Which way is tighten?

[Outlawmws]

Just saw an episode of "Dirty Jobs" called "Locomotive builder"

In the last third or so, the were splitting the block of the 16 Cylinder engine (Complete rebuild), and had a bolt that sneered at the impact wrench (looked like 1" drive to me)

They broke out a breaker bar about 7' long or more., and had Mike Rowe trying to loosen the the stuck bolt, he tugged on it a while and gradually found it turning but not loosening. Then the crew pointed out he was turning the bar the wrong way...

Be honest now, how many can claim they have NEVER done this...

(Yep, me too...)

 

[nw2571]

I still remember working at an internship and trying to drill a hole in something (can't remember exactly what now). My complaint was that the bit must be really dull. My boss grabbed the drill, flipped it to forward, and handed it back.

Pretty embarassing.

 

[The Lazy Destroyer]

I swear... any time I try to use my left hand to start/finish a bolt I go the wrong way every time.

 

[chris142]

My brother spent an afternoon trying to cut up a fallen tree with a Chainsaw. Only he had the chain on backwards.

 

[ChrisF250]

starts at about 2 minutes

 

[TimTaylor75]

I find that if I continue to wrench on a bolt long enough, turning it to the right will eventually break it loose.

 

[G_P]

I admit I have snapped off a bolt or 2 turning it the wrong way!

Usually when tired or a few beers into a project.....

 

[TreePointer]

It's been a while, but sure, I've done it. I even tried to loosen a light bulb by tightening it and broke the bulb in my hand. Doh!

 

[diernosaj]

Especially if im working backwards or upside down or above my head or behind my back or behind the bolt or contorted into any position but normal, all sense of direction goes out the window for a few seconds before I can figure out which way lefty loosey rightey tightey is again.

 

[Outlawmws]

starts at about 2 minutes

That's the one!

 

[scott4]

I admit I have snapped off a bolt or 2 turning it the wrong way!

Usually when tired or a few beers into a project.....

Tractor with a mix of left and right thread studs on the same wheel.

Showed up to help a 270 lb guy standing on a breaker bar. Yep, it came off.

 

[scylla]

Usually when I'm beat tired and I move from using a made in USA ratchet to a Chinese one. Their selector switches are reversed.

I have always wanted to find out why they are like that.

 

[tatra]

this is what i do / did [ now in plant mtc. ] and i only watched the one segment and saw enough t o make me question mike rowe's series..........osha should have a field ay with the safety violations..........as for righty /tighty, he had no idea?...............true he was on the lhs of the block , buttttttttttt????????????[chrysler lug nut joke here ].............will look at the rest when i get a chance but really...........

 

[theoldwizard1]

Especially if im working backwards or upside down or above my head or behind my back or behind the bolt or contorted into any position but normal, all sense of direction goes out the window for a few seconds before I can figure out which way lefty loosey rightey tightey is again.

In those situations, if I'm using a ratchet, I take it off the fastener, hold the socket with one hand and the ratchet handle with the other and confirm "Righty tighty, ..."

With a wrench, I stare at it for a long time before applying torque

 

[Squankum]

Yep, I've done it. Wondered why I was hearing crackling noises and fine dust started wafting down from the bolt head. Eventually figured it out before it broke!

 

[nw2571]

Just in case righty-tighty doesn't click with you, or the angle of attack is odd, there's the right hand rule which never fails. Take your right hand (that part is very important!)... point your thumb in the direction you want the bolt head/nut to travel. Your fingers curl in the direction you need to turn.

 

[kv501]

Just in case righty-tighty doesn't click with you, or the angle of attack is odd, there's the right hand rule which never fails. Take your right hand (that part is very important!)... point your thumb in the direction you want the bolt head/nut to travel. Your fingers curl in the direction you need to turn.

Until you get to tie rod ends or bicycle pedals.

Just goofin', I know that's nitpicky.

 

[porphyre]

Especially if im working backwards or upside down or above my head or behind my back or behind the bolt or contorted into any position but normal, all sense of direction goes out the window for a few seconds before I can figure out which way lefty loosey rightey tightey is again.

+1

If I'm reaching around something, so the stud of the bolt is facing me, I always get turned around. In those situations, I always try to use a ratchet and do exactly what TheOldWizard1 does... pull the tool off, confirm the set direction, then go to town.

 

[TheGrooveking]

One shop I worked on a guy worked on a counterbalance cylinder for a 250 ton punch press. It was an dual action air cylinder that had a 14" diamter, 72" stroke. He was trying to take the rod clevis off the end of the ram and he had a 36" pipe wrench on it, he worked on it for over 4 hours, he finally got 4 guys and a 20' piece of 3" steel pipe. It finally broke loose, I watched as these 5 guys bounced on that pipe, the clevis screamed the whole way off. After they finally removed I walked up to see smashed threads and a broken 3/8" diameter roll pin that the dickwad neglected to notice! They broke the roll pin and then proceeded to drag the two broken ends over the balance of the threads, nice job!!! The guy was then pissed 3 months later when the boss brought that up during his review.

TheGrooveking

 

[malibu101]

Usually when I'm beat tired and I move from using a made in USA ratchet to a Chinese one. Their selector switches are reversed.

I have always wanted to find out why they are like that.

I never noticed that.
I do NOT want to start, or have this turn into, a tool brand thread
but
this is the reason I love SO ratchets. Having "ON" and "OFF" printed by the reversing lever has helped me numerous times. I can just look at it and know I'm going the right way.

