Speed Handles --- What They Good For?

[sk farmer]

i don't use them often but i do on occasion.

we used to have a few gm pickups with center cap on the rims. they were held on by captive plastic nuts that just needed to be snug. any more than that and they stripped off. picked up several on the road over the years and the nuts were all stripped. and fell off. i would gusess shortly after a tire change or rotation. with a spinner you could feel when they were tight enough but not so tight to strip out.

 

[In The Doghouse]

It's interesting seeing who thinks they're worthless and who still uses them. I remember my father had an eggbeater drill that was occasionally used for drilling into wood. I can see how they've fallen out of favor.
I've had this brace hanging on the garage wall for a long time, I used to play with it when I was a kid. Some day I should clean it up; it would be handsome.

 

[Kscardsfan]

They are kind of nice for doing spark plugs. But even then its not a necessity. I know guys who build a lot of fences like to use them for some part of the operation. I have a couple, but I almost never get them out. Maybe I'll do tune ups on everything this weekend and justify their existence.

 

[finn]

It's interesting seeing who thinks they're worthless and who still uses them. I remember my father had an eggbeater drill that was occasionally used for drilling into wood. I can see how they've fallen out of favor.
I've had this brace hanging on the garage wall for a long time, I used to play with it when I was a kid. Some day I should clean it up; it would be handsome.

Made me laugh…
In the mid sixties when I was probably still a pre teen, I started asking for tools instead of toys for Christmas. My mom obliged by getting a nice brace when I asked for a drill. I remember trying to present a brave face when I opened that wrapped package Christmas morning, expecting a nice 1/4” electric drill, and getting a brace instead.

I still have that brace, sixty three years later. I doubt it’s been used a half dozen times.

Several years later my cousin and I were working on his 65 Mercury, and he pulled a SnapOn speed wrench out of his bag. I was envious, but never had enough spare money to buy one, as there were always higher priorities. Now I occasionally see them, well used and in need of some love, at swap meets, but they still haven’t risen to the must have level on my list.

Maybe someday.

 

[wolf_from_wv]

Speed handle > 1/4" square to hex adapter > 1/4" hex shank drill chuck

Improvised drill?

 

[cvairwerks]

Here's something that is easy to do with a speed handle when you have recalcitrant hardware. You can add extensions if you don't have one of the longer ones and position yourself to where you use your body as a axial loading force. By doing so, you can get extremely high forces to keep a bit engaged in a screw head or a socket on a nasty bolt head. I've been able to sit on a work stool and use my thigh and lower leg to apply enough force on a screw head, that I'm lifting a wing several inches while breaking the fastener loose...can't really do that with a ratchet or a electric impact or screw gun...

 

[Chipm]

Oh, totally forgot: I used one a couple of weeks back on a valve cover job after undoing the fuel line. I didn't want to use the electric ratchet around fuel vapor. On a related note, that reminds me of the time I was cleaning a drill with brake cleaner and accidentally popped the trigger...

 

[Nutria]

As noted above, sometimes they are just the ticket. I use mine juuust enough to keep them in the box.

 

[Mr. Tool]

Looks like I'm the odd guy out having recently purchased a NEW one from Koken.
I mostly use mine when doing up repetitive fasteners, think oil pan bolts, spark plugs and coil retaining bolts on BMW inline 6 engines.
Not enough leverage with these to damage anything(think small bolts into aluminum) and excellent feel for how the bolt is tightening.

On the Koken NO YOUR NOT.....I've also got a Koken 2780 3/8" Driver Speeder Handle as well as an SK 4518 3/8"....will use them from time to time....it's never been a problem with me having and using them.

 

[zimman]

wall art

Four of those have ratchets attached, or were ratchets to begin with. LOL
Nice work.
Zim
Note: The first step in "Speed Wrench Addiction" is to admit you have a problem and it's occupied a whole wall. LMAO

 

[rust in the eye]

Speed handle > 1/4" square to hex adapter > 1/4" hex shank drill chuck

Improvised drill?

See "hand brace"

 

[jayemm]

Here's something that is easy to do with a speed handle when you have recalcitrant hardware. You can add extensions if you don't have one of the longer ones and position yourself to where you use your body as a axial loading force. By doing so, you can get extremely high forces to keep a bit engaged in a screw head or a socket on a nasty bolt head. I've been able to sit on a work stool and use my thigh and lower leg to apply enough force on a screw head, that I'm lifting a wing several inches while breaking the fastener loose...can't really do that with a ratchet or a electric impact or screw gun...

