So kinda like the opposite of your problem...
Can anyone recommend a good quality breaker bar, say 600mm long please? The no-name one I've had for years gave up on Saturday when I was forced
to put all my weight on it to free off stuck wheel nuts. I suspect I paid just a few quid for that one at a car show.
Not sure of budget (but not Snap-On prices!). I want something good quality that will take physical abuse.
Thanks!
I have a similar unbranded 1/2" breaker bar that's done me 20 odd years and plenty of abuse. Probably cost me less than £20 and has been
stood on and had bits of pipe added for extra leverage. It's still straight enough and still works.
If it breaks I'll not spend much more than that on another and TBH not be looking for any particular brand.
The Halfords Professional stuff isn't overly expensive and comes with a Lifetime gaurantee where they'll replace it if it breaks in normal
service. They've replaced a couple of spanners for me (19mm) that I was using other spanners on to gain extra leverage. TBH they didn't
seem to pay much attention - just dished out a new one (I doubt they pay much cost price for them).
As Nick says, the benefit of Halfords Advanced stuff is that you can get a replacement on a Sunday PM till 4!
However, I don't thing the warranty on breakers applies to the swivel head (they're considered disposable). But you can get re-build kits
for them.
If you buy it, photocopy and laminate the receipt. I've heard (on here) of some stores being difficult about the returns with no receipt as
there's fake stuff going around.
Cheers,
James
Many thanks all.
The 24" from Halfords at £28 looks good, particularly if I can sign up for a trade card and get 20% off.
The swivel head on my previous one is still intact, it's the forked end of the bar itself which gave way when 12 stone of frustrated man jumped
up and down on it :-(
From experience there are two types of breaker knuckle one with the fork on the swivel and the other with the fork on the fixed bar, it’s the later you want as the former tends to bend the thinner bar end.
Another vote for the Halfords Advanced/Professional range. I've got the 24" breaker bar and it has seen some action and came out unscathed. I have also had other tools replaced by Halfords under the lifetime warranty with no questions asked - not even needing a receipt.
quote:
Originally posted by Russell
Many thanks all.
The 24" from Halfords at £28 looks good, particularly if I can sign up for a trade card and get 20% off.
The swivel head on my previous one is still intact, it's the forked end of the bar itself which gave way when 12 stone of frustrated man jumped up and down on it :-(
I have one of these, along with a 3/4" socket set. A 3/4" to 1/2" converter then comes out if I need to reduce the socket size.
I have a leafy Land Rover, a Transhit (some 21 years old now) and a race car with centre locks. The breaker gets some very serious (ab)use sometimes,
as does the pneumatic hammer, before resorting to the universal spanner (angle grinder).
https://www.uktoolcentre.co.uk/products/draper-breaker-bar-34-sq-dr-600mm.html?sku=961571&gclid=CjwKCAjwoP6LBhBlEiwAvCcthBGo5tgL_pzO5MDJvn5zSpqDM0
Lhy9P6T4JGLCkefYu550LtNZ1w4BoCjBYQAvD_BwE
quote:
Originally posted by Russell
Many thanks all.
The 24" from Halfords at £28 looks good, particularly if I can sign up for a trade card and get 20% off.
The swivel head on my previous one is still intact, it's the forked end of the bar itself which gave way when 12 stone of frustrated man jumped up and down on it :-(
Bergen or US-Pro both sizes up in 1/2" up to 1000mm/39" bar --- same tool different brand names I never had any issue with mine no matter
how tight the nuts. You can also get extra long (600mm) ratchets both normal and flex head.
Only Use mine less a these days I usually my DeWalt DCF899 or my torque multiplier.
quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
Bergen or US-Pro both sizes up in 1/2" up to 1000mm/39" bar --- same tool different brand names I never had any issue with mine no matter how tight the nuts. You can also get extra long (600mm) ratchets both normal and flex head.
Only Use mine less a these days I usually my DeWalt DCF899 or my torque multiplier.
Thanks for the replies everyone - very useful feedback.
The bolts were on the front of a Mk5 VW Golf. I normally do all the maintenance on it but with travel restrictions in place a year ago my son was
forced to pay a garage somewhere in west London to get it through an MOT. They must have used some crazy tool to tighten the wheel nuts. It took the
breaker bar and an offcut of scaffold pole and my weight to free them off. I don't think the breaker bar was defective, in fairness I was
seriously overloading it. In contrast, the rear wheel nuts were all fine.
I am a one man band limited company involved in mechanical and electrical engineering so I expect the Halfords trade card application to be
straightforward. There's a Euro Car Parts depot a mile from my house so I rarely bother going the extra 5 miles to Halfords but I might do that
if the prices are better. I'm going to give the Halfords bar a go, it's about what I was expecting to pay.
quote:
Originally posted by Russell
Thanks for the replies everyone - very useful feedback.
The bolts were on the front of a Mk5 VW Golf. I normally do all the maintenance on it but with travel restrictions in place a year ago my son was forced to pay a garage somewhere in west London to get it through an MOT. They must have used some crazy tool to tighten the wheel nuts. It took the breaker bar and an offcut of scaffold pole and my weight to free them off. I don't think the breaker bar was defective, in fairness I was seriously overloading it. In contrast, the rear wheel nuts were all fine.
I am a one man band limited company involved in mechanical and electrical engineering so I expect the Halfords trade card application to be straightforward. There's a Euro Car Parts depot a mile from my house so I rarely bother going the extra 5 miles to Halfords but I might do that if the prices are better. I'm going to give the Halfords bar a go, it's about what I was expecting to pay.
quote:
Originally posted by nick205
Noting your comment on the tighness of the wheel nuts, after I've had my tyres replaced and the tyre fitters tighten the wheel nuts with torque wrenches the nuts seem noticeably tighter and take some "persuading" to loosen.
