At 10:26 AM 6/22/99 -0500, you wrote:
>
>On Mon, Jun 21, 1999 at 11:09:14PM -0500, Mike Frerichs wrote:
>> So, anyone out there have the equipment to do some proper testing of
>> the comparative strength of a few brands of wrenches?
>
>Maybe I'm a wimp, but I've never broken or bent an end wrench. I have
>rounded off fasteners, though. That's why I stick with 6-points and
>almost always use the box end. I'd like to see a test conducted
>whereby the wrench-fastener interface is tested to see how much torque
>it can withstand before something gives. Brand new fasteners of
>various hardnesses as well as scientifically ``old, buggered-up''
>fasteners, too.
The first and only wrench I broke was a imported 11/16" combo wrench which
snapped trying to remove
a nut from a TR-6 cylinder head stud. The flying fragment missed my head, the
open end now has one
jaw instead of two, and the damage to my arm has long since healed. This wrench
looked like it came
from the same asian factory that Harbor Freight uses and even had a 'lifetime
guarantee'.
After that incident I went to Sears and bought a set of Craftsman wrenches.
No more cheap tools for me, guaranteed or not.
I did recently buy a set of "GearWrench"-s from the local Ace Hardware. These
things are made in Taiwan
but they are GREAT. They are combination wrenches with a normal open end and a
ratcheting
12 point box end. The ratchet required very little clearance, much less that
the Craftsman ratchets.
You can use it places where all you can normally fit it is a box wrench, and it
has finer ratchet teeth
than my polished Craftsman-Pro ratchet handle. I use the 1/2" GearWrench every
day. I did manage
to pop the mechanism out of the 9/16" once so I'm not sure I plan to buy the
larger sizes
but the smaller (5/16, 3/8, 7/16, 1/2) tools are excellent, and yes they also
come in metric (but not Whitworth).
Cheers,
-Erik
--
Erik Quackenbush, V.P. Operations, Midwest Filter Corporation
1-847-680-0566 fax: 1-847-680-0832 http://www.midwestfilter.com
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