Yesterday was an interesting day. A good friend who lives across the street asked to borrow a couple of sockets to do a brake job. He was a mechanic many years ago and sold off his tools. Now he's starting to dabble a little again. He had tires put on about 6 months ago, and wanted to do a brake job. The moron who installed the tires must of torqued them with a 3/4" impact gun. We had 4 1/2 feet of pipe on a 25" breaker bar to get the lug nuts off. We snapped a good 1/2" drive 3" extension in the process. Then last night about 11:30 my niece calls, her husband had a flat on his way home from work, and was near my house. "He needed a better wrench than the junk that came with the car," was the story. I brought my 1/2" drive impact sockets, 25" breaker bar, my floor jack, and the pipe. We tried the speed wrench first, and snapped the [censored] thing. Out comes the breaker bar and the pipe. He's a 225 lb fireman in good shape. It wouldn't budge. The bow in the breaker bar was a bit unsettling. Before I jumped in with him I asked him if he had roadside assistance. I thought it was worth asking before we jerked around with this thing into the morning. He and my niece completely forgot they had the coverage. WT.... is it with these morons in shops slamming lug nuts home to the point where getting a wheel off is a major chore? Do they really lose money using a little common sense in tightening fasteners? Just another reason why I try my hardest not to go to a shop!
Rant off!
Rant off!