Favorite Cheater Bar Setup?

[BQuicksilver]

Okay, I try not to abuse my tools, but at times it's a must to get more lever.

What is your preferred method?

If yours is "pipe" what type of pipe vs what tool do you prefer? Just looking for tips/tricks to be a little more safe when things aren't going well.

 

[AZ_Catskinner]

I personally won't use a cheater anymore, EVER. Smacked myself hard enough to crack my hardhat when a breaker bar sheared off.

If I can't get it with the long breaker bar, I just go directly to the impact.

 

[Buxfan]

Floor jack handle usually. Simple, available and effective.

 

[4x4gearhead]

For select big tight fasteners I use a 6 ft long aluminum tube i got from a tiller, these are like m75 fasteners mind you.

 

[reptilezs]

i work at a bicycle shop so old seatposts and shafts from pumps

 

[Gregg33]

Whatever's handy. I never seem to have a pipe laying around, so I usually put my foot on the end of the wrench (I'm 215 lbs) or if I'm using a ratchet or breaker bar I put the end of the ratchet or breaker bar through a large combination wrench's box end. I know that's dangerous and not very smart lol, that's why I hardly ever do that. Normally I work on stuff that's not rusty, plus I'm pretty strong and have access to an impact, so I rarely have to resort to drastic measures.

 

[PhantomEB]

Left over piece of tube from my roll cage project. Theres actually several lengths between 2-4 ft long.

 

[shampoop]

I don't. I use the correct tool.

 

[DrkMtnDew]

i have several different sizes of pipe that all fit snuggly inside one an other to save space in my toolbox. one is just a small piece of aircraft tubing, an other is black plumbing pipe, and finally a piece of stainless steel i found on the road. being raised on a farm, a 3 foot cheater on a 3/8'' ratchet wasn't an uncommon thing. it had to get the job done, period.

 

[shank]

old ford tie rod end (the long one) works great and my so breaker bar slips right in.
for those or you that say use and impact or you the right tool, there are some things even an impact work take off, namely german cars where the crank bolt is tighten to 90 ft lbs and then 90 degrees and been on for ten years.

 

[diesel research]

40" doesn't need much pipe.

 

[GDA]

None. 24" 1/2 drive breaker bar and if that isn't enough then step up to 40" 3/4 drive breaker bar.

 

[BQuicksilver]

for those or you that say use and impact or you the right tool, there are some things even an impact work take off, namely german cars where the crank bolt is tighten to 90 ft lbs and then 90 degrees and been on for ten years.

Crank bolts are exactly what prompted me to start this thread. Can't use an impact and I'm pretty sure the one on my vette was 220 with some extra. I bet it took 700+ to break it loose. Took me (215lb) and a friend (275lb) hanging off a 24" breaker with 4' of pipe on it last time. Rediculous.

 

[Gareth68]

3 foot breaker bar usually doesn't need any help. I am a tater eater. If the impact won't move it, I grab the breaker bar and can usually muscle it off.


I have been known to double wrench in a tight spot on occasion before, though.

 

[sberry]

I have a setup, have seen others similar.

 

[kc-steve]

I have a setup, have seen others similar.

That's a kewl idea! I rarely ever use a cheater bar, but, there have been times I didn't want to fire up the compressor so I would just use some round pipe. Not plumbing pipe though. I like your set up though.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[davesnothere]

Floor jack handle usually. Simple, available and effective.

when i have to, i do this as well.

 

[tigmusky]

sprinkler pipe drill and tap holes with allen set screws. mostly for tighting bolts, not that they need to be that tight. just when you have to tighen up a 100 or so , makes life a little easier

 

[hammergodthor]

Any pipe I can find. Not very often, and works best with a flexhead ratchet, because there never seems to be enough room to work. I wish somebody would make a breaker bar where the drive stub would bend past 90 degrees, to say 120 or so.

However, my new SO 25" flex head ratchet works great!

 

[pfbz]

Superstrut...

 

[donhd04]

floor jack handle usually. Simple, available and effective.

x2 !!!!

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

Floor jack handle usually. Simple, available and effective.

This is what I usually do. Hard to lose a jack handle and I always know where it is....

 

[Ford12508]

4" length of black pipe. Large and stought so nothing is going to bend that. Generally though I can muscle most things off with just a ratchet/breaker bar. The cheater bar only comes out under extreme measures where nothing else will work. Generally I use my 2135timax if need be, but there are some things even it won't do.

 

[DaleK]

10' length of 2" pipe, 1" drive t-handle or ratchet, usually with a 2 7/8" socket on the gang axles on my disk. Usually takes me (310 lbs) hanging on the end of the pipe to get it turning the first time.

 

[larry_g]

The most used cheater I have used is a 3" long piece of 1/4 or 3/8" pipe. Great for slipping over the short end of a hex key to reach into deep places. I also have some lengths of 1 1/2" and 2" water pipe for the bigger stuff. Its all a matter of leverage.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[joshthedieseltech]

I've use a block of wood and a floor jack, had a starter bolt on a cat engine, all I could get on it was a 10mm 8inch wrench, place block of wood on jack, contact wrench with wood and keep jacking.

Never failed yet.

 

[sberry]

I used something similar to unistrut for chain binders, tacked a couple flats across it and it kept the bar/pipe from spinning in hand. The flat bar with bolts in it has tapped holes, could even weld some flat washers to the bolts but it was nice to be able to adjust to wrench and was quick to make.
Those are tools that fall under doing what you got to do when you got to do it. In a perfect world one would have the ideal wrench for everything and makes sense for production but when something comes up I am all for resorting to doing what it takes, ain't worth buying another pile of wrenches over in most cases.

 

[SledgeFix]

One thing to always be sure of is where the bar is going to go if it either breaks loose suddenly or snaps back. Don't be there, especially if you have more than one person on the bar. I use an HF 27" bar, it's not required on a motorcycle (not much can't be accessed by an impact) but I often need a reaction bar for through-frame bolts that are placed so I can't grab a wrench on the other side. I'd use my nicer bars but they're not as long to hit the ground/table at a good shallow angle and the bolts don't have an unmanageable torque value for a regular 1/2"-drive hand ratchet to hit, it's just that they spin without loosening. Sometimes I grab a bungee cord to hold the socket/breaker to the frame tube if the nut doesn't give the socket good purchase.

If I had to do a crank nut, ideally I'd buy a spendy 3/4"-drive bar with an impact socket to match, and some very good pipe to snugly fit over it. I have seen something either from Lisle or K-D tools that uses an air hammer like a right-angle impact wrench, if the price was comparable, that could save effort. I think I skipped it over because the torque arm was shorter than I thought it needed to be and the hammer shaft was very long to reach oddball engines. If you had access to a welder, you might take a hammer bit and a serpentine belt tool and make your own.

 

[wafrederick]

A piece of exhaust pipe laying around and I have had lugnuts that would not come loose with an impact.latest one was a Chevy truck on the rear lugnuts,ended up putting the transmission in park and heard a "snap" and lugnuts came loose using a breaker bar on a Cheater bar.Even the 1988 to 1999 GM "W" body cars with the front brake caliper bracket bolts which uses a T60 bit,the bolts are tight and break loose with a loud "snap" using a breaker bar with cheater bar on it which anyone would think they broke the bit which did not happen.