Oh my GOD.

Ok, this sucks. Today I was doing a routine rotor/pad swap on Washington. The first wheel went well, then it came to the second. I've done several brake jobs in the past and feel that I'm pretty saavy with disc brakes. Well when it came to take the pad cage off of the hub so I could get the original rotor off, I got one of the 15mm bolts off (it was alittle trouble but it came off with alittle force) then I go to get the second 15mm bolt off and it won't budge. Ok, no big deal, sprayed it down with some WD-40 and let's try again. I torque my ratchet and feel it turn. Only it wasn't the bolt that was turning . It was my socket spinning around the bolt head. Upon closer inspection I found that my socket split. I got the set from my father in law for christmas and has been pretty reliable until now. It's made by a company called "Pittsburgh" and offers a limited lifetime warranty, which I'm checking into now. Here are some pics of the cracked 15mm socket.

I took the head off my MAGlight and put the socket over the bulb. That's the lighting coming through the side of the socket.

It's split just about an inch up the side. BTW, these are cell phone pics.

holy shit, you straight cranked on that POS

Lemme guess... 12 point socket? Been there, done that.

thats not as bad as the 15mm i broke on this one chicks brakes.....a lil secret....sometimes brake situations call for a wrench on a wrench. ull figure it out.

What do you mean "wrench on wrench?" My car's still on jack stands out there.

Wrench on wrench:



Use a line wrench if you try it.

I would try again with a shorter socket and impact gun.

when sockets brakesits because you need a stronger tool.

Wrench on a wrench is when take a wrench and put the closed end on the bolt, and then take a slightly larger wrench and put the closed end of that one into the fork of the other one and bam...instant leverage.

Thanks Aaron, i was about to do that.

You could also use your floor jack lever (or handle) for an extension which equals extra torque. Just slide it over the handle of the ratchet a little.

If I knew anyone who owned an impact gun, I would totally be doin' that. I tried the lug wrench/jack handle deal and there isn't enough room under there. I actually got the bolt that cracked my socket, cursed at it alittle and finished that wheel. I'm too spent to attempt the other two at the moment so those will have to wait for tomorrow. Wrench on wrench is a good idea, unfortunatly my metric c-wrenches only go to 13mm I'll have to pick up a larger set tomorrow. But for now, it's PBR time

What side of the car is giving you trouble? For the driver side, I used to put the car on stands, then use a hydraulic jack to push the up on the ratchet handle, turning the bolt.

I've also found that PB Blaster works a bit better than WD40 at loosening bolts.

This is why it's worthwhile for professional mechanics to throw down big money for the good stuff.

The driver's side (I'm right handed) I think trying to loosen the bolts with my ratchet messed up the ball bearings. I did try that though with the jack and my ratchet just kept slipping (it stayed on the bolt.) I'm going to get some larger wrenches and some PB Blaster, try it with those tomorrow.

Soak it 2 hours before, then again when you go to try. If you don't already have a $12 propane torch, pick one up. Might need to heat up that bolt if PB blaster doesn't work.

I stopped messing with all this about 3 years ago. Sears had a clearance sale on discontinued impact guns. 400 lb-ft takes care of just about anything.

captshiner wrote:

If I knew anyone who owned an impact gun, I would totally be doin' that.

I have an impact gun. Just a second... and I'll fax it to you.

AA, what size air compressor do you use with your impact? I've been looking at Craftsman's 1/2" Impact Wrench and it seems sturdy and cost effective. The compressor is the big ticket. Karma, hold on let me give you my number. I was thinking about heating the bolt but I was nervous about melting the brake lines or the several rubber boots down there.

AA wrote:

400 lb-ft takes care of just about anything.

Uh, is there any kind of equal and opposite reaction on that? Sounds like it would throw a man 50 ft in the air. It must work, but it doesn't sound like it would.

There's more powerful ones out there. The Craftsman 1" Heavy Duty impact wrench delivers max. 1300ft/lbs of torque at 3800rpms. I have no idea what Nascar pit crews use but I'm sure it's along those lines if not even more powerful.

Jack the R wrote:

AA wrote:

400 lb-ft takes care of just about anything.

Uh, is there any kind of equal and opposite reaction on that? Sounds like it would throw a man 50 ft in the air. It must work, but it doesn't sound like it would.

It doesn't through a man 50 ft in the air, but it can throw one about 5 inches.

It's easy to understand when you consider that torque doesn't do any work by itself. it must be combined with RPM to create any power. This is why the statement "torque wins races" is very misleading. Torque doesn't do anything but apply a force.

The impact gun uses very short pulses to turn the bolt a very small amount at a time. That's all that's needed to loosen a rusty bolt. It's not very much horsepower because it turns so slowly. It's a lot like a sledge hammer. It applies hundreds or thousands of lb-ft for a very brief moment, but it won't push a car through the quarter mile unless you keep on swinging.

And because the impact gun is made of a good chunk of steel, it weighs a bit. This mass helps absorb part of the counterforce, much like a lever does. I shot a .500 Mag S&W revolver last month. With 2600 lb-ft of muzzle energy, it's the most powerful handgun in the world, yet because it weighs 5 lbs, you don't feel all of that force (you still feel a lot, though!)

AA wrote:

I shot a .500 Mag S&W revolver last month. With 2600 lb-ft of muzzle energy, it's the most powerful handgun in the world...

I totally read that in a "Clint Eastwood" voice....

"...it'll blow your head clean off!"

I heard that there's an experimental military sub machine gun that forces recoil into a spring-loaded mechanism to absorb it. You can fire the .45 rounds at the same rate as the MP5 fires 9mm's but with even less recoil and greater accuracy. It's called the 'Kriss Super V.' It can fire multiple .45's into the same entry wound at 800-1000 rounds per minute.
[

i would say use a 1/2 inch breaker bar to take the bolt off. i got mine from sears for about $30 bucks. you can probably get another 6pt 15mm there to for less than $10 bucks. try that before you buy an impact and air compressor unless you just really want one.

Let us know if there's room to use that breaker bar. Not saying there isn't, but I couldn't get much leverage inside the wheel well. Maybe if you cut the wheels?

Ok, I finished the job with the wrench-on-wrench and PB Blaster. That PB Blaster is some sweet stuff. You can get a breaker bar in the front wheel well if you cut them but the rear one don't turn (obviously.) Craftsman has a telescoping 24" breaker that has adjustable length. My auto parts store only sells "GM Performance Parts" brand wrenches in singles. They were only like $8 each (15 and 18mm.)

AA-What size air compressor and psi are you running your impact wrench off of? I really want one but I don't want to buy a compressor that's too small or bigger than I need.

My impact gun uses 90 PSI. It will operate on more or less, but that's what it likes. I have used 120 PSI for short bursts when needed. I also have a mini air ratchet that runs on 40-60 PSI, so it's nice to have a compressor with an adjustable regulator.

For a big impact gun, you need a large reserve tank. Here is the unit I have. I gave about $150 on sale at Lowes 3 years ago:



It's only 1.7HP, but that's more than enough to keep up. Also, you can use it indoors without blowing breakers. The reserve tank is 20 gal, so you have a lot of time to break bolts loose with the gun before it kicks on.

If I were using an impact gun a lot, or for a business, I'd use a 5HP motor and maybe a bigger tank. But for my garage, the 20 gal is fine.