Inaugural meeting of the Percussive Maintenance Society

[MattBLancs]

Inspired by recent threads which have turned into extended discussion on the merits of hammers to resolve various car maintenance issues, I thought worthwhile we had a thread just for that!

E.g.
viewtopic.php?t=74064

Roughly page 59 here too,
viewtopic.php?t=41082&start=870


Suggested but not limited to topics for here:

• 'ammers and tools wot you 'it wiv 'um

• hammer size/type recommendations? E.g. for specific tasks perhaps

• "and then I hit it with me hammer and" .... Successes and amusing failures

[MattBLancs]

To try and get the ball rolling,

Tools what you hit with them:

• Manual impact screwdriver

Simple but handy tool, normally 1/2" square drive to suit sockets and then an 8mm hex adapter to suit the impact specific bits.
Have an old one of these and some newer eBay special Torx adapters.
Strange tool to use in my experience as usage normally follows a now familiar pattern: hammer away on the end of the thing, with no apparent progress and a feeling of dismay, then suddenly you are presented with a completely loose fixing, often easily unscrewed by hand.

• pin punches

Pretty obvious stuff, good for tapping out brake pad retaining pins, stubborn bolts that aren't threaded into anything yet equally seem reluctant to come out their hole!

A few things mentioned by others recently that I will need to dig out for discussion

[MattBLancs]

Some other impact tools I've gone across, but yet to experience:

The impact power bar:
https://www.lasertools.co.uk/Product/76 ... rive-330mm

Sealey impact power bar

As far as I can make out, there's no cleverness/ mechanism in the black lump, you just lever with the handle and belt the black lump with a big hammer.

Has advantage of separation of the applied torque from the impact forces, so should be limited risk of shearing a bolt with it.

[MattBLancs]

This is another oddball I'd not previously heard of, found on Google after described on here (can't find the thread in question again now)

The "hand impact wrench"

Hand impact wrench

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175064640545

Seems a good gizmo, but can't help wonder if is putting side forces on socket/bolt??

[MattBLancs]

Last one for tonight, and not "conventional hammer driven"

A similar idea to the impact power bar above, this is an air hammer attachment allowing hand applied torque to be used in conjunction with pounding the living snot out of it with an air hammer:

Screw buster

https://www.frost.co.uk/eastwood-screw-buster/
Rather unfortunate name, I think I would rather them loosened than "busted" which to my mind is more at the sheared off or otherwise broken end of the spectrum!

[NewcastleFalcon]

Always like to support a new thread on the OTCL Matt, like I said in my POTD post today

Q. Does the FCF have a Thread for...
A. Of course it does, and if it doesn't start one

This is the arsenal I assembled to attempt, eventually successful after a major struggle, to get a silly pin out from the bottom of a Xantia Rear strut. All sorts of ground down centre punches.



and...

the Falcon method when Brake discs just do not come off hubs by conventional means. Grind slots in the disc with an angle grinder, select a cold chisel, place in one of the slots, and bash it with reasonable force with a lunp hammer, and hey presto let the brittle qualities of the disc work for you and it nicely falls off the hub split right across the middle. Saves hours of fruitless direct hammering.

viewtopic.php?p=619725&hilit=disc+removal#p619725

Step 1 Cut two slots with an angle grinder

Step 2. Wedge a screwdriver/cold chisel in the top slot and hit with a hammer


Neil

[MattBLancs]

Wow, I've never (yet!) Had a disk as stuck to the hub as to need that treatment!

I quite like the similar "wedge chisel in a cut slot" in the perhaps even more brittle inner race of a wheel bearing, don't risk damaging the drive flange, so don't try to hard to cut through the race completely, just get near then swap to a cold chisel and hammer, "clink!" eventually a crack propogating from the angle grinder slot

[NewcastleFalcon]

Had recent experience of the stuck driveshaft in the hub, when replacing the driveshaft on a Renault Clio in the maintenance fleet and a situation where human beings manually wielding whatever sized hammer would never have got the the driveshaft out of the hub. The final successful act however while the hydraulic press exerted its thousands of pounds/sq inch was my own encouraging blow with a hammer on the hub

The major part of the work was one which I hadn't come across before. The splined shaft being struck in the hub. Had the hub off the vehicle entirely, angle grinded the driveshaft to a manageable length and proceeded up the increasing force scale together with drifts hammers and a chisel action hammer drill to get the shaft out of the hub.

So I called for the Cavalry and took the hub and stuck driveshaft up to Les' Workshop where his trusty hydraulic press had removed many a similarly stuck thing from agricultural machinery. Proved beyond doubt that my various manual efforts were a complete waste of time, and the shaft only released after maximum pressure was applied by the press, in conjunction with a bit of heavy duty heat with a gas torch, and finally a belt on the hub with a hammer.

The splines on the hub and the shaft were not rusted in the slightest and perfectly serviceable for installation of the new shaft.

If you have never had the misfortune of such a complication to a relatively straightforward driveshaft replacement this video example does show the type of force which occasionally is required. I have started the vid at the pressing out bit. The vid is of a Ford Focus but nicely illustrates the degree of stuckness I faced with the Clio.

Neil

[Michel]

"If it doesn't work, hit it with a hammer. If it breaks, doesn't matter, it was f@!ked anyway"..

[MattBLancs]

Similarly

There's no such thing as "I can't fix it" = you just need a bigger hammer

[NewcastleFalcon]

Inspired by recent threads which have turned into extended discussion on the merits of hammers to resolve various car maintenance issues, I thought worthwhile we had a thread just for that!

Bang on topic, literally.

I took a trick of the trade from Les, agricultural machinery fixer extraordinaire, and applied it with refreshing success to free-off a tie rod end locknut, which other tools in the tool box were defeated by. Best to do it before the hex is rounded off with futile attempts with spanners of any shape or form.

Requires two hammers and a "knack" in the force and precision of the blows...here they are. The releasing effect is achieved by temporary distortion of the nut one way on one pair of flats, followed by a different distortion on the next pair of flats and so on.

Works

Falcon Original (nut for illustrative purposes-its not a tie rod end locknut)
I call this one
two hammers and a nut on an oildrum

Neil

[CitroJim]

Excellent Neil That two hammer trick works remarkably well for breaking the balljoint tapers too.

[mickthemaverick]

Neil

Are you sure the nut wasn't on the end of the hammers Neil?

[MattBLancs]

A good technique I hope to remember to try when the need arises!

But I think you need to treat that poor thing to a new shaft!

Poor thing!

New handles pretty reasonable and a job I find really satisfying!
https://www.cwberry.com/hand-tools/gene ... and-wedges

[MattBLancs]

Hammer head meets hammer handle meets wallop from a wooden mallet

Thump

Fairly slim shaft, larger hole in head? = Overshot slightly.

Too far

Trim back with saw, then add a wedge to secure

Wedge (not yet driven flush)

Finally add to pile of all the other perfectly serviceable hammers (these just from the small end of "the collection")

All the light coloured shafts were new