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Socket drive size and winter battery care


grockell

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27 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I bought a 3/4" for use on the Tractors and JCB & that goes up to 3".

Never seen a 1" set, it must be humungous.

Yes my old set for heavy commercial vehicle use, flywheel bolts, front drive shaft nuts, and large propellor nuts.

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This edit thing is not working properly. Anyway the big inch drive socket set is a bit like having oxy-acetylene gear, you don't use them much but when you do you really need it. A chap here was trying to renew his top rudder stock bearing and as normal left the inner bearing track stuck on the shaft. He spent 3 days and tried everything to remove it, pullers, whacking it trying to grind through it, heating it with butane, all no good. In the end he came to me:) my oxy-acetylene torch removed it in  30 seconds.  It'll cost yer though.

Edited by bizzard
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7 minutes ago, bizzard said:

This edit thing is not working properly. Anyway the big inch drive socket set is a bit like having oxy-acetelene gear, you don't use them much but when you do you really need it. A chap here was trying to renew his top rudder stock bearing and as normal left the inner bearing track stuck on the shaft. He spent 3 days and tried everything to remove it, pullers, whacking it trying to grind through it, heating it with butane, all no good. In the end he came to me:) my oxy-acetelene torch removed it in  30 seconds.  It'll cost yer though.

And something like this to wind them off 

Capture.JPG

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A 1/2" inch drive is handy for turning the engine crankshaft by hand. Or a dedicated big spanner. Don't forget to take it off the nut when you try to start the engine else it may wreck several hoses. I know about such things.

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19 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

1. 1/4" sq Drive is ideal for small sockets for things like jubilee clips and 3/8 for most things on the engine but a few things may require the leverage afforded by a 1/2 set. I bought a fairly cheap combination set with 1/4 and 3/8 drive for the boat but then I have my "now not so professional" tools to fall back on when a 1/2 drive was needed. The only thing I think I used it for was the internal anode holder but not so many inland engines have those.

 

Agreed. My socket set was bought for me by my work colleagues for my 21st birthday. The Worksop staff recommended 3/8" drive as it was a more useful size for working on engines, particularly in tight spaces. I still have that set and have added metric sockets in more recent years.  I have also invested in a1/4" drive set, which is especially useful when working on small nuts such as those found on alternators etc. I do have a set of 1/2" drive sockets and have hardly ever used them as they are too big and cumbersome.  On bit of advice, buy the best quality you can afford, mine are Britool which are quite expensive, but I have never had anything fail in more than fifty years

 

Edited by David Schweizer
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2 hours ago, bizzard said:

Yes I had air operated ones at the garage, sold em off though now.

My large socket set is only 3/4 drive. Not the best quality but does the job. 

For the job I' doing on the boat at the moment I bought a cordless 1/2 drive impàct wrench. Apparantly it's good for 400 something or others. I still think in ft/lbs. Wish I'd had it years ago. 

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32 minutes ago, David Schweizer said:

Agreed. My socket set was bought for me by my work colleagues for my 21st birthday. The Worksop staff recommended 3/8" drive as it was a more useful size for working on engines, particularly in tight spaces. I still have that set and have added metric sockets in more recent years.  I have also invested in a1/4" drive set, which is especially useful when working on small nuts such as those found on alternators etc. I do have a set of 1/2" drive sockets and have hardly ever used them as they are too big and cumbersome.  On bit of advice, buy the best quality you can afford, mine are Britool which are quite expensive, but I have never had anything fail in more than fifty years

 

Out of interest I have had the odd Snapon tool fail. The set I bought for the boat came fromHalfords in a sale. We used Halfords tools at College because they lasted, were less "attractive" and lasted very well for the cost.

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49 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

Out of interest I have had the odd Snapon tool fail. The set I bought for the boat came fromHalfords in a sale. We used Halfords tools at College because they lasted, were less "attractive" and lasted very well for the cost.

 

Halfords Professional range of tools are good value for money and come with a lifetime guarantee.

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6 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

Halfords Professional range of tools are good value for money and come with a lifetime guarantee.

My 1/2 socket set came from Halfords with a lifetime guarantee many, many, many  years ago. When a socket split I took it back, mostly out of bravado. An interesting half hour followed. I don't think one of the many I spoke to had eve n been born when I bought the set. The more they made comments along the lines of 'what do you expect' and 'it' old' the more I dug my heels in. Eventually they gave me a 13mm socket to get rid of me.That was the day I realised I was a Grumpy Old Git. 

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Occasionally Lidl do a 216 piece socket set for £79.95 and it's a cracker, 1/2" - 3/8" and 1/4", all 3 size ratchets, spanners, screwdriver bits, hex & star sockets etc etc. I bought one but a little scrote has failed to return it, serves me right really, I vowed years ago never to lend tools again after struggling to get them back. This time the goose has truly been killed, no more golden eggs. 

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I've had a Halfords socket set with lifetime guarantee for around 35 years. I've only broken one socket and that was with the help of a scaffold pole. I broke the ratchet by whacking it with a club hammer. Thought about claiming on the guarantee but decided that if they asked for the receipt I'd have to leave with my tail between my legs. 

 

Watched this video of a guy testing ratchets to destruction recently. Language is a bit fruity in places:

 

 

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1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

Out of interest I have had the odd Snapon tool fail. The set I bought for the boat came fromHalfords in a sale. We used Halfords tools at College because they lasted, were less "attractive" and lasted very well for the cost.

My dad bought a Halford 1/2" socket set in about 1965 when we rebuilt our first BMC engine after being ripped of by a local garage, for many years in was in joint ownership until he stopped doing silly things with cars and became mine. No metric, just AF and Whitworth. about 2 years ago I passed it on to a chap who was a lad in the village who plays with old diesel and steam rollers etc.

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6 minutes ago, nb Innisfree said:

Lifetime guarantees don't necessarily relate to best quality,  Snap-on is an example, good but not the best. 

I once tried to claim on a "lifetime" guarantee for a stainless steel exhaust that failed after about 15 years. I was told that about 8 years is a reasonable lifetime, 15 was just daft, nobody keeps a vehicle for that long.

 

.............Dave

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I only ever bought two things from RipSnap off. A short 17mm 19mm ring spanner and a pair of waterpump pliers, both failed quite quickly. The spanner bent when I clouted it with a hammer. The pliers nobbly adjusting slot soon wore out and wouldn't hold. And yet I've clouted my 55 year old Elora ring spanners many times and still good, and so are a pair of the pliers bought S/H at a car boot sale. I still have many of my old Elora, Britfool and King Dick spanners and sockets bought when I was an apprentice. 

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43 minutes ago, stegra said:

Watched this video of a guy testing ratchets to destruction recently. Language is a bit fruity in places:

Probably my favourite YouTube channel of all time?

There seems to be a consensus that he has a very good knowledge across many engineering disciplines.
(And a very broad vocabulary!)

 

 

 

 

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