I know where your coming from. After using a speed handle to remove/install thousands of screws in Navy aircraft, it's only use in civilian life was speeding up removal/installation of lug nuts. Like many others I developed a disdain for Phillips screws even while knowing the reason for their design. It still sucked when some SOB, somewhere and at some time, stripped out about 15-20 (#2 Phillips of course) screws on a belly antenna panel and they required drilling out. Had to do the job out on the ramp using an air drill powered by the nitrogen cart with the big bottle. Never forgot that experience which only increased my love for Phillips screws.

 

[Rockable]

I like to use them when building engines, transmissions, etc. You can feel if a fastener and thread are not meshing properly and you can tighten all the fasteners around a pan or head to roughly the same torque before torquing them. I just don't trust power wrenches for that work.

 

[bonneyman]

I've got two, I think. Both 3/8" drive, one is a Thorsen.
I dreamt about making a wooden tool tray out of pallet planks, and inserting the speed handle from the inside to act as a carrying handle. Just for my Thorsen stuff. Never got past the conceptual stage though.

 

[wolf_from_wv]

See "hand brace"

It seems I could buy a corded or cordless drill for less than a hand brace around here...

 

[dr_clyde]

Four of those have ratchets attached, or were ratchets to begin with. LOL
Nice work.
Zim
Note: The first step in "Speed Wrench Addiction" is to admit you have a problem and it's occupied a whole wall. LMAO

I wish we had a way to see all of Snapmom's incredible collection. Easily one of the largest Snap-on collections I have ever seen.

 

[dnschmidt]

Still popular in other parts of the world like Europe and Asia. Much less so in the USA where impact drivers and battery powered screwdrivers are cheap and easily available.

 

[four.cycle]

Still popular in other parts of the world like Europe and Asia.

Great!
Will they pay for shipping?

 

[rust in the eye]

It seems I could buy a corded or cordless drill for less than a hand brace around here...

Yeah, I've seen ads that imply these things are made of gold. Any time I've had one I struggled to give it away. I suspect many remain unsold. I'm currently sitting a few long bits for brace so anybody listening may have them for postage

 

[My Old Tools]

Put them in the same drawer with the Yankee Drill and Brace-and-Bit.

Brace and bits are very handy...

 

[NoahG]

I used my speeder recently to tap some acrylic with a 10-24 tap. It was a great way to maintain straight downward pressure while cutting the threads.

I had a spare 3/8 drive speeder that I gave to a friend that does small engine repair. He’s a big fan of it.

 

[Chipm]

I put one in the portable box today. Just for fun, I am going to try to use it instead of the electric impact driver for a few days.

 

[liliysdad]

I put one in the portable box today. Just for fun, I am going to try to use it instead of the electric impact driver for a few days.

I’m not sure that word means what you think that word means.

 

[Bad Eye Bill]

I've got 3 or 4, 1/2" and 3/8" drives.

Don't use them a lot but they're as handy as a pocket on your shirt at times.

 

[scottybk]

Throw one in the car trunk with a socket on it for whatever size your lug nuts are. Wrap it in a rag or something to stop it from rattling.

If you ever have to change a tire on the side of the road, the couple minutes it saves you could literally be life or death. Every minute spent roadside is ultra high risk with the maniacs on the road today who treat the shoulder like a travel lane, while watching movies on their phone after shooting fentalnyl and smoking 2 joints.

 

[YesIHaveAHammer]

We had a single sized one in the caravan for doing the corner jacks.

Like a T handle driver, it's good for adjustments as it allow you to easily count revolutions. X many turns on that jack, half a turn on that valve, quarter turn on that alignment adjuster.

 

[liliysdad]

Throw one in the car trunk with a socket on it for whatever size your lug nuts are. Wrap it in a rag or something to stop it from rattling.

If you ever have to change a tire on the side of the road, the couple minutes it saves you could literally be life or death. Every minute spent roadside is ultra high risk with the maniacs on the road today who treat the shoulder like a travel lane, while watching movies on their phone after shooting fentalnyl and smoking 2 joints.

Wouldn’t a breaker bar be faster, since you don’t have to change sockets from tool to tool…and you can spin them on just as fast as a speed handle?

Some pretty impressive straw grasping to make an obsolete tool…not.

 

[larry_g]

Some years back the wife and I were at a swap meet and she came back with 8-10 speed handles. She used them for staking some flowers in the flower bed out side the shop.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[nadogail]

I bought my first socket sets in 1956, or maybe ‘55; it came from Sears with both a 1/2” and a 3/8 Speed Handle .
Speed Handles were soon rendered obsolete by the Impact Wrench.

 

[scottybk]

The older Craftsmen ones from the 1950s era were very nice. They have a sleeve that rotates around the palm grip area, at least on the 1/2 drive version.

I have one of these but almost never use it.

I've never seen a 3/4 drive version, at least not in C'man.

