How to reach 180 degrees down on a bolt?

[Achilleus]

Greetings - I have to undo a couple of bolts that are pointing directly upwards (its an egr pipe off a lexus exhaust), but the only access point is from right underneath and with very little room. Are there any tools that can do that angle? I thought of a flex head ratchet turned 180, but at that angle you can't put any torque on the handle.

If I try to bend an 3/8" extension bar with two 90's, and maybe an inch between the bends - anyone know if it would shatter or not, or even retain any strength? Any other options?

 

[chrisziem]

ratcheting crows feet maybe

 

[srmofo]

flarenut crows foot and an extension.

 

[balane]

Do you have a photo? Are the fasteners 10mm or 12mm maybe? What about a metric distributor wrench?

 

[GSteg]

Just out of curiosity, what Lexus is it?

 

[Hammer1963]

I have run into this problem on ES 330, RX models and a few other Lexus models. I use a double flex head Cornwell spline drive wrench or a Blue Point ratcheting box end. Good luck, a little tricky, but can be done

 

[Achilleus]

96 Lexus LS400, 240K miles. The nuts are probably 12mm, +/- a couple of mm. I can't check for sure until I get the cat off. But its all metric.

And yes a crows foot seems to be one answer. I have some open ended but I never had the flare nut version. I so wish there was a closed version of this!

 

[chrisziem]

Snappy goodness

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item...group_ID=19602&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

 

[GSteg]

Ah the infamous crack on the EGR pipe?

A buddy of mine who use to work at the dealership would drop the catalytic convertor to make a lot more room. That plus a swivel socket will make things a lot easier. You might even get away with just using swivel sockets before doing anything else, but most people have trouble with the nut itself. Even with room, you might round off the nut. The 95-97 guys have it bad.

 

[Achilleus]

Yes, cracked all the way through. I thought about stuffing the tube with glass wool if I can't get it off. Apparently in Japan they don't even use the pipe, and there are blank-off kits available. But you still have the get it off.

chrisziem - those look interesting, but since this is likely to be a rusted on for 16 years bolt, I would want non-ratcheting and 6-point.

Doesn't anyone make the equivalent of a crows foot without the opening?

 

[Achilleus]

What about two of these?

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item...group_ID=20239&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

 

[srmofo]

Doesn't anyone make the equivalent of a crows foot without the opening?

You might try to find a torque wrench adapter but all the ones I have seen are 12 point.....

I have personally seen a 12 point SO socket remove a fastener that appeared to be almost round. The customer brought it to us after he mangled it using cheap **** from the parts store. The 12 point SO might surprise you....just run it to warm it up and apply a little wax before attempting to break it loose

 

[apexit1]

I had a very similar problem on my car. Ended up using a 12mm crows foot, wish I had known before tackling it, I would have bought a racheting set instead.