Breaker bar design

[Hohn]

There are a couple of situations where I prefer the breaker bar to a ratchet.

1. If I'm holding a nut and hammering away with an impact wrench

2. If I'm working partially seized fasteners back and forth (using heat or penetrating oil)

3. Very tight Wheel bolts/hub nuts/crank pulleys (the pivot point of a breaker bar is in a better position than a flex-head ratchet IMHO)

I love my flex-head ratchets/impact wrenches and use them all the time, but I always carry 3 breaker bars in my van (3/8-1/2-3/4") just in case

Cases 1 and 2 are ESPECIALLY perfectly suited for a breaker. As someone with older and rusty vehicles, I'm appreciating #2 more and more.

 

[sz0k30]

Harbor Freight basically has 2 levels of breaker bars. The cheaper version has an external head. The better "Icon" brand has an internal head.

As a side note, and this might not have anything to do with anything, but there is a kind of similarity to straight front axles used on vehicles. In the early years of the auto industry the front axles on vehicles were called "Elliot" axles. The end of the axle (the kingpin end) was an open "C" and the knuckle fit inside of the axle end. In Later years up thru today on heavy duty semi's, the axle is a "Reverse Elliot" axle where the kingpin end is kind of straight with the knuckle having the open "C" fitting over the axle end.

Strength or ease of manufacturing???

 

[Hohn]

Strength or ease of manufacturing???

Likely the latter.
At some point it doesn't matter whether the yoke or the driveshaft is the weaker half of the u-joint, it still fails at the u-joint.

Breaker bars will fail at the anvil-- internal vs external DOES NOT MATTER*.
*If it does matter, it really comes down to details like how the forging of the head has a grain flow that does or doesn't make the anvil stronger. It's possible for one or the other forging to produce a stronger anvil, and thus a stronger bar.

For all I know, HF might have insisted the Icon bars had the internal head design just because Snappy does it and they want their bars to be perceived as "pro grade."
Heck, even the Pittsburgh Pro bar was internal.
Remember this old ToolTuber?

 

[Beerhippie]

There are a couple of situations where I prefer the breaker bar to a ratchet.

1. If I'm holding a nut and hammering away with an impact wrench

2. If I'm working partially seized fasteners back and forth (using heat or penetrating oil)

3. Very tight Wheel bolts/hub nuts/crank pulleys (the pivot point of a breaker bar is in a better position than a flex-head ratchet IMHO)

I love my flex-head ratchets/impact wrenches and use them all the time, but I always carry 3 breaker bars in my van (3/8-1/2-3/4") just in case

#2!

#4: Lug wrench. I don't carry an impact wrench in the rig, and a breaker bar is perfect for removing lug nut/bolts. Once they're broken loose, the bar then becomes a spinner.

#5: Weapon. Believe it or not, a handy 1/2" breaker bar in the rig has saved my hide a couple of times, without even having to use it. I guess a long ratchet would work as well....

 

[Wubicon]

Use a long enough cheater bar and you can break either design.

 

[Ohio Andy]

If you question what I said, please feel free to back it up with a calculation. Take round bar. It's round. Mill off the sides. You've removed area. Have you increased the area? No. But junior engineers that haven't taken mechanics of materials know more than I do.

But does the calculation have to have anything to do with the discussion?

We start by assuming we have a spherical cow... (Everyone who took college physics understands that)...



Your rocking it @Steve_P don't stress it...

 

[finn]

I’ve spread the ears and popped the pin on the internal head design, and sheared the anvil on the external head design.

My conclusion is that either can fail.

 

[ecotec]

I have bent 1/2” breaker bars and I have broken the anvil off breaker bars. These were all vintage ones. I haven’t broken one at the pivot, and I haven’t broken a modern one. I have seen them deflect a good amount, but not enough for a bend to set in one.

I have both styles. I have both styles of Harbor Freight 24”ish and Snap-on internal style in 24”ish. I also have an ungodly number of shorter (16”-18”ish) vintage ones of all different USA brands of the middle 20th century…

I also have a 40”ish 3/4” breaker bar. The few times that I used it, both it and the 3/4” to 1/2” adapter did fine. I was wary of the adapter breaking, as this was the very obvious weak point.

I would also argue that any modern Snap-on ratchet is rated for more torque than any vintage breaker bar of similar length.

