About a month ago, the friendly brown UPS truck delivered another
package of toys. This time, the toys were from Harbor Freight, and
included a 12-Ton shop press.
I assembled the press without thinking too much about it, and used
it quite happilly for a number of jobs.
Last night, I went to press off the bearings on the rear axles for
my RX7, and started to have problems. They wouldn't press off.
So I pulled out the propane torch, and fired it up. A couple of
minutes later, the first bearing squeked and groaned on it's way
off of the axle.
In to the press went the second axle, and as soon as the pressure was
applied, BOOM. It was all I could do to keep the entire press from
falling onto the race car.
The bolts at the bottom of the press -- they both hold the base and
prevent the legs of the press from spreading -- snapped. These bolts
were loaded primarily in tension, but have the weight of the press
loading them in sheer. These were marked as grade 5 bolts. The bolts
at the top of the press are unmarked (grade 2 or lower), and seem ok.
Carrol Shelby was right!
Tomorrow, it's off to Orchard Supply Hardware to get a set of Grade
Eight bolts for the entire assembly. Every single bolt will be
replaced.
--
Jack L. Poller
poller@netscape.com
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