days like that

John ED Renstrom

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work continues on our off road limo. we need to putt the carpet up as a car with nor rood having carpet is not a good idea. we will lay down some bed liner on the floor so we can garden hose things out. to do so we need to remove seat belts. I figured that the 24 inch half inch drive should work with a impact #50 tork tip. wrong. twisted it around. so used the stand by took the top right off of it. so with a little help from Mr Smith I got all 4 out with normal trouble and my ground down tool.
 

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That is the reason to buy a Snap On tool.. They don't break, and if they do, you get a free replacement!
 
Craftsman offer the same as does S&K. even harbor fright if you brake it right away. Now me i do the pawn shop buck a wrench buying. The snap on,mack tool trucks show up in town once a month. So the 100 mile round trip to exchange a tool plus the price kind of makes it not worth it for me.
 
Got a big hammer one. The new bit will be here tomarrow. Now me rather then fight then i heat one side of the nut cherry red and remove it when its warm. The thread locker used on these was the problem to begain with.
 
As I recall, Seat Belt Bolts were trilobal, NOT round. They were designed to go in and STAY.

Get yourself an Old Man, or make one, especially if you have a featherable riveting hammer. You'll come to love it enough to think of honeymooning with it.
 
One of the biggest issues we had with seat belt bolts in cop and public service vehicles was accumulated dirt in the bolt itself. We finally got to going to extremes to make sure the opening itself had NO dirt or rust in it. We found this prevented ruined tools or stripped bolts. And yes a quality tool is a MUST. The last and most desparate measure is go under the car with a torch and heat the bolt red hot. NOTE you need someone standing fire duty at the top keeping area around the bolt wet so the mat does not ignite.
 
I find that if one can't get it on the first try go right to the heat for the second. If the rap down and right then left with the big hammer and a 1/2 in drive won't move it. The why mess around any more. As i said this set had lock tight on then and heat was all that will melt it. They were surprisingly not rusty. The last thing one wants is to ruin the head of a stuck tork bolt.
 
When you think about where the stress is on a screw thread you begin to realize the standard wrench or impact wrench technique for removal is the wrong approach.

Most bolts are under linear stress holding 2 faying surfaces together, and the actual stress is on the back side of the engaged thread. Torque stress on the bolt is far lower than linear stress on the thread.

The "old man" is a common early atack device in the aircraft end of wrench twisting to some extent because pneumatic twisting tools are largely banned in that business. I can definitely say it beats the snot out of an impact wrench getting head bolts out of small engines without damage.

Torx, I continue to maintain is a covert agreement between Snap On and Automotive manufacturers, as is mixing metric fasteners into US vehicles. Both have paid off many tool trucks.
 
And Ray Hickock of Hickock Leather managed to destroy his company and flush employee pensions down the hole by betting he would own the automotive seatbelt business....

That didn't go over well at all and eventually brought Federal Pension Regulations.
 
Looks to be a 3/8 drive shaft to put in your air hammer to vibrat the rust bond loose. Use that on a spot welded nut would brake it loose from the floor.
 
Best used in a gun with featherable trigger for sure, action is no different from the hand twist & hammer device carried in thousands of toolboxes in the hope it will never be needed.
I believe Mayhew offers it in both 3/8 and 1/2 drives.

If the spotwelds let loose you got bigger problems and need to fishplate the floor anyhow if that seatbelt is going to be around you. Odd recollection comes tomind, in the early 60s when retrofitting belts ($2.98/belt at Chevron Stations) the common install was to drive a punch thru the floor & carpet.

Be forewarned if you buy one, these devices evaporate from toolboxes never to be seen again.
 
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