Torquing in odd positions

Just thought this would be entertaining for you guys. Working on a Deere 80. Had the rear axle housing off, and the bolts that hold it are torqued to 275 ft/lbs. You can't get a socket on them, it's a tight area for all of them. The only way is a torque adapter. I didn't know where I'd get one that big (3/4 inch drive the fit a 1 1/8 inch bolt head) at least without breaking the bank. I made one out of a cheap wrench and a nut welded to it and got the bend out of the box end. That worked but was a bit sloppy so I welded a cheap 3/4 drive socket to it.

Room was a bit tight as well, since the rear wheels are on, as well as the fenders. I could have removed the fenders but I didn't really need to. Wanted to a couple times but I worked around.

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Overall it worked very well, I was careful to have the extension at 90 to get proper torque, or to do the formulas to get proper torque when straight out.

The worst ones to get were on the bottom. No real way to get the four foot torque wrench in there between the wheels and the floor. So I used extensions to get it out from between the wheels. I rested the whole thing on a floor jack to make it not so unwieldy.

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It was all a bit of a pain but it's nice to know it's been done right. Or at least a lot closer then I'd get otherwise.

I did retorque all the top bolts after I got them all snug. Most needed it!

Who here has done something similar?

Brandon

On items similar those when I worked on tractors a lot I had a good feel for how tight things should be. I used 2 box wrenches one hooked over the end of the other. Now as I get older I developed a built in clicker torque wrench where as my shoulder will pop when close to tight enough.

Something similar, but not as big.

Mid 80's Olds Cieras and Buick Centuries with a cross mounted 3.0 V6 had one bell housing bolt that was hidden. Only way you could reach it was to pull the right front wheel, and using about 3' of extensions reach all the way across the back of the engine from the RF wheel well to the bell housing on the left side. Finding it in the first place on disassembly and then getting the bolt started on reassembly were the problems.

I also used to get creative and cut, heat, and bend wrenches and come up with all manner of Rube Goldberg stuff to get at bolts in odd places.

When I worked at Caterpillar, I had to make up a few custom tools for different jobs. I ended up cutting both ends off a 1 1/8" Craftsman wrench one time, and welding them up for different purposes. A coworker was joking about taking the center beam back to Sears for warranty, so I handed it to him. He came back the next day with a brand new one. Said he had to find someone who didn't care, since a couple of people said no way at first.

Cat uses several special wrenches for production torquing tyhey had some issues with breaking the wrench head (open end) off of the torque wrench handle. A student of mine, who works for them, created a stronger solution in our lab and it is in use. The issue was not breakage, it was personal injury when the wrench broke sending the user into orbit. Jim

Hello Wearddeere,

I commend you on a job, not only well done, but with a very good understanding of torque. I have done many out of place torqueing and all is well if done correctly. No formula needed in you case as you said.......


Guido.

Whew, almost misread this thread title and thought in might be about a rude dance Miley Cyrus made famous.......

Good job.

Paul

My old factory job involved ordering tools for an assembly line. Some of our engineers designed their part with no regard to how to fit it in a production environment so we had to improvise a lot. I still have several different tools I made up and still make some when needed around here.

(quoted from post at 10:08:31 08/29/16) My old factory job involved ordering tools for an assembly line. Some of our engineers designed their part with no regard to how to fit it in a production environment so we had to improvise a lot. I still have several different tools I made up and still make some when needed around here.

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I'm pretty sure I've come across their work during my lifetime.

Seems like the head bolts on the old Cummins NH220 series torqued to 600 ft/lb. Starting when I was about 6 or 7, I would sit up on top of the engine and read the dial type SnapOn torque wrench, while my dad pulled it with a pipe extension. It was a semi big deal to me at the time. Got a ice cold Coke in the bottle as pay. Still have the Coke machine, 50 years on.

Did not mean to sidetrack the post, just had an old memory jogged.

Garry

(quoted from post at 17:56:39 08/31/16) Seems like the head bolts on the old Cummins NH220 series torqued to 600 ft/lb.

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We had a couple of those NH220's running 100kw generators on the Adams class destroyer I served on in the early 90's. With only 4 head bolts per cylinder, they were prone to compression leaks, and the old Master Chief diesel inspector at Pearl Harbor was keen to this. He used to ding me on them every time, if the slightest oil bubbling by the head gasket was present. Didn't help that the counterbores could've used some attention. I got tired of that real quick, so I went and bought some copper spray-a-gasket one day, and sprayed down the head gaskets real good with it. That did the trick. I cleaned up all evidence around the edges, and never did tell him how I fixed them, but he left me alone after that. And yes, torquing the head bolts to 600lb-ft was a chore in a cramped space.