I'm a big drive guy BTW, I like 5/16 sockets in 1/2 drive. Anything over 9/16 or 14 mm I go up to 3/4 drive. I'm a torque junkie. I went to rehab but they kicked me out when they found a 1 inch drive 36 inch breaker bar under my mattress with a 5.5 mm socket on it

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

In high school our engine building team used these all the time because they can’t use power or air tools in competition. I’ve got a few in my collection at home but as a professional auto technician I’ve never used one in the shop and never seen one be used with the exception of that engine building team.

 

[four.cycle]

The older Craftsmen ones from the 1950s era were very nice. They have a sleeve that rotates around the palm grip area, at least on the 1/2 drive version.

^ There was one on the rack over at Earthwise this afternoon when I was there picking up some stuff. Bensen will probably let you have it for a buck. There was a Penens and an unbranded one in the bin too. None of them came home with me.

 

[neharr41]

Another aircraft mechanic here, I use my 1/4” drive speed handle (with the black knob of course) along with a breaker bar type ratchet adapter for removing stuck screws.

The knob allows you to put a ton of pressure to prevent your bit from slipping and the ratchet adapter allows you to “reset” the bit in the screw head before it gets a chance to slip and cam out the fastener. The ratchet adapter is especially key when you’re dealing with a somewhat chewed-up nutplate and the screw is tight all the way out.

I also use my speed handle with a wobble socket on the end for small fasteners on turbine engines. Every single engine fastener has a self-locking feature, so it’s not like you can just break them loose with a ratchet and then spin them out with your fingers. To me it’s a much more comfortable motion to rotate the speed handle rather than twisting your wrist with a ratchet.

 

[rust in the eye]

Another aircraft mechanic here, I use my 1/4” drive speed handle (with the black knob of course) along with a breaker bar type ratchet adapter for removing stuck screws.

The knob allows you to put a ton of pressure to prevent your bit from slipping and the ratchet adapter allows you to “reset” the bit in the screw head before it gets a chance to slip and cam out the fastener. The ratchet adapter is especially key when you’re dealing with a somewhat chewed-up nutplate and the screw is tight all the way out.

I also use my speed handle with a wobble socket on the end for small fasteners on turbine engines. Every single engine fastener has a self-locking feature, so it’s not like you can just break them loose with a ratchet and then spin them out with your fingers. To me it’s a much more comfortable motion to rotate the speed handle rather than twisting your wrist with a ratchet.

While it can't be done with those prevailing torque fasteners it is especially satisfying to spin civilian grade fasteners in/out one handed

 

[Chipm]

I decided to use them today while doing spark plugs on some kind of Audi. I think they were just as fast as the electric ratchet. However, there was a much more enjoyable Zen like feeling to the job. I also like to run the spark plugs backwards two or three turns so that I don't cross thread them, and the handle made that much easier than changing direction on a ratchet. I prefer the flat top Proto handle to the ratchet style snap on handle.

 

[Ultradog MN]

I still have one living in the camping trailer. It runs the jacks up and down. Any others are long gone.

X2.
Was going to say the same thing. Have one that lives in the camp trailer.

 

[emeraldcoupe]

i use them when building engines for running down oil pan bolts, intake bolts, etc.

 

[AEAdam]

I decided to use them today while doing spark plugs on some kind of Audi. I think they were just as fast as the electric ratchet. However, there was a much more enjoyable Zen like feeling to the job. I also like to run the spark plugs backwards two or three turns so that I don't cross thread them, and the handle made that much easier than changing direction on a ratchet. I prefer the flat top Proto handle to the ratchet style snap on handle.

Yeah and keep in mind, they have this sort of built in extension that gets you away from the fastener without any wobble from one or more joints. The directional control for starting screws, plugs etc, is kinda unparalleled.

I'm with you guys I don't use mine on every job. But I think its well worth having a 1/4" drive model. Used prices are low enough and you don't have to worry about a rebuild kit!

 

[BonzoHansen]

geez, i have 1 or 2 around here somewhere, No use for them. probably in the same box as an old hand drill

 

[KnurledNut]

Throw one in the car trunk with a socket on it for whatever size your lug nuts are. Wrap it in a rag or something to stop it from rattling.

If you ever have to change a tire on the side of the road, the couple minutes it saves you could literally be life or death. Every minute spent roadside is ultra high risk with the maniacs on the road today who treat the shoulder like a travel lane, while watching movies on their phone after shooting fentalnyl and smoking 2 joints.

Wouldn’t a breaker bar be faster, since you don’t have to change sockets from tool to tool…and you can spin them on just as fast as a speed handle?

With regards to lug nuts, the 1/2 flex head speeder performs both functions. Speed on the nut and then swivel to tighten as you would with a breaker bar. Same for removal.

i.e. Snap-on SN4B


This brings to mind a YT video from several years ago where a guy made a longer version by welding a breaker bar to a speed handle: