Hacks Use cheaters? How Long?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Sep 25, 2004
Messages
9,852
Location
Marshfield , MA
Guys who make a living with wrenches need not reply
smile.gif
My favorite is the rack of a bumper jack. Its trapezoidal cross section slips snugly over a very much abused 1/2 Craftsman 10" ratchet with a flat handle.It doesn't roll on you when you jump on it. 2nd one. #1 I bent the handle and lacked the gall to get an exchange when the gears finally stripped
grin2.gif


The 1/2 Craftsman breaker bar will snap a fork in the head if you use them with a cheater. BTDT. It also won't fit in the rack ,so it has been spared.
 
I've used a 3' pipe from Home Depot on a 1/2 inch breaker bar multiple times and haven't broken the head yet.
 
I have my Jeep's old adjusting sleeve as a cheater. 3.5' or so.

Great for launching fireworks out of too.
 
6 foot long piece of box tubing, to break loose axle nuts and similar, when the 1200 pound rated impact won't do it... In the market for a good 3/4" breaker bar, then I can snap off impact adapters instead! Does working on refrigeration disqualify me? I use my 24" pipe wrench on the floor as a vise all the time!
 
Last edited:
Lacrosse stick. Have a couple bent/dented sticks so take the heads off them, and now it's a good breaker bar
 
We had five guys laying on the end of a 20 ft chunk of schedule 160 pipe on a 6 ft pipe wrench once. It didn't break then but they eventual snapped the jaw off using a come along on the end of the wrench.
 
Old hydraulic jack handle. Padded rubber grip. Slips over everything. About 2 1/2 feet long.
 
You guys have nothing on me. I use a 15 foot long helicopter skid on the end of the large wrench to remove tight mast nuts.
 
The shop I work in has a 6-foot prybar, and a similar length of 3" iron pipe. I have broken a few 1/2" breaker bars, and it's always on some rusty piece of junk from up north! I didn't move to the south to work on rusty cars.
 
At the height of my wrenching years, I weighed 125 to 135 lbs and was 6'-1" tall. Often I'd try jumping up & down to break loose muscle car water pump bolts etc. and sometimes tried to arrange where I could push from beneath with my legs but it was rare for that to be a safe arrangement.

I used various cheaters, my dad's nickname was "Persuader", none of which were longer than myself. I did break a few end wrenches but could always get another. I never had a true breaker bar back then. My top wrenching days were 5 to 6 years after my dad passed away. It's been a long time since I last needed to use a cheater while working on vehicles.

My dad showed me how to make cheaters for vehicle work out of assorted small diameter decent wall thickness threaded pipe pieces and fittings, customizing the "Persuader" to the job. Texas Blue Law was enforced back then so Dad had all sorts of handy stuff for home repairs stashed in the garage.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
In the market for a good 3/4" breaker bar, then I can snap off impact adapters instead!


Amazingly... the harbor freight black "impact adapters" have never failed me!
 
Originally Posted By: Cujet
You guys have nothing on me. I use a 15 foot long helicopter skid on the end of the large wrench to remove tight mast nuts.


LOL!

We use a 1" drive breaker bar with cheater pipe to remove
(& 1" drive torque wrench to install)
with a gear reduction box to torque the Hamilton Standard 54H60 props
to the Allison T56-A-14 engines to 4,000 lbs ft!!!
 
Originally Posted By: Linctex
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
In the market for a good 3/4" breaker bar, then I can snap off impact adapters instead!


Amazingly... the harbor freight black "impact adapters" have never failed me!


Funny this was brought up. I broke my Blackhawk's 3/4" to 1/2" adapter last fall when removing a ball hitch from a draw bar. No cheater pipe and just the bar and I. Pretty disappointed.

Interestingly enough, Blackhawk does not make a replacement for that so they say. I just went over to HF and bought their impact adapter set that had what I needed and bam, that thing is tough.

Used it just last weekend on some bolts that I genuinely feel were the hardest ones I've ever removed before. Had to use the above cheater pipe too. Held up fine.
 
Originally Posted By: Cujet
You guys have nothing on me. I use a 15 foot long helicopter skid on the end of the large wrench to remove tight mast nuts.


What's the torque spec on these?
 
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
Originally Posted By: Cujet
You guys have nothing on me. I use a 15 foot long helicopter skid on the end of the large wrench to remove tight mast nuts.

What's the torque spec on these?

Depends on the helicopter. We needed 3 guys on a torque multiplier to torque the Mi-17's Jesus nut.

The Apache's is hand tight.
 
The longer the better. It will either come loose, or break something. I always use the 41 inch handle off of my aluminum racing jack.
 
Last edited:
Never had to use one longer than myself. EXCEPT when Charley threw a track on an old Cat D4. The 2" pipe was about 10' long on the tensioner screw that had about a 3" nut. 2 kids and a small man heaving on it did the trick.
grin2.gif
 
I have a 52" alloy handle from an alloy racing floor jack that died a tragic death. I ovalized the knurled end with a vise and mandrel and it fits most all my bigger wrenches. For smaller jobs I have a strut tube cut off of the first new car I bought- a '76 Honda Civic 5 speed. And another piece of salvaged black chromed steel from a race car frame -about 24" long.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top