Thread: Tool use etiquette

Pretty much as you have listed, sockets if there is room followed by ring then open end. Shifters, I try to minimise their use.

I have recently obtained a couple of 5 degree ring/ratchet spanners which are convinient and used in a similar role as the ROE. The ring/ring are used for more torque.

I have only one application where I have always gone for the torque wrench and that is head bolts, most other fastners I am happy to use the FT method which is limited by the length of lever on the spanner.

I have got one 3/4 inch breaker bar as I have heard of people damaging 1/2 inch bars when doing the landy wheelnuts, mostly undoing them after some overly keen worker at the tyer shop has had the air ratchet on the wheelnuts

To give you an idea on Torque loads. According to my maximum loads for drives from my Stahlwillie Catalogue used on their Torque wrenches per drive;

1/4" Drive - Up to 16 Nm
3/8" Drive - Up to 50 NM
1/2" Drive - Up to 300 NM
3/4" Drive - Up to 1356 NM
1" Drive - Up to 4338 NM

The last 2 you will only achieve with a geared multiplier, but the sockets will handle it. Well, quality ones will.

On a side note. I just got a Kinchrome tool kit for mobile use at work, and compared it to some other tools I have. Obviously not a pinch on my Stahlwille. Same look as my Gedore, but not as well finished, or made. Seems to be made from better material to reduce the thickness in comparison to Sidchrome, but the sidchrome is produced to a much higher standard.

Better not go in to "who" gets to use "what"

CC

This is a very interesting thread
Being of an age when after a succession of "ol' bombs" as a student, a 2850 "red 6" 4sp Torana SL became my first new car when got married, I also invested in a set of sidchrome spanners /sockets etc ...all 1/2" drive. plus a "Ritch" tension wrench..of the bend-the-bar-until the pointer-goes-"ding" variety. All this has served me well for many (too many) years... it has been supplemented with as good a quality metric and other stuff as I could afford...but was still all 1/2" drive...

As tackers both the girls and son (#3 child) had watched and "helped" as maintenance on the trana became more necessary and frequent...later on #2 daughter used impress her male friends with her ability to repair her beloved 3 cyl Daihatsu (hooray for neoprene gloves!). Son developed an interest in helos... big ones. In fact he now earns his living keeping them in the air...

While visiting recently, he surveyed my meagre collection of tools ..by his standards

(I had seen his smug reaction to my wonderment at his rarely used Ferrari-red trolley drawers and matching 12 drawer tool box atop, crammed with the brightest, shiniest, manicured collection of goodies, each in its rightful place in the moulded compartments...and the whole shebang standing sentinel right under the light beam in the hallway of his home in Toowoomba, like some piece of modern techno art ......I'm sure one of these days he'll find an understanding wife.)

But I digress. He doesn't just stand in the doorway...he towers there, grin on face, beer in hand. I was waiting for the inevitable one-liner. I wasn't disappointed
"So when did you buy a ****ing Mack truck?" he gently quizzed well out of earshot of his adoring mother...
"What Mack truck?"
"well I thought with all that 1/2" stuff you must have a Mack truck...do you realise you need only 4 sockets 3/8" drive, a couple of ring spanners to remove and replace a turbine engine on the aircraft?"

"Maybe so, but the rangie doesn't have a turbine engine,,,yet" I lamely replied

The tables had turned, teacher had become student...

"For most of your work on the Rangie you probably only ever need 3/8th drive -you'd be surprised how much torque you can apply, and a lot of the minor stuff you can get away with 1/4"...oh,,and you need some long sockets and shortie spanners"

Now I recognise wisdom when I hear it...I haunt tool shops like my wife haunts dress shops ...but heck, do I really need more tools...evidently I did!!!

So on my next visit to Toowoomba we dropped into a well known specialist tool shop in the town... I gathered quickly he had worded his mother up, so my sheepish grin and armful of "stuff" when I got home to Bris needed little/no explaining...

