Like many deceptively simple subjects there is more to the lowly
knock-off hammer than meets the eye. To refresh everyone's memory I
posted a question a while back about the winged (or eared, if you
prefer) knock-off wrenches that Moss Motors is currently selling. I was
thinking about buying one to replace the short lived lead hammers I've
been using. My concerned was that these wrenches make metal-to-metal
contact with the knock-off and could mar the chrome.
I received quite a few responses, many of which contained alternative
suggestions to this wrench. The general feeling was that these
wrenches, like the ones Moss sells for octagonal knock-offs, do indeed
make metal-to-metal contact. Even so, I still found the idea of a
wrench in place of a hammer appealing for a number of reasons:
durability, simplicity, less jarring to the nerves, easier to apply a
continuous uniform torque, and it would eliminate the risk of accidently
banging the rim, a spoke, a tire or even a knee-cap. One person
suggested covering the wrench's hard surfaces with something soft, so I
got to thinking about the plastic coating hardware stores sell to put on
tool handles and such; or perhaps using pieces of split rubber tubing.
After thinking this through I decided that these would be temporary
solutions at best, and give up on the wrench idea. Also one responder
suggested loosening and tightening knock-offs with the car's full weight
on the tires might cause damage to the splines. A reasonable concern,
in my opinion.
Several people suggested using a shot filled dead-blow hammer in place
of a lead hammer. These hammers have rubber faces and a lot off mass so
would seem ideal for this purpose. In fact, I was all set to order one
until I received another response which described an experiment
comparing the effectiveness of one of these hammers to a regular soft
metal hammer. The conclusion was that a "dead blow hammer unless it is
very big, just doesn't get the k.o. tight."
Well damn, anyway!
Another suggestion was to replace my chrome plated knock-offs with a set
made of stainless steel. Then any soft metal hammer, including copper
and brass could be used without fear of damaging them. I liked this
idea a lot, but it did have two drawbacks for me: 1) about 150 recently
invested dollars in a new chrome plated set from British Wire Wheel; 2)
the unlikelihood that anyone sells stainless knock-offs with the AC logo
embossed on them. No doubt Carroll Shelby dances a jig every time a
piece of AC identity is removed from one of "his" cars, but I doubt ole
Snake would forgive me for putting generic knock-offs on him. The same
responder had another suggestion which I think I will follow up on and
that's getting a heavy hammer with a hide head.
In the mean time this leaves me where I started, i.e., dealing with lead
hammers that deteriorate noticeably with every blow. But I even got a
suggestion on how to deal with this: re-cast the lead head. This was
another idea I liked, but it was by no means new to me. A number of
months ago I posted a question about this very idea and got zip
responses. Besides that I have some concerns about being around noxious
molten lead fumes.
Thanks to the following people for taking the time to respond to my
request:
Dave_Lapham@oakqm3.sps.mot.com
akguc!tdm@akgua.att.com
KMWHEELER@ualr.edu
kburtch@pts.mot.com (Kevin Burtch)
tdm@akguc.att.com
Joe Flake <flake@d311510.atl.hp.com>
malcolm956@aol.com
taterry@aol.com
Roland
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