I finally Had Enough...

I had a nice solid 5 hours to work on the M931 Monday and figured I'd swap out the big 1400x 20 that kept leaking and sat long enough on base to have the sidewalls be a concern. I rooted around and found the O-rings I ordered a while back so I was good to go there and started on the truck. Well, a near 6' pipe and my 170lbs on a 3/4 breaker bar wouldn't touch the rear lugs. So I waste time there. I drive down to a local buddy's place as he has a rig and see if I can borrow his impact gun. Lights are on but nobody's home. So I waste time there. Call another buddy and ask him but he's out of state. So I waste time there. Swing into a local trucking company that I know and ask if they can pop those lugs loose then snug them again, they're about a mile from my farm. Run back up, fire the M931 (with it's fresh load of $720 in 4 fat new 6TL's...best price I could find...that hurt.) it's on the starter for a second and happily purring along. I move it around and pump up the offending tire, then drive it down the trucking outfit. I pull the CTIS valve at the hub, they pop them off then snug them another hour and change has passed and time on this day is flying but still not much happening.

I get back, get the wheel off the truck then try to get the 10 nuts off for the lock side. I park my four wheeler on the wheel as a tire chock to keep it from rotating. I don't have a deep enough 3/4" drive socket as the locking studs are just too long for a nomal size 3/4 drive socket to fit. I'm exceptionally happy at this point and drive to the next town to NAPA to buy a 1-1/8" deep socket...and they don't have one for 3/4" drive. Joy. I get back and my 1/2 impact gun won't even touch them. Within about a minute from they I pop the 1/2" drive end off my Craftsman breaker bar. Super exceptionally happy now. 4hrs gone wheel off truck and nothing else from dicking around trying to get this stuff done.

I remembered a thread about 3/4" impact guns and how the Harbor Freight dealie either worked great or didn't so I spent $100 bucks on one that puts out 1,000lbs torque. Swung into Sears to replace the 1/2" breaker bar and the guy was impressed. "That's nothing man, my 3/4 bar's end is loose."

3/4" Air Impact Wrench Campbell Pneumatic

For your entertainment, a pic of the four new 6TL / 6MTL's in the back of my 3000GT. If you notice the cell caps at the terminals are slightly offset from the others for clearance of the cable end. It would be nice if they were all moved in like the factory ones I removed were. I had to flip the heavy battery cable to the other side of the bolt on at the terminal clamp so it would clear the non-offset caps. The price, weight, work, and terminal extra work sucked but all that melted away when the truck, not having been even fired for other 3 cold months was literally on the starter for under a second and purring like a kitten.

Sounds like a typical day wrenching on MVs.

Yep, then heading to Sears put in rush hour traffic...holy smokes...stopped at Tractor Supply to buy that impact gun since they USED TO carry them- gone. Ingersol Rand now and three times the price. Oh well...now that I can fire this again thing I'm pumped up about working on it!

Guess I need to get you those pics then...

The dual hammer 1" impact at harbor freight is THE ticket!
Their impact sockets made by Pittsburg are cheap and I still haven't broken one (and that is saying something there....)
To run the 1" gun, I like to run off higher PSI, and use the largest hose you can feed that sucker with!
Still, I have ran it off the glad hand from my 5 ton and got a lot of work done. Not as good as on the shop compressor, but still worth the weight of that big heavy sucker.

Wanna see my super-low-cost/ high-efficiency "single hammer" impact wrench?

A 7 pound sledge hammer hitting the end of a 2 ft long, 1-3/4" x 5/8" bar, with a 1/2"-> 3/4" adapter socket welded to the other end...

This improvised and very simple "redneck"-style tool has seen service for years now... and proved to be far more effective than my $500 good-brand 3/4" impact gun, when it comes to breaking loose those stubborn nuts & bolts.


G.

Still not near as adventureful as the trip to TTC. The 1" from China Freight has answered every call I've given it.

It's always nice if the lugnuts come off as required when needed.
That said, I don't remove the wheel when changing my tubeless tires.
I use a 3/4 IR impact wrench.