In fairness to the tyre fitters they're probably following the rules and tightening to manufacturers ratings.
quote:
Originally posted by indykid
quote:
Originally posted by nick205
Noting your comment on the tighness of the wheel nuts, after I've had my tyres replaced and the tyre fitters tighten the wheel nuts with torque wrenches the nuts seem noticeably tighter and take some "persuading" to loosen.
In fairness to the tyre fitters they're probably following the rules and tightening to manufacturers ratings.
Did you watch them set the wrench before they used a torque wrench on them?
An air impact wrench set on FT is the more usual culprit. I'm sure there are some diligent tyre fitters out there, but most aren't in the profession because of their keen attention to detail.
What I can tell you is that they were off the effing scale ridiculously tight and I was seriously worried about shearing a stud taking them off. Not
impressed.
And I was even less impressed when I did get the nearside wheel off and found the last ham-fisted person who was there had butchered the end of the
brake pad wear indicator harness and crudely joined the wires together. It does niggle me, but after 16 years of ownership we're going to be
saying goodbye to the Golf in 2022 so it's not worth bothering to sort this out.
So far the bar from the first socket set I ever bought back in 1980 (Kamasa) is still going strong. Its only 320mm but has been extended with bits of
scaffold tube and I've broken sockets with it and the bar is still going strong. Hardest was the hub nuts on MGF hubs - the 32mm nuts needed a
2.5m tube over the handle to crack them off!
Since I bought a cordless 1/2" drive impact wrench I've given the old bar a lot less abuse as the 18v rattle gun seems amazingly capable at
undoing some really stubborn fixings. To be honest I wasn't expecting it to work this well. It managed to undo the crank pulley nut on a K series
- last time I did one of those it was a 6ft bar.
A long time ago after watching a tyre fitter doing up the wheel nuts with a rattle gun I passed him the wheel nut spanner that came with the car and asked him to undo the nuts. After complaining they had to do them up to that torque, whatever it was? he slackened them off a bit.
In the back of my everyday driver I carry a breaker bar to be 100% sure I can get the nuts off and a 4 way cross "spider" wheel brace for
putting nuts back on.
On a lot of cars with M14 wheels bolts such Honda and some BMW the wheel nuts need to be pretty tight.
I once had a phone call from my sister who was coming back from work complaining of a knocking noise coming from her Golf. I told her to take it round
and I'd have a look at it, only to find every single wheel nut loose and the wheels literally rocking all over the place. Turned out the local
garage had serviced her brakes but for some reason had forgot to actually tighten up the wheels after. As you'd expect she was very unhappy and
then blamed me for recommending the garage too! She'd done 40 miles on the dual carriageway like this
So kinda like the opposite of your problem...
Interesting - various levels of feedback on tyre fitter eperience (about what you'd expect I suppose).
In the case I reported above, yes I did ee the fitter adjust the manual torque wrench prior to tightening the nuts on my car (all 4 wheels on a FWD
car). I'm sure some places will use manual torque wrenches and others rattle guns. Rattle guns must save a few minutes per vehicle so up the
profit rate for the company. Kitting the place out with air compressors and air tools must have a higher cost though.
quote:
Originally posted by nick205
Interesting - various levels of feedback on tyre fitter eperience (about what you'd expect I suppose).
In the case I reported above, yes I did ee the fitter adjust the manual torque wrench prior to tightening the nuts on my car (all 4 wheels on a FWD car). I'm sure some places will use manual torque wrenches and others rattle guns. Rattle guns must save a few minutes per vehicle so up the profit rate for the company. Kitting the place out with air compressors and air tools must have a higher cost though.
I bought the Halfords 1/2" x 600mm one. It looks and feels like a nice substantial piece of kit - way nicer than the one I broke.
I know a few on here have already got one, but I found applying for the trade card was a breeze. They didn't even look closely at the paperwork
or my business bank card. I don't shop at Halfords as a rule but with 20% off some stuff I'm a lot more tempted...
I believe that the caterham club also get the halfords discount as part of club membership.
Glad to hear you have a solid feeling tool in your hand. 
quote:
Originally posted by indykid
quote:
Originally posted by nick205
Noting your comment on the tighness of the wheel nuts, after I've had my tyres replaced and the tyre fitters tighten the wheel nuts with torque wrenches the nuts seem noticeably tighter and take some "persuading" to loosen.
In fairness to the tyre fitters they're probably following the rules and tightening to manufacturers ratings.
Did you watch them set the wrench before they used a torque wrench on them?
An air impact wrench set on FT is the more usual culprit. I'm sure there are some diligent tyre fitters out there, but most aren't in the profession because of their keen attention to detail.
quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
I once had a phone call from my sister who was coming back from work complaining of a knocking noise coming from her Golf. I told her to take it round and I'd have a look at it, only to find every single wheel nut loose and the wheels literally rocking all over the place. Turned out the local garage had serviced her brakes but for some reason had forgot to actually tighten up the wheels after. As you'd expect she was very unhappy and then blamed me for recommending the garage too! She'd done 40 miles on the dual carriageway like this
So kinda like the opposite of your problem...
The wheel nut wrench supplied with my Pug 406 (presumably Peugeot supplied) folded like butter when I stood on it after getting a puncture along a
dark country road last winter.
I had a long, late-night walk home to get my Teng breaker and then an equally long and even later walk back to change the wheel and get the car home!
No point using a torque wrench if the nuts/threads/crusty alloy wheels arent cleaned up. Hence most garages over torque to cover there arses, no one will pay an extra 40 quid to do the last guys job.