Trailing arm bolts – what tool did you use?

[markeb01]

I’m going to be installing new trailing arm bushings soon, and was doing fine until I read the torque specs for the pivot bolts and u-bolts - 175-250 ft lbs. My ½” wrench only goes up to 150 lbs. I’m curious what you guys use to torque these bolts - a ¾” torque wrench, an impact wrench, or a breaker bar with a cheater pipe? Thanks.

[ChopperDr]

I have a 3/4" torque wrench. It is about 3 feet long, weighs a ton. It really makes the job easy.


Chop

[lakeroadster]

Mark,

Just curious, you planning on dropping the drive shaft out to do the bushing install? On my '65 I can't get to the inner bolt heads, the drive shaft is in the way?

[structures]

Mark I've got the craftsman 1/2" drive click torque wrench that goes to 150. For the trailing arms and u bolts I just took the torque wrench setting up to 150 and then kept rotating the setting up to what would be around 175. After I tightened the bolts with that I just took a breaker bar and gave it a little more. I'm pretty confident I fell between 175 and 250.

Man I would love a set of 3/4" drive sockets, especially a 3/4" drive torque wrench. I think in all my browsing of craigslist I've seen one set and the guy wanted a small fortune.

[markeb01]

Originally Posted by lakeroadster

Mark,

Just curious, you planning on dropping the drive shaft out to do the bushing install? On my '65 I can't get to the inner bolt heads, the drive shaft is in the way?

Thanks for the tip. I usually work up a checklist ahead of time for any mechanical project, which gives me something to review to make sure I didn’t forget anything – like a cotter pin, or remembering to fill the fluid, etc. I hadn’t gotten that far in my thinking since I hadn’t gotten past the wrench issue. Pulling the driveshaft will now be at the head of the list. I was wondering about working clearance around the pivot bolts. I do have a plug for sealing the tailshaft so the fluid won’t leak out.

Originally Posted by structures

Mark I've got the craftsman 1/2" drive click torque wrench that goes to 150. For the trailing arms and u bolts I just took the torque wrench setting up to 150 and then kept rotating the setting up to what would be around 175. After I tightened the bolts with that I just took a breaker bar and gave it a little more. I'm pretty confident I fell between 175 and 250.

Man I would love a set of 3/4" drive sockets, especially a 3/4" drive torque wrench. I think in all my browsing of craigslist I've seen one set and the guy wanted a small fortune.

I may resort to this technique if my son can’t borrow a torque wrench from a coworker. It’s hard to justify a bunch of money for a wrench I’ll only use once. 5 decades in the garage and this is the first time I’ve ever needed one above 150 lbs. Even the cheap ones at Harbor Freight are $70+. And then more expense for 3/4" adapters or another socket set.

Thanks again everyone for the feedback.

[mikie 1954]

You might look into a tourqe multiplyer . Don't know how much they are but would make one wrench work for more jobs

[lakeroadster]

You can check your torque wrench ahead of time if you build a crude weighted lever set up.

175 lbs at a distance of 1 ft = 175 ft-lbs

87.5 lbs at a distance of 2 ft = 175 ft-lbs

We did this at the place I used to work to "calibrate" our 500 ft-lb adjustable hyraulic torque wrench. Basically we welded a 1" drive socket to a shaft that went through (2) pillow block bearings, the bearing shaft had a cross shaft that was 2 ft long and we would add weights onto it. Add the appropriate weight and then adjust the torque wrench until it lifts the weight off the floor. Bone numbingly simple, yet worked every time.

[markeb01]

Originally Posted by mikie 1954

You might look into a tourqe multiplyer . Don't know how much they are but would make one wrench work for more jobs

I’ve seen those, but didn’t research enough to know how they work. I’ll have to check – and on the pricing.

Originally Posted by lakeroadster

You can check your torque wrench ahead of time if you build a crude weighted lever set up.

175 lbs at a distance of 1 ft = 175 ft-lbs

87.5 lbs at a distance of 2 ft = 175 ft-lbs

We did this at the place I used to work to "calibrate" our 500 ft-lb adjustable hydraulic torque wrench. Basically we welded a 1" drive socket to a shaft that went through (2) pillow block bearings, the bearing shaft had a cross shaft that was 2 ft long and we would add weights onto it. Add the appropriate weight and then adjust the torque wrench until it lifts the weight off the floor. Bone numbingly simple, yet worked every time.

I’ve always been a student of old school (crude) methods of accomplishing a task. I read an article years ago where an Army MstrSgt and his crew pulled the good wing off a crashed DC-2 and attached it to a DC-3 that also lost one in a crash. They pulled this off in the jungle with hand tools, rope, a few trees and ingenuity. The wing was several feet too short, and the plane required a lot of rudder to fly straight, but they ended up with a flyable plane out of two piles of junk. I’ve also found many old farmers loaded with clever solutions.

Thanks for the tip, I’ll keep that one handy.

[Clyde65]

Markeb01, I found this for you...


http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=3293

[markeb01]

Thanks for the link. My wife is out shopping today, so she's going to swing by a few pawn shops and see if there's anything in the used market for dirt cheap before I resort to buying new.

This one looks nice, but it might be overkill since I'm only going to use it once:

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....6&group_ID=985