely just spin right out.

BTW this trick is easier with a wire feed welder but can be done with stick.

michael

 

[Hawk]

Michael, I had almost forgotten about torque multipliers. When I worked on Chinook helicopters in the Army we had to use them for the rotor head retaining nut. Two multipliers stacked with a very large torque wrench attached. 4000 to 4200 ft. lbs of torque is an awfull lot, especially for a nut only about an inch and a half thick. This one nut is all that holds the rotor head on, one for each rotor head. This is an aircraft that has a gross weight of 50,000 lbs. It always amazed me that the things held up. What was really funny is that after all this you still had to put on four safety wires of twisted .035 wire. If 4200 ft. lbs of torque wasn't going to hold it tight, what the heck was a few little safeties going to do?




Later, Hawk.

 

[The Chairman]

You can always borrow mine! I have a 1.5:1 and a 2:1. And remember, Torque multipliers work both ways... they can reduce too! (at least, mine can).

We always called your "blue tipped" wrench a "heat" wrench, but not much gets away from my 3/4 inch impact. Unless the head is rounded, then my HD air hammer and judicious use of the heat wrench will usually suffice.

BTW, another couple of tricks for buggered screw/bolt removal. On small bolts near plastic, etc where welding is inappropriate... slice a slot into the fastener (either a whizzer or a carbide wheel on a hobby tool) and use a slotted screwdriver, OR... drill a small hole and tap a slightly larger Torx bit into it. Once ready, a hand impact driver seems to have the best results in breaking the offending fastener free.

ONE more torque wrench tip... DO NOT lube threads to be torqued UNLESS specified by the manufacturer. All torque specs are for dry threads... not slippery ones.