 

[Mickey O]

Just saw an episode of "Dirty Jobs" called "Locomotive builder"

In the last third or so, the were splitting the block of the 16 Cylinder engine (Complete rebuild), and had a bolt that sneered at the impact wrench (looked like 1" drive to me)

They broke out a breaker bar about 7' long or more., and had Mike Rowe trying to loosen the the stuck bolt, he tugged on it a while and gradually found it turning but not loosening. Then the crew pointed out he was turning the bar the wrong way...

Be honest now, how many can claim they have NEVER done this...

(Yep, me too...)

Never, I can even sense when a thread is left handed and turn the wrench/ratchet in the appropriate direction.

 

[Frank The Plumber]

Righty tighty Lefty loosey and Shartz are joosey.

 

[Geurt]

I never again had a problem with this when my dad told me to visualize opening or closing a water tap

 

[Milton Shaw]

The water tap idea doesn't work if you have a two handle faucet. Ones left handed and the others right handed or hot and cold.

 

[jk47]

Harley's have a left hand threaded bolt(maybe more?)

 

[Outlawmws]

I never again had a problem with this when my dad told me to visualize opening or closing a water tap

The water tap idea doesn't work if you have a two handle faucet. Ones left handed and the others right handed or hot and cold.

My dad used the peanut butter jar example. Still works, used it with my kids...

 

[demographic]

Especially if im working backwards or upside down or above my head or behind my back or behind the bolt or contorted into any position but normal, all sense of direction goes out the window for a few seconds before I can figure out which way lefty loosey rightey tightey is again.

That's the main reason that there's so many threads about helicoiling sump plug threads on motorcycle forums.
A lot don't admit it but that's a large part of it.

 

[c/o say]

Remember my first meeting with chryslers wonderful left hand lug nuts broke 3 out of 5 studs. Ya I am a slow learner. Was lucky the parts store was next door to the gas station I worked at. Whos bright f#@king idea was that any way.

 

[Outlawmws]

Remember my first meeting with chryslers wonderful left hand lug nuts broke 3 out of 5 studs. Ya I am a slow learner. Was lucky the parts store was next door to the gas station I worked at. Whos bright f#@king idea was that any way.

What car was it that had RHT on one side and LHT on the other?

 

[csmitty]

I never noticed that.
I do NOT want to start, or have this turn into, a tool brand thread
but
this is the reason I love SO ratchets. Having "ON" and "OFF" printed by the reversing lever has helped me numerous times. I can just look at it and know I'm going the right way.

I've messed up a few times using a traditional proto. The reverse lever is backwards as well.

 

[c/o say]

Outlawmws I think the car was like a 63 or 64 dart? thats been way too many years ago. But that was some bull shot to do that.

 

[Richard D]

Buick too up till the 50s. 1955 I know personally. Didn't break any, though.

 

[Joe Reed]

What car was it that had RHT on one side and LHT on the other?

All Chrysler cars for many years...

Back in the late 60s I worked at a finance company and had to repo a Plymouth Valiant. It was freezing cold outside, so I was unhappy about having to do it anyway, and rushed to get it done. It had a flat tire...and I tried to remove the lug nuts with no success. After jumping on the end of the wrench and snapping off 3 of the 5 lugs, the problem finally occurred to me.

Funny thing is, I owned a Dodge at the time - and the issue with the left hand threads didn't occur to me at first. I blamed the cold weather for my brain freeze...

 

[Joe Reed]

Not exactly the same, but probably worse....

I had a neighbor who wasn't exactly good with tools. He was installing some mini-blinds and came to me for help. He bought a cordless drill for the project, and told me he couldn't get the holes drilled in the window facing for the screws. I went to help him out...and found that he was trying to drill the holes with the Phillips screwdriver bit!

 

[JMorrison4371]

this is the exact reason why I bought a Snap On ratchet. Because the switch says "On" and "Off". Put it in the "On" position to put the bolt on, and the "Off" position to take it off.

 

[dharma-bum]

When I started in the industrial maint. field, my lead mechanic would watch me struggle with a nut or bolt and then tell me I was going the wrong way. Dutifully I would change direction only to realize I had been going the right direction in the first place, while my lead just chuckled. To this day, if I have a stuck fastener that fights, I hear his voice and immediately check.

 

[kartracer55]

I swear... any time I try to use my left hand to start/finish a bolt I go the wrong way every time.

+1 on that. And being that I'm an occasional idiot, I'll sit there for a while wondering whats wrong...

 

[slip knot]

Back in the mid 80's after the "new" computers scared me out of the automotive filed I went to work in the industrial maintenance/repair field. We had taken an air stripper column down for repair and were in the process of pulling the blind flanges and re-gasketting the column when a 20something FEMALE mechanical engineer showed up and started eating our ***' about why we were still "tearing" this unit down. The supervisor went down to talk to her before we started dropping bolts on her. We all laughed about it later when we discovered that they dont teach "righty tighty;lefty loosey" in engineering school! Found out later that they made that bitchaneer the area superintendant. Damm I'm glad I'm outta that environment.

 

[greasemonkey44]

heh had a truck fool me; fan is screwed onto the waterpump with left hand threads
forgot when i put it back on; for the life of me it just wouldnt catch a thread and run on....boss, super nice guy.....pointed out how i told him earlier it was lt and i was screwing it in like a righty

 

[rayh91]

All the time. I always over think it which screws me up.