Low Tech. How to get more leverage w/ a combination wrench

My dad (74) does that. I've picked it up from him

 

I learned that trick working at the shipyards many years ago. When you have to carry a canvas sack of wrenches all day, you learn to carry the minimum amount of wrenches. Lighter the better. Then you add in walking back and forth the length of a aircraft carrier numerous times a day, you really start economizing on what you carry. Some of those nuts and bolts were 3 to 4" across in size, so that trick came in handy.

 

I use a rubber mallet to tap on the end of the wrench instead. Works great and no chance of ripping a knuckle off and it usually works as well as or better than a breaker bar and requires less space:

 

doesn't that stuff get caught up in the wheels on your creeper?

 

I used that trick a lot of times too, but only when it was an emergency and the tool at hand wouldn't fit. Learned it in the Navy almost 20 years ago. Hanging upside down, in a really tight area, and where you can't see you gotta work with what those cheap asses provide you. Got into the habit of taking my own tools to sea to prevent the "greasy flap of skin" problem. Gotta be careful because an kind of sideways torque and the wrenches slip apart. Last set of busted knuckles was due to doing this, to remove a stubborn cooling fan, where a socket an breaker bar would not fit.

 

youse guys with more than adjustable wrench, a waterpump pliers , claw hammer,and a dull bent scredriver are always showing off your tools..
'
"never tighten anything tighter than your tools will remove';( "
the only tool my dad showed me was the back of his hand and the reach of his belt!

i have used the round openin on a large adjustable wrench over a ratchet the same way ... when removing rusty lugnuts in the "yard"
goes with carrying thr least tools to lose or account for..

thanks file this in tool use file under wrench extention
paperdog

 

Been doing it for years.. no problem.. The guys that think it aint safe shouldnt be working on cars. Geeze.. It doesnt have to be dangerous..
Dave

 

I have used this idea about a thousand times when I would rather not go hunting for something with more leverage, and just get the damn thing off. I have never had a wrench slip on me and cause damage.

I would recommend using your free hand to cover where the wrenches meet, this ensures they stay in line with the fulcrum point, and reminds you this is a 'make shift' option when you get pissed and forget start to forget what you are doing.

 

O.k., let me make this little argument. So lets say for the sake of saving a little time you go for this method and this happens:

Owch! So after a little cussing and running to your wife for a some Bactine® and a bandaid, or for you tough guys a little gasoline and duct tape you realize you're probably gonna have to get it stitched up. Well, there goes your weekend and around $500 of your hard earned hotrod money. (I know cuz it cost me $300 to remove a tiny metal flake from my eye cuz I was in too much of a hurry to put a face shield on.) So that set of new white walls for the "Greaserbillywrenchmobhayride" you've been wanting are gonna have to wait. I could give a shit about your knuckles but I like to work on cars not sit in emergency waiting rooms for 5 hours with "The great unwashed". Have fun tough guys! -stick

 

Anytime I ever have to push a wrench or ratchet towards a surface harder than my skin I push open handed and brace the tool with the other hand. I learned long ago that if the tool slips it absorbs much of the blow and my open palm isn't as likely to get torn up. Best practice is as said earlier pull when possible away from the hard surfaces...

BTW, I have used the two wrench method for years safely also.

cb_chief

 

Well said CB ( LIVE AND LEARN )

 

Absolutely perfect example of Filet-O-Flesh(tm) ! Utterly stunning!
Good job.

 

Clean it with alcohol and use Super Glue to close it up. Works as well as stitches and much quicker and cheaper.

 

Tape it up and get back to work ya pussy....

Is that how that injury happened...? From putting one wrench on the end of another wrench...? Or did it happen because the "Caution Fan" sticker fell off in 1966 and you forgot...? Or was it an errant grab for a sliding hammer while putting metal roofing on your shed...? Or punching the TV when the Romanian judge favored her team in girl's gymnastics...?
"Cuz, if it didn't happen from putting one wrench on the end of another wrench, then..... we need to watch for falling pianos and not worry about putting one wrench on the end of another wrench.

So... really... how did that happen...???



JOE

 

I thought that's why they were called "combination wrenches" cause your supposed to combine 'em

 

Be Cool!

 

Every once in a while, I get to show this trick off to a younger wrench. I get to walk away like a genious. Its a good thing they havn't seen all the stupid things I've done.
Kurt

 

Some of you clowns need to get a grip.
If you don't have enough dexterity to use a couple of combination wrenches without fear of hurting yourselves you might want to re-think even entering a shop.

 

I'v used 3 wrenches in a row before and not afraid to say it. also when you are using a ratchet and need leverage use a deep socket a little bigger than the end of the handle and put an extention on it and now you have all the leverage in the world . You can put as many extentions as you want. heheheheheh!!!!!! how about the handle of your hydralic jack trick?????????every one knows that one. I hate breaking your knuckels.

 

Oh gee, you mean you didn't end up needing an ambulance to take you to the emergency room, eating up your money you were going to use for new whitewalls?...Amazing! < /sarcasm >

 

i use this trick all the time to loosen or as an extention when tighting, a couple of months ago i picked up a box of free tools at the local free store and all the wrenchs inside had the mark of the extendo wrench trick, stitches in canada are free to.

 

I've been doing this for years also.It works great.But I would recomend using cheap leather gloves if you are concerned about the possibility of skinned knuckles.

 

filet if fist

heck it looks like the hand puppets mouth just hadbotox injections


paperdog

 

I've been doing this since I was 2 and never busted a knuckle, never broke a wrench. Just gotta feel it out and not push to hard. Works like a freakin champ in a pinch.!

 

Now that's funny! I can't believe this thread is still going. Stop it already. Please. -stick

 

Yep good tip. I also use it for loosening or tightening an Allen key. You can never get enough leverage on those pissy little keys, so I usually put the round end of a crescent wrench or the round end of a big combination wrench and use the same principle. Perfect for this situation cos a big piece of pipe don't work cos it's diameter is much too big for a little ol allen key.

 

Been doing this my whole life. Since I hate climbing back out from under the car or going from the driveway back into the garage to get the right wrench, I always have 3 wrenches in my hand anyway. The size I think I'll need and 1 bigger, 1 smaller.

I tend to use wrenches more than sockets. They're easier to find than those damned little sockets when the tool box gets bumped off the fender or tailgate and everything winds up in the mud and tall grass on those yard or roadside days. Besides I've never had a wrench roll down into the borrow pit ditch or dissappear into a footprint in the snow like sockets love to do.

Even in the garage sockets tend to drop into damned near in-accessable places on the car or roll under that damned heavy big block laying in the corner.

If you tend to get hurt doing this kind of stuff, don't ever try something complicated like cutting the bottom off a plastic pop bottle to make a funnel in the walmart parking lot when you're low on oil on a road trip. Just have the wife hand you a beer and the remote before she takes the car to the dealership for service.

 

Why is that? I bet you could drop a whole handful of change into the engine compartment and it would all fall out the bottom. Try that with the socket you need, and it has an uncanny way of hiding somewhere in there. Bet there's plenty of old cars out there riding around with a socket somewhere in the engine bay.

 

Man how dramatic this has gotten. Really.

I use this a couple times a week. Havent seriously hurt myself. I guess thats either chaulked up to sheer luck, or, well, using my brain for what it was designed for.

 

This plus the original post is worth the whole thread. Shredding your knuckles a few times instead will teach you this simple principle if you didn't pick up what cb_Chief wrote.
That said, I am the guy who put his nose right next to a brake drum while cranking down on the puller bolt...