 

[jblnut]

This 1" drive internal head breaker bar took my 275lb self bouncing on the end of an 8' pipe to break this 3" nut loose on my disk. That's 2,200ft/lbs plus whatever the bounce factor adds in. I did the same thing to get it tight again when it went back together. Not saying this is the best design but for it to take that kind of force I'd say it's built well. This is far from the first time this has been done with this breaker bar. Anything heavier and I get out the homemade #5 spline drive breaker bar built with a piece of 2" diameter hydraulic cylinder shaft for a handle. That thing has survived being lifted by the forklift putting around 12,000ft/lbs on the end of a 2' shaft. Things move or break at that point. Either way they usually come loose

 

[Schurkey]

any modern Snap-on ratchet is rated for more torque than any vintage breaker bar of similar length.

Exactly why I ditched all my breaker-bars for quality ratchets.

 

[Hohn]

This 1" drive internal head breaker bar took my 275lb self bouncing on the end of an 8' pipe to break this 3" nut loose on my disk. That's 2,200ft/lbs plus whatever the bounce factor adds in. I did the same thing to get it tight again when it went back together. Not saying this is the best design but for it to take that kind of force I'd say it's built well. This is far from the first time this has been done with this breaker bar. Anything heavier and I get out the homemade #5 spline drive breaker bar built with a piece of 2" diameter hydraulic cylinder shaft for a handle. That thing has survived being lifted by the forklift putting around 12,000ft/lbs on the end of a 2' shaft. Things move or break at that point. Either way they usually come loose

You, sir, need to discover the virtues of slugging wrenches and a BFH.

 

[jblnut]

You, sir, need to discover the virtues of slugging wrenches and a BFH.

I have a 3” slug wrench and several BFH variants but they don’t work well on the disk as there is poor access for said BFH’s in most places.

The big boy breaker works well. Last time we lifted on it with the mini excavator and it worked a treat.

 

[sk farmer]

There are a couple of situations where I prefer the breaker bar to a ratchet.

1. If I'm holding a nut and hammering away with an impact wrench

2. If I'm working partially seized fasteners back and forth (using heat or penetrating oil)

3. Very tight Wheel bolts/hub nuts/crank pulleys (the pivot point of a breaker bar is in a better position than a flex-head ratchet IMHO)

I love my flex-head ratchets/impact wrenches and use them all the time, but I always carry 3 breaker bars in my van (3/8-1/2-3/4") just in case

i agree with all of the above and it is also the reason i keep breaker bars around.

i would also add access. i often run into occasions where there is not enough room for a ratchet head that pivots or flexes away from the center of rotation vs a breaker that flexes or rotates directly above the rotation of the nut or bolt.

 

[Paco Pena]

Never really thought much about it. I have a couple of 1/2 inch 20-24 inch breaker bars that I like and both are the internal head variety. If I need more than a reasonable amount of force I use an impact. I do like 1/4 inch and 3/8 inch breaker bars and find them useful.

Paco

 

[danielbuck]

This 1" drive internal head breaker bar took my 275lb self bouncing on the end of an 8' pipe to break this 3" nut loose on my disk. That's 2,200ft/lbs plus whatever the bounce factor adds in. I did the same thing to get it tight again when it went back together. Not saying this is the best design but for it to take that kind of force I'd say it's built well. This is far from the first time this has been done with this breaker bar. Anything heavier and I get out the homemade #5 spline drive breaker bar built with a piece of 2" diameter hydraulic cylinder shaft for a handle. That thing has survived being lifted by the forklift putting around 12,000ft/lbs on the end of a 2' shaft. Things move or break at that point. Either way they usually come loose

Archimedes over here...

 

[jblnut]

Archimedes over here...

With a long enough lever I can move the world …… or loosen a nut torqued to 2,200ft/lbs.

The book says “torque to at least 3,000ft/lbs” so I must have gotten a bit extra on the bounce lol. One of the last times I loosened a nut on that disk I had to use the excavator to lift on the breaker bar as I couldn’t make anything happen bouncing on it. Think what Archimedes could have done with some hydraulic power !!

 

[51dueller]

All this discer talk reminds me of the old seed discers (one ways in the USA) that had a 4 foot wrench cut from steel plate to lift the big cast iron marking wheel to put it in transport mode as it would definitely put a groove in the road if you didn't.