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Bending a wrench
- Thread starter Johnwa
- Start date
DPittman
Ultra Member
I know I've seen wrenches bent on family farm to fit certain applications, I doubt they were rehardened but also doubt they had their original strength. I'm guessing that in those cases maximum strength wasn't necessary but accessibility was the most important. I'd guess that unless you know the nut is on really tight you'd probably be okay with a bent wrench if it has decent size to begin with.
Brent H
Ultra Member
We have heated up and bent a number of wrenches for different applications. I especially like bending the Snap-on ones as it really boils some of the Snap-on purists blood. LOL
depending on the application and where you bend the wrench (like stay away from the ends as you want those parts more wear resistant) there is not a lot of strength lost that would destroy the wrench in normal use.
we have also cut wrench’s and welded them to extensions. My lathe wrench is 7/8 on one end and 9/16 on the other - just cut two wrenches and welded them together - works great!
depending on the application and where you bend the wrench (like stay away from the ends as you want those parts more wear resistant) there is not a lot of strength lost that would destroy the wrench in normal use.
we have also cut wrench’s and welded them to extensions. My lathe wrench is 7/8 on one end and 9/16 on the other - just cut two wrenches and welded them together - works great!
+1
I've bent, cut, welded alloy wrenches but never tested them to the breaking point. They have always tightened/loosened to what I needed. My tractor uses 15mm and 17mm so I cut and welded the open ends together so I only need to carry one wrench.
How much bend do you need?
Edit- No Brent H,,,,, I did not weld the open ends together,,,,,
I've bent, cut, welded alloy wrenches but never tested them to the breaking point. They have always tightened/loosened to what I needed. My tractor uses 15mm and 17mm so I cut and welded the open ends together so I only need to carry one wrench.
How much bend do you need?
Edit- No Brent H,,,,, I did not weld the open ends together,,,,,
Last edited:
Chicken lights
Forum Pony Express Driver
Bet you can still get warranty on them if you break them
Chicken lights
Forum Pony Express Driver
Why is it that you can have 6 different length/shape/angle of the same size wrench and none of them work in the spot you’re wrenching in?
DPittman
Ultra Member
I think engineers sometimes design things that way because they get a chuckle out of thinking how some poor sap is going to struggle removing a part.
I have an old Ford tractor that getting one starter bolt out/in is damn near impossible. It's easy to do if you have the injector pump off but to get the injector pump off you almost have to have the starter off! I've tried several different specialty wrenches and adaptations but nothing worked well (or most not at all).
I'm not an expert but I think there is little risk of it hardening by heating it to a state of red, doing the bend & letting it cool on its own. A proper quench requires it to come down in temperature rapidly. That's usually the bigger challenge, making it come down fast enough. Even air quench steel alloy usually means it has external air blast or clamped between plates to (both keep straight and) pull heat away. I think annealing things like files so they can be re-shaped into blades is essentially this process, but longer soak & normalization. Now will the wrench have internal stresses or maybe changed chemistry if not in carbon rich/neutral flame, probably. But probably still worth a try if the need requires & tool is mostly sacrificial. There used to be a place in SE that sold used tools & machines. Wrenches & screwdrivers were spit cheap, they had bins of them. But I think the place is no more.
Some pawn shops have bins of wrenches for a buck or two, and auctions are great for sacrificial sockets and wrenched.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
They were called “Quality Tools” on 52nd beside RONA in Forest Lawn. Owner told me that the overhead was too much and not enough consignments flowed through the shop any more. Used to get my $10 coveralls from them. They dabbled into Antiques for a while in the end - that stuff was overpriced - then they shut down.
I usually get mine from garage sales, pawn shops, places like that.
Made a few specially bent wrenches over the years, especially 15mm box ends bent 90 degrees for 5.9/6.7 Cummins turbo nuts, and 90 degree 9/16" box ends for Dodge transfer case nuts. Only issue I had was that they evaporated into others' tool boxes . . . never broke one though, even with snipes on them!
Made a few specially bent wrenches over the years, especially 15mm box ends bent 90 degrees for 5.9/6.7 Cummins turbo nuts, and 90 degree 9/16" box ends for Dodge transfer case nuts. Only issue I had was that they evaporated into others' tool boxes . . . never broke one though, even with snipes on them!
I think the heat is too high in your shop Francis!