Officially retired my cheater pipe

[Trucker88]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005G7QGD2/?tag=atomicindus08-20



https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H3KJQ83/?tag=atomicindus08-20



perhaps somebody can explain why one is $50 and the other is $150.....

I believe the $55 one is from Amazon/Tekton and the $149 one is from a private seller trying to make a buck or 94.


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[Farmall450]

Nothing like a long *** ratchet to save the day. I keep my various cheater pipes all propped up in the same corner so they’re easy to find. Anybody who’s never used one is living a charmed and sheltered life. Interesting shop floor you got there by the way.

I imagine he's in the loft of an old barn.

 

[Pitalplace]

I have noticed the older I get the more I use a cheater pipe. Maybe more for torque than brute force but never on a ratchet.

 

[Trucker88]

I imagine he's in the loft of an old barn.

You got it correct sir[emoji1303]


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[strutaeng]

I recently had to remove the gooseneck hitch ball on an old farm truck with some light rust.

The nut was welded to a channel underneath the frame and the ball was threaded on. The only tool that fit was ball was an 18" Ridgid pipe wrench. It was really stuck on there.

The only "cheater bar" that fit was a 2 3/8" fence pipe post 8' long I had laying around and that broke it lose!

Sometimes you got to do what you got to do.

That Tekton 15010 states it is good for 2340 in-lb = 195 ft-lb....that doesn't sound like much to me, especially with a 6' cheater over it!

 

[Trucker88]

Doesn’t sound like a job for any 3/8” ratchet. Not sure exactly what ratchet you are referring to with “15010” but the ratchet I have is SRH01118 and is rated to 240 ft-lb. And a comparable Snap-On is 250 ft-lb. I think that’s a pretty good amount of strength for a 3/8” ratchet. I doubt any 3/8” ratchet on the market is gonna handle a 6 foot cheater pipe. Actually I am confident there isn’t any because I have personally watched videos of idiots purposely busting every brand of ratchet made with cheater pipes to prove something. Haven’t quite figured out what that something is yet.


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[Mr Ratchet]

After I posted this message I realized that I don’t have any 3/8” breaker bars. Got 1/4” and 1/2” so looks like I need to go shopping.[/url]

I'll recommend looking at the Gearwrench 18" BB. I have a GW 12" long 3/8" and a SO 18" long 3/8" BB. I saw a GW 18" long 3/8" that I told a younger guy at work about and he picked it up. We did a test with the 18's at work with some rusty 3/4" bolts. They worked the same with the same amount of flex and returned to straight the same. His was $20.00 and mine was $80.00. Had the GW one been out when I was buying my SO. I would have went with the GW instead.

 

[6PTsocket]

My cheater was the handle of an old floor jack that lay around for years, waiting to get rebuilt. The handle now has a nice coat of yellow paint on it. I hesitate to use it for it's old job.

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[paperchasin]

Serious question: Does anyone know why or how these things got their nomenclature? What exactly are we cheating by using extended bars/pipes to gain leverage and torque?

 

[fsae0607]

My cheater pipe for years has been an aluminum HF floor jack handle that I toss on my breaker bars for extreme conditions.

That's what I use, too!

Last time was the crank dampener nut on my Chevy Colorado when I had to r&r the cylinder heads. That sum'***** was tight!

 

[Robert Haas]

3/4" Snap on Breaker bar 36" long with a 4 foot pipe sitting on my floor jack that I was using to lift up on it to break loose some lugs on an excavator. My buddy walked up, took a look at what I was doing and turned around and briskly walked away. I have no idea what energy was being applied but it was scary as hell.

 

[jd_1138]

3/4" Snap on Breaker bar 36" long with a 4 foot pipe sitting on my floor jack that I was using to lift up on it to break loose some lugs on an excavator. My buddy walked up, took a look at what I was doing and turned around and briskly walked away. I have no idea what energy was being applied but it was scary as hell.

Well a floor jack can lift like 2 tons usually, so at the end of a 7 foot lever, you're talking 28,000 foot pounds of torque.

 

[ezover]

Or a liar

well I was going to say I can not remember having to use one until another poster mentioned a ball hitch.


sure there were a few others just far from a common issue.

 

[JRC3]

Serious question: Does anyone know why or how these things got their nomenclature? What exactly are we cheating by using extended bars/pipes to gain leverage and torque?

I can't remember what I used to call them. Never heard "cheater" until I came here.

 

[Kev442]

I do remember someone on here a few years ago complaining that this 3/8ths Tekton broke taking the front suspension on his truck apart. IMO "suspension" and "3/8ths" are not compatible words. That's why they make 1/2" too.
I've always heard them called cheaters, as in using them on a ratchet is "cheating" their design parameters. I will only cheat a ratchet 8-12", the 3-8' cheater is for breaker bars.

 

[Trucker88]

I do remember someone on here a few years ago complaining that this 3/8ths Tekton broke taking the front suspension on his truck apart. IMO "suspension" and "3/8ths" are not compatible words. That's why they make 1/2" too.
I've always heard them called cheaters, as in using them on a ratchet is "cheating" their design parameters. I will only cheat a ratchet 8-12", the 3-8' cheater is for breaker bars.

I am relatively new in this x-long 3/8” ratchet relationship but from what I see so far it primarily will be used for leverage vs nut busting torque. If a bolt requires 100 ft-lbs to break loose and you are using a 6” ratchet laying down it would be extremely hard to apply that amount of strength. Using the x-long ratchet will still only be putting the needed 100 ft-lbs on the bolt but allowing you to deliver that same needed force much easier.


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[Kev442]

Exactly how I use my Tekton too. I consider it more of a Kev442 torque multiplier as I get older and weaker.

 

[redwrench60]

Cheater because you’re cheating by not having to work as hard pulling on your ratchets, breaker bars, adjustables and pipe wrenches to get the work done.

Sometimes I use a cheater even if I’m well within the design limits of a tool to reduce my own strain or increase reach/access.