Personally I like torx, torx plus and XZN. Many peoplr hate them but I think its because ghey have grown up with external hex their whole life.
Out of all the fasteners I hate slotted first, then phillips, then internal 6 point hex then allen. Of course the re e are others but these are what I run into in a day.
XZN holds a lot of torque but you have to make sure it is clean and fully engaged. Same thing with Torx. I'd be hapoybif they ditched Torx for all Torx Plus as it is superior and I see no nees for two styles to co exist. Its as annoying as havibg Sae and metric hex heads.
The only time I have stripprd a torx plus is when I used a regular torx in in the T55+ bolts on a 4L60E bellhousing.
I have neve stripped an XZN or a Torx. I have run into torx heads that have been smashed though which causes issues obviously.
I do like that XZN Torx and Allen can alk be removed by simply tapping a multispline extractor into them. Ive only needed to do this on allens though as Ive stripped thousands of them.
Allen allows a little more angle on the ball headed drive tools and they generally have a deeper hole which helps the ball drives. I like my ball headed torx tools though too.
With the right toola torx is nice. I have a variety and love using them. The blue handles are torx plus. Our fendt tractor uses torx plus for the trim pieces so these drivers are nice for that. Most people ruin the plastic screws with a regular torx.
The Germans love Torx and XZN.
I broke all 6 points off my Lisle T40 trying to undo the bolts that hold the thermostat housing on my S70 Volvo. That ruined the bolts for a good Torx bit. The stupid thing is a couple of inches away the upper and lower half of the head are held together with the same M7 bolts that use a 10 mm socket.
If you were using the Lisle 1 piece sockets they are your issue. Those break all the time. You need some good two piece ones.
I read somewhere that Phillips were designed to cam out rather than become "over tightened". I guess they do that, but getting it back out is quite the chore sometimes.
yes they were designed to cam out and to protect the drive tool. Thus not wearing the bits out fast. Some companies like Wiha make anti camout phillips drivers.
Torx was designed exclusively to not cam out.
anyone run into the five point security torx yet? ran into some yrs ago on a lic. plate, saw the set from 8-60,had to have it, havent used one yet. and what about RIBE?
yes some injection pumps use them now.
I have removed shallow torx/allen from uner the rubber mats of backhoes, some caked in wet mud for years on end. A very wet enviorment for any fastener.
I needed to carefully scrape all the dirt out of the fastener and then very carefully turn them out keeping the tool well set in it. These were rust pitted and some rusted rather tight in some cases. Only in extreme cases was the vise grip solution required. Taking your time and blowing out the dirt makes a big difference.
The badly damaged allen heads can be removed most cases with the closest size in torx, again done calmly and carefully. The do give a grip if its not too far gone.
Much like using taps and dies, calmly and carefully makes the distance. When you get frustrated things could go wrong.
Exactly. Its all about patience and attention to detail. Knowing how your tools feel and when to stop. With both allen and Torx its important to clean the dirt out. I use a blow gun for the loosr stuff then a pick for the caked on stuff then I flush with pb blaster.
