Hammering on a combination wrench

[Billythekid1]

I would have just grabbed a cutoff wheel and been done with it never would have clicked in my head to do that to a battery bolt

 

[egnorant]

Soft face hammer. Learned this from an ancient mechanic who had a wooden hammer that he would tap a wrench with. Never saw him just wailing on anything either...just tap, tap, tap and it would come loose. I think it was an old meat tenderizer mallet in a previous life.

For heavier work, my Dad made a 4x4 post into a hammer that is perfect for persuading axles out of spindles.

Bruce

 

[JohnDeere1]

I do it all the time wether it be a combo wrench or adjustable especially on tie rods or other suspension components. Or I do the double wrench trick by hooking a box end to the open end of the other which works well also even do these things to my SO wrenches who cares its a tool is how I think.

 

[tym]

I always thought of a hammer on a wrench as my poor man's impact wrench. I use a rubber mallet or wrap a rag around the end of the wrench and hit it with my hand.

Coach

I've done the latter too, but don't like bruised palms. People start to ask questions. LOL.

 

[thickhead]

Ive been hammering (literally) on a Gearwrench 8921 set for a dozen years.

For some reason I always grab that kit when I need to hammer shock something loose. My goto for brake caliper and bracket bolts. Maybe because the handle is so close to the plane of the nut like a wrench?

 

[Olafur]

I always thought of a hammer on a wrench as my poor man's impact wrench. I use a rubber mallet or wrap a rag around the end of the wrench and hit it with my hand.

Coach

Some of them just love to be hammered.

For example the sizes from 36mm and up when you are using the open end to bust loose hydraulic hoses in challenging situations or generally just having fun.

On battery terminals?
Nono...

 

[Tonyuk]

I hammered on a new-ish britool combo spanner with a 6 point box end last week. It was to free up a seized on brake bleeder screw, worked a treat and the spanner still looks new.

 

[kblee27]

Just to clarify, I didn't hammer on a wrench on a terminal of a good battery.
This was a bad battery that I wanted to change out, but the nut seized and wouldn't move with all the corrosion salt stuck there, even though I've cleaned out some loose salt.

Saving the terminal was more important (than the bad battery) as I didn't want the extra work, just to change a battery.

The negative terminal nut was stuck so hard on the thread that the round head (not a hex or square) started moving with the nut while turning. It was one of those carriage bolt design, where the square ripped through parts of the terminal.

Trying to stop a round bolt head from turning with the nut is quite impossible.
I had a knipex cobra gripping the round head, but there was space constrain, and the grip was not complete and starting slipping.

Eventually, after a long struggle, I was able to loosen the terminal enough and put in a new battery and tightened it up a bit.

 

[OccupantRJ]

Another thought on tools is that I have worked hard all my life to get them, and now they can work hard for me. As someone mentioned above, a copper hammer does work very well to use as an impact device on wrenches as well as milling machine operations for tightening the vise by impacting the handle. On some mill operations it is necessary to insure the part is fully set down on parallels as well as tight enough in the vise to not move during milling, especially when making heavy horizontal slab mill cuts.

 

[mbshop]

As a mechanich we run into all sorts of situations. You use your tools to get the job done as needed. But I quickly found hitting a wrench with a hammer was not the way to go. If needed I used a pipe or another wrench to get the leverage or torque needed.

 

[ChaseDE]

As others have said, I use a orange HF deadblow to do this, and I do it every so often.

If I am in a real tight or awkward position and can't get a good line on it, I will instead his the head of the wrench with the throat of the hammer....probably ill advised but that is what I do.

 

[bczygan]

Craftsman RP!

Isn't that what they were designed for???

Bill