I needed a 24mm socket for a couple of things.
Steering wheel nut, plus wheel nut (and I plan to use an electric drill, possibly impact driver, to spin the nuts on and off).
I chose the Draper "Impact Socket" because it sounded as though it would suit my purpose. I assume these are intended for use with air guns?
Any downsides compared to standard 1/2" drive sockets? Apart from the lack of shiny chrome?
Cheers
Dave R
They tend not to be bi-hex, so less chance of slipping. Otherwise can be used as any other.
I doubt any normal electric drill or impact driver will shift them, though. But you can buy special 12v (from car battery) impact drivers designed to shift wheel nuts etc for a reasonable price. About 40 quid will buy one with 250 ft.lb of undoing grunt. I have one and it's very useful on the odd occasion I've needed it.
I was planning on using my torque wrench for initial and final heaving - or standing on the wheel brace to shift stuck nuts.
The use of a drill driver was for spinning them off, and also spinning them back on ready for final torquing up.
Working near the ground can make it hard to get a full 360 degrees with a lot of tools.
I think I gave away my wheel nut spider (for spinning nuts on/off) a long time ago.
Interesting about the special 12v nut remover, though.
Cheers
Dave R
NEVER use a torque wrench where you should be using a breaker bar - they are not designed for it.
Andrew
Hardly worth the bother, IMHO. You can turn a nut on clean threads with your fingers. They should always be started with fingers so that if you cross a thread, it won't do any damage. If you can't turn the nut with fingers, clean the thread. ;-)
Nuts are recessed into the wheel trim (also holding it on) so difficult to spin on with fingers, especially when it is wet and cold.
It can be done with a socket and extension, but still - if you have a dog why bark yourself?
So - start the thread with fingers (always a good idea) then nip them up with an electric drill/driver, then final tighten with the torque wrench.
Cheers
Dave R
The effort of actually getting the drill, just for this? If the nut is recessed, use the socket and extension by hand - then the torque wrench.
+1
Gloves. I find the work gloves from CostCo brilliant and also cheap £14.38 for 10 pairs, just missed offer of £11.98/10. Nice a grippy, keep your fingers warm, not so thick and cumbersome that you can't feel through them. The rubbery grippy stuff is also very hardwearing, stood up to dry stone walling much better that other similar work gloves.
Feed google "contour avenger glove" and they are on eBay/Amazon etc
'cause it's simpler and quicker overall? The supplied brace on my car doesn't touch the ground, even witha nut at the lowest point (I think) so it can be spun with a finger. No changing over from wheel brace to drill/socket, no moving socket/handle, torque wrench, drill, from wheel to wheel.
I finger tighten either directly or using the socket extension, back off a 1/4 turn. Then do all the others, re-finger tightening as requires and give the rim a waggle to centralise the cones into the wheel. Nip up with socket and handle before using the torque wrench.
Bear in mind that your experience with the supplied tools which come with your car may not be directly applicable to the supplied tools which come with my 3.5 metric tonne motor home.
If you use them at a load below the point at which they would indicate maximum torque had been reached it really makes no difference.
But I'd use a breaker bar because they are usually slimmer and longer than torque wrenches and it's easier to slip a bit of thiick wall pipe over them for added leverage.
It does, as effectively the Torque Wrench is a measuring / setting device and if used regularly as a breaker bar it's calibration won't be worth a fig.
Andrew
I've seen this argument before hence why I specifically said at a point below they would indicate maximum torque had been reached.
The recommended maximum recalibration interval for torque wrenches in ISO
6789:2003 is 12 months or 5000 cycles, equivalent to 20 fasteners a day 5 days a week for 50 weeks a year, so way beyond the use of an average DIY mechanic.I'm not talking about hanging a 6ft length of scaffold bar on the end and ignoring the click (or beep with an electronic one) just applying say 200 Nm with the torque wrench set at or above that point and seeing the fastener move before there was any indication that the limit had been reached.
It's really no more abusive to the tool than a normal tighten cycle and if that usage does affect the calibration then the tool is junk by design.
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