Can this breaker bar be repaired?

[ripcord]

I hope you can get it fixed. My dad is getting on in years and I can't even think about him passing even though it's going to happen some day.

 

[spasm3]

Can this be repaired? This was my dad‘s breaker bar. today while using it it broke. I see repair kit for them but I don’t know how to get the driving part out. I tried tapping out on the sides, but it didn’t budge. It has some sentimental value.

If you have a press, buy an identical one off ebay and try heating and pressing the center pin out from each direction. If successful, press your OD breaker bar from the identical direction and replace the center piece. If unsuccessful at least you know and have not further damaged the existing handle.

 

[JHZR2]

I would suspect that the shaft that the drive moves on is some sort of interference fit. You may need to use heat and/or cold to get it to release.

Good luck. It’s a fine balance between using sentimental stuff, and feeling bad because of the risk of damage.

 

[D60]

I'm not 100% on how tool steel is tempered but in most tool factory vids I've seen, it is.

I'd be leary of heat for fear of annealing the fork.

For this reason I'd likely drill it out if necessary. If you work up close to the OD of the pin it'll relieve tension and should then press out. The pin should drill fine with non-China HSS bits. It shouldn't be too hard or it would be very brittle -- the whole hardness vs toughness thing.

I could be wrong, YMMV, local ordinances apply etc

 

[Gus_Mahn]

I'd think the fork has oddly chamfered holes from the outside with the pivot pin staked into the chamfers and then ground to the final fork OD shape. There's no way to tell the assembly operations. Was the pin staked cold or hot and if not is it heat treated, which wouldn't make sense with a spring and locking ball on the drive square. I'd grind a little of the chrome off the pin and hit it with a file. If the file won't cut it you can't drill it without annealing anyhow, and how would you know what size to drill it. I don't think it's reparable, but If I was taking it apart, I'd grind/cut of saw through the drive square and try to push the two pin pieces out with a wedge. After that? Lots of questions about the pivot pin.

 

[Wingo]

Hope you get it fixed and put that beauty back in service. If your dad was anything like mine, he would think it foolish not to use a tool because you're scared of breaking it. It is really in honor of our dads to keep using their tools after they are gone, and I they would like nothing more than that.

 

[Donald]

Here is the breaker bar my Dad made probably 25+ years ago. I believe he turned the steel shaft on his metal lathe so he could slip a metal pipe on the end of the breaker bar.