Size matters

[Dean E]

I needed new hand tools this past month--at extremes of size. One screwdriver set is for cell phones, and the 3/4 inch drive socket, breaker bar, and ratchet wrench are for a trailer hitch.

[Dan Schultz]

Hope you don't get 'em mixed up!

[Dean E]

Other good prices on used, hand and power tools would be found at flea markets frequented by construction day laborers and their families. Especially if there are permanent, inside tool booths.

Drawbacks. Those cheap, heavy-walled, impact sockets usually have a very short effective hex depth because of the machining costs of full-depth and true, deep-well 6 or 12-point broaching. Also, they are too thick-walled for some close-clearance applications.

[alfredr]

I find a hammer fixes most of my cellphone problems. Anything over 16 ounces. More than 3 pounds, (the hammer weight) use two hands. One pound with the hammer is enough.

[oldbandnerd]

I've been buying Kobalt brand tools from Lowes. Not the cheapest or the most inexpensive but seem like really durable tools. Lowes also now guarantees them like Sears used to do with Craftsman.
For your trailer hitch I recommend looking at Harbor Freight stores for the size you need. I bought a boxed end wrench that is 1-1/4" on one end and 1-1/12" on the other.I've used it plenty and with lots of torque with no issues. Only $7.99
http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsea ... tch+wrench" target="_blank

[Dean E]

The new load leveling hitch is from Reese with a 30,000 lb rated ball. Needs a 1-13/16 socket. No clearance for a pipe wrench. I went to Harbor Freight for the ratchet and breaker bar, using a coupon, then walked across the street to Sears for the socket, which cost me more than the breaker bar and ratchet combined. At least they had one, and it was lower priced than I could find anywhere on line.

[termite]

Nice Starrett ruler.

[Dean E]

Nice Starrett ruler.

Thanks, Termite.

I have had that Starrett machinist's scale since 1965 when I was 17, and started a 4-year machinist apprenticeship in Peoria, Illinois, USA. When my eyes were better, I could read it to within about plus/minus .003 inches. The US has mainly stopped those formal apprenticeships since skilled manufacturing jobs went global.

Some machinists' tools are useful through a lifetime. On the other hand, my slide rule from the same apprenticeship is now a mere curiosity (one more piece of junk) in my desk drawer.

[termite]

Tools like that just feel good when I pick them up. They make me feel like doing something. I suspect that a lot of trades are disappearing altogether, but that's a whole other discussion.

Regards

Gerard

[Dean E]

One set of things that are just about at my limit of ability to loosen are the bolts which hold the three blades on to the bottom of my z-trak.

The heads are approximately an inch (can't remember the exact size) in diameter, and it takes a breaker bar, a long/heavy-wall pipe extension, and some of bloke's give-it-all-he's-got's to get them off. (sore wrists/sore shoulders/sore elbows from too much repair work in too short a period of time...?? forget getting those z-trak blade bolts loose.)

Hours-and-hours-and-hours of a 27 hp. motor tightening those bolts REALLY challenges (this) man's ability to loosen them.

bloke "An impact wrench won't touch 'em."

I can understand. I bought an eight-foot long pipe over the weekend, just in case I ever need to change a stubborn wheel on a travel trailer.

I'm sure, Bloke, that you have forgotten more about lawn mowers and metal repairs than I will ever know. Anyhow, since you mentioned a common problem, I can't resist getting on my soapbox. It's kind of like a letter to the editor, with mixed metaphors, waking up and smelling the roses, and taking the fork in the road.

Just pray that none of the bolts break--then you would be in for some drilling and retapping.

Recommend soaking in a good penetrating oil and attempting removal while the blade support is warm. Heating with a torch often works.

Those factory bolts may have been made using very soft (resulpherized) steel, designed as a safety-shear-bolt, with the bonus of easy machining. However that grade of steel rusts very quickly and seizes in the bolt hole.

Look at the grade marking on the bolt head. If you use new grade 8 bolts, there will not be so much rusting.

Finally, molybdenum disulfide, either powdered or in a grease compound (such as Molykote), should keep the bolts from seizing in the future. Just be sure to reduce the factory's torque wrench setting to about 60% of the standard.