What Brand Breaker Bar?

[brmiller]

Is this a "maintenance" question? I think so. I have such a hard time picking the appropriate forum...

Those lug nuts are torqued to 140 ft/lbs. I tried using my factory lug wrench just for giggles. I went right for the breaker bar after the first one.

I go through the same thiing everytime I try to remove lugnuts from any vehicle, or suspension bolts, which are often just as bad... So what kind of breaker bar to people have and find good quality? I'm the "buy it once" type of guy. I typically buy Craftsman, but have checked their catalog and they don't have a lot of choices. I'd like 1/2" drive, and 18" or longer, BTW.

Brendan

 

[steelheadchaser]

Brendan, I am using the same Craftsman breaker bar I have had for around 25 years. It is approximately 20" long and is 1/2" drive.

 

[Wiki]

This is not refering to a brand of breaker bar, but a type of use. No matter the brand I use, I do have my trusty piece of steel pipe that I slip over the handle to extend the bar to a 3 ft length. Makes "breaking" alot easier with extra leverage........who don't know that!!

Wiki

 

[Crexis]

I did manage to tweak a Craftsman breaker bar... of course, I had a 4' piece of steel pipe over the handle and was hanging all my weight on the end of it...

My (new) Craftsman is about 18" and half inch drive.

In its defense, the old bar didn't actually break, it just twisted the drive square about 45 degrees... and the bolt did come loose .

 

[wrchism]

But the great thing about Craftsman hand tools is that they'll give you free replacements when they break! I've taken them up on this true lifetime warrenty many times - never any questions asked, even after years when models have changes - they've always given me the closest replacement.

With this in mind, I'm sold on Craftsman hand tools - why pay more for Mac, SK, etc. ?

 

[steelheadchaser]

What were you trying to get off that required 4' of extension and still tweaked the bar head? Did you ever get the nut/bolt off?

 

[Congelado]

I use a Craftsman 1/2 drive breaker bar also.

What were you trying to get off that required 4' of extension and still tweaked the bar head? Did you ever get the nut/bolt off?

I had to do this all the time when working on VW air-cooled engines. You gotta love that flywheel bolt.