So, Col. Coleman you are right: there is a new world and my "etiquette lessons" have demonstrated that after 45 years of self maintaining my wheels, ol' dogs can learn new tricks! Ya just gotta have the right tools
Oh...and I don't own any air tools...he-who-knows shakes his head in disgust at the thought

I agree Hoges, that those of us with our caveman 1/2" drives COULD get away with using 3/8", but keep this in mind.

Your son in the aeronautical industry is dealing with a whole set of different rules. it is not so much the torque loads under assembly, as dissasembly. With aircraft undergoing quite regular maintenance programs, you are operating on fastenings that on the whole will be in pretty good condition. Nice clean threads, minimal material resistance and regular dissasembly. He will also be using high quality tools, which can sustain higher loads, such as like Stahlwille HPQ. The loads I stated are for such tools.

Think about how long some of the fastenings have been together on our landies, not to mention years of gunk, body deadener and the metal rusting and bonding together. I have alot more confidence attacking a 3/4" AF bolt with a 1/2" drive over a 3/8". I do prefer the slimness and ease of use of the 3/8" over the 1/2" and will use it as much as I can. 300 NM (222 Ft/pd) is a fair amount of force. I wouldn't want to be trying to put that through a 1/2" ratchet from supercheap though.

I just though it would be a good idea to discuss our tool use, why we have what we have in our tool boxes and the reasons why we choose which ones come out to play.

CC

i like to throw apprentices shifters as far across the tarmac as possible.

Personally I use the impact rated single hexes everywhere I can and generally use an air ratchet which gives me the advantage of a normal ratchet (the good 3/8th one is rated to 160Nm but will only air drive at a bout 40Nm) to crack the nut off and then hit the air to unwind it quickly. Ive also go a couple of Impact rated universals and extension bars. When access gets limited I generally grab at the 3/8th sockets If I've got a shot at a ratchet.

any fixing with over about a 17mm head will get the rattle gun on a low setting straight up to undo unless there is a good reason not to (its in an ally housing or there's no access for the rattle gun)

For removal when I cant get in with the air tools my weapons of choice in order are (this excludes special cases for crow's feet, c spanners, and pipe union spanners as examples)

1. zero offset ratchet ring spanners (if the torque is unlikely to exceed the spanners rating)
2. zero offset single hex ring spanner (if it is)
3. zero offset bihex ring
4. 15 degree offset ring
5. 15 degree offset bihex ring
6. double 30 degree off set ring
7. double 60 degree off set ring
8. open enders

fitting up is usually done with an air ratchet for fittings with torque values between 40 and 100Nm and the rattle gun on a low setting for anything over 60 that doesnt have an exacting torque up requirement. Everything gets final tightening with a torque wrench when access permits or a torque setting is specified that is other than the generic torques for a given size/style of fixing.

Carrying all of the tooling to be able to do things properly is very excessive and heavy. Generaly, spanner/socket, wise when mobile I carry both metric and imperial in

1/2 inch drive impact
1/2 inch drive standard
combo 1/4+3/8 inch drive
combo 3/8+1/2 inhex/torqz drive
15 degree R/OE
60 Degree double offset R/R
zero offset OE/OE

which is a useful compromise between the quality of drive to the fixture and the ability to access all the fixtures.

Originally Posted by slug_burner

I have got one 3/4 inch breaker bar as I have heard of people damaging 1/2 inch bars when doing the landy wheelnuts, mostly undoing them after some overly keen worker at the tyer shop has had the air ratchet on the wheelnuts

I have a long high quality 1/2" breaker bar which is near indestructable but I have seen others damage the same bar - by putting a 4' piece of pipe over the end of them... If things get that bad, then I too will break out the 3/4" kit, but this is not common.

My 3/8" drive socket set is my favorite and most used, but I must confess that I will use my 3/8" rattle gun to undo most things if accessable. Purely for the time saving I can get from it. I also have many different sets (the missus thinks too many, but I don't think that is possible) of spanners for all the hard to reach and odd jobs.

Being an Electrician, I also have a good collection of shifters... But I don't generally break these out on any vehicles. There are plenty of other jobs that a hammer, a shifter and a screwdriver can fix...

Cheers - Gav

I use whatever is close to hand when the need arises.