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Date:         Wed, 25 Jun 1997 09:12:27 -0500 (CDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Malcolm Williamson <malcolm@cast.uark.edu>
Subject:      Re: tool question

I definitely wouldn't buy the Craftsman bar - poorly finished, over-priced. The pivoting head design is not necessarily a weakness. I bought a similarly-designed, though much better made, Proto Challenger breaker bar in an auto parts store about 10 years ago. Price was the same as the Craftsman. I have had a five-foot (!!) cheater bar on it trying to get way-over-torqued lugnuts off of a Beetle. (The car had bad rear brakes, and I actually was spinning the rear tire on smooth concrete with the wrench! I eventually used the brake adjusters to jam the shoes against the drum to hold it still.) Anyway, my friend and I, pulling on the cheater bar together, managed to loosen the nuts, as well as put a slight bend in the handle of the wrench. The pivot did not fail. I was actually able to bend the bar back straight, and have been using it happily ever since. Yes, I would buy another! I think the Craftsman would probably have broken in half under such gross abuse.

-Malcolm Williamson '87 Westy Various implements of destruction :)

On Tue, 24 Jun 1997, Linda Bartnik wrote:

> This post is tangentially VW related, in that I'm looking for a tool that I > will use to work on my VW. > > The subject is breaker bars. I went to the Craftsman store today and > oooh-ed and aaaah-ed over all the nice stuff (like torque wrenches -- > that's my birthday present :-). I bought a set of 1/4" drive extensions > (with the little screwdriver type thing that attaches to the 1/4" drivers), > a 1/2" drive to 3/8" drive adapter, so when I need more leverage on those > smaller fasteners I can break out the big ol' 1/2" drive ratchet, and a set > of feeler gauges. I need the feeler gauges because the set I currently > have doesn't go low enough to do the valve adjustment on the Karmann Ghia. > Now I've got a nice 36-blade set that does the job w/ no problem. > > What I really want is a breaker bar. Craftsman sells a "flex handle" type > of bar in 1/2" drive that has a pivoting head. While that's a nice touch, > I tend to think that the pivot in the head is the weak point of the entire > bar. What they have that I want is a "slide bar" type deal, where the head > can slide the length of the bar, so you can use it as a straight breaker > bar or you can slide the head to the middle and use it like a cross-type > tire iron, or anywhere in between. And it also seems that it would be > stronger. However, the problem is that Craftsman only apparently makes it > in 3/4" drive, which I don't want. They do have a smaller one in 1/2" > drive but it's really too small to be useful, even smaller than my 1/2" > drive ratchet. > > So what I'm wondering is if anyone knows of a good source for a quality > version of this tool. I don't want one that's going to break on me. I saw > one for sale at the swap meet during the Circle Yer Wagons show for $20 and > I should have bought it. > > I know Sonny Flamer (on the Vanagon list) has a really nice really LONG > breaker bar similar to this (I can't remember if it's the slide or flex > type). Sonny, where did you get that puppy? > > Thanks all, and please send all replies directly to me so as not to clog > the list with this. > > Sean >


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