Gimp, you'll be doing me a favor so no rush on the pics. Somehow the pony engine is still starting and running on the varnish pee in it's tank so I'm good for a while.

G, that's awesome! My Craftsman 3/4" drive breaker bar with a 5' pipe handles about all my big needs. Problem with the 931 was the deep dish in the wheel and the extension I had to use. Lost some torque there and already twisted off the short extension. Yep...and welded it back together for light duty 3/4" stuff. Ha!

11Echo, I absolutely would've done it that way but when they single out the 939's the rears are still 'hubs in' so the ring of bolts for the wheel half is aiming at the brake cans. The sucker had to come off.

I picked up one of those geared lug wrenches off ebay. It includes the sockets as well in a nice case, $200 delivered to the house. It emoved the nuts with ease. I did get a big impact wrench and it works well and cost the same as the geared wrench.

spicergear said:

................My Craftsman 3/4" drive breaker bar with a 5' pipe handles about all my big needs. Problem with the 931 was the deep dish in the wheel and the extension I had to use. Lost some torque there and already twisted off the short extension. Yep...and welded it back together for light duty 3/4" stuff. Ha! ...........

Click to expand...

Well, the resulting TORQUE of your bodyweight X 5' should remain the same, with - or W/O extension (not considering inertia from jumping on the pipe's end).
Of course, the real IMPACT effect (ANY impact tool) is only possible without extension; that is, no cushioning "torsion bar" in between.

Yes, sometimes I have to switch over to the pipe-over-breaker bar method, my self.


G.

O the fun of wrenching on these old trucks

spicergear said,

11Echo said:

I know that, gee whiz ! Sorry!

I flip hubs on anything I single out.

Click to expand...

gringeltaube said:

Well, the resulting TORQUE of your bodyweight X 5' should remain the same, with - or W/O extension (not considering inertia from jumping on the pipe's end).
Of course, the real IMPACT effect (ANY impact tool) is only possible without extension; that is, no cushioning "torsion bar" in between.

Yes, sometimes I have to switch over to the pipe-over-breaker bar method, my self.


G.

Click to expand...

Almost any impact tool. My swench has extensions that are made of almost solid steel, they transfer the impact quite well. If your gonna mess with 5tons Tom, you might as well look into the 1" drive swench. What a monster.

When I removed the front wheels from my last M915 I had to use the "Blue Flame Speed Wrench" to heat some of the lugs up.....I don't know what they put them on with but my one inch Ingersol Rand Impact gun wouldn't budge some of them.

I have the biggest Air Compressor that Tractor Supply sells (Boss Lady works there) and I have a dedicated 1/2 inch line for that wrench......sometimes you just have to bring out the heavy artillery.

A good old fashioned military bud wrench with a hardened 3/4 inch socket head cap screw about a foot long and a 6 foot pipe has never failed me yet. Sometimes I have to jump on the end but I've never bent that cap screw. Then buzz them off with the robo impact.

gringeltaube said:

....
Of course, the real IMPACT effect (ANY impact tool) is only possible without extension; that is, no cushioning "torsion bar" in between.
G.

Click to expand...

An effect taken advantage of in the "torque limiting bar".

Tom, did you check the Schrader valve? In 3 out of 4 slow leaks on my 757, the Schrader valve was the cause and was easy to fix.

spicergear said:

For your entertainment, a pic of the four new 6TL / 6MTL's in the back of my 3000GT. If you notice the cell caps at the terminals are slightly offset from the others for clearance of the cable end. It would be nice if they were all moved in like the factory ones I removed were. I had to flip the heavy battery cable to the other side of the bolt on at the terminal clamp so it would clear the non-offset caps. The price, weight, work, and terminal extra work sucked but all that melted away when the truck, not having been even fired for other 3 cold months was literally on the starter for under a second and purring like a kitten.

Click to expand...

Makes me appreciate the small size of my Nicads in comparison and the extremely low internal resistance really turns the dash 2 over.