I posted an update a while back regarding the R&R of the manifolds on my
1980 Spitfire 1500. Part of the posting commented upon the Alden Wrench
(http://www.aldenwrench.com/), a wrench with a movable head, designed to
grip a fastener tighter as more torque is applied. I recommended against
the use of this wrench in that posting.
A fellow lister pointed out privately that I slammed the product, and I can
see why somebody may have that opinion. The wrench does deserve better
treatment and the situation better clarification.
The wrench works as advertised, gripping nuts and bolts tighter as you apply
more torque. The design of the wrench I used has a very thin piece of metal
as a part of its fulcrum design, and it snapped when I applied too much
torque with my bare hands to loosen the outer manifold bolt. If I had
waited until I pulled the water pump to allow for better access, I would not
have needed the Alden wrench to loosen this nut, which did come off with a
standard Craftsman open-end wrench.
The company behind the Alden wrench is fantastic. I contacted them about
the broken wrench, describing the nut removed (not heavily rusted) and that
another wrench removed the nut. The designer of the wrench contacted me
directly and advised that they are redesigning the wrench to eliminate the
thin tang of metal that broke. The stainless steel used for the tool is
quite appropriate for the tool, but none the less, this weak point can fail
with too much torque. They replaced the wrench and insisted on refunding my
money on top of this action, even when I told them that was not necessary.
The bottom line is that the current wrench is a good addition to your
toolbox. Just be careful to use it where access is an issue and heavy
torque is not necessary. Keep an eye on their website. The makers of the
wrench advised that they are also working on a combo wrench that will offer
a flare nut wrench on one end and an open end wrench on the other end.
Cheers,
Ron Deaver
Cincinnati, OH
[demime 0.99d.1 removed an attachment of type application/ms-tnef which had a
name of winmail.dat]
/// spitfires@autox.team.net mailing list
/// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive
|