Torque Wrench

[64DUOGLIDE]

I have to change a cylinder head gasket. Is there any one torque wrench/size that works better than others? Will a 3/8" torque wrench tighten all of the head bolts without any adapters/homemeade extensions?

Thanks

[PanPal]

I find it easiest to use an obsruction wrench. They have a 9/16 box on one side and 5/8 on the other. Put a allen socket on the torque wrench that fits in one end of the obstruction wrench. Keep the torque wrench at 90 degrees to each bolt being tightened. You can get to every bolt with this set up. I use a 1/2 torque wrench.

[VintageTwin]

You might want to use a torque wrench to tighten the hesad bolts to 65 ft. lbs. In which case you'll need a Snap-On foot #FRDH181 9/16 x 5/8. Click the url address at the bottom and click "Look Inside This Book". We asked amazon to publish the torque specs for folks to use.

[thsmith]

Will this same tool work on the cylinder base nuts ?

Thanks,

Tracy

[VintageTwin]

I'd need to try it. I will. Maybe today. I think the base nuts are 5/8. V-Twin has a 9/16 box wrench with a big off-set on one end (VT 16-0108). Then they have a 5/8 (VT 16-0107) cylinder base wrench that's "C" shaped. I'm pretty sure the cylinder base nuts on a Big Twin are 5/8. I'll check.

[VPH-D]

The "C" shaped wrench works well for head bolts and base nuts. It was called a starter & manifold wrench. Snap On sold a large "S" shaped wrench that worked even better than the manifold wrench.

[thsmith]

If you want to torque the base nuts though the wrenches would not work would they ?

TS

[VPH-D]

You are correct, the "C" and "S" wrenches do not allow the use of any kind of torque wrench. When using these wrenches, it is imperative to use a cross pattern for tightening and a steady increase of grunt.

[fourthgear]

You can call me a barn yard machanic or maniac , but I still do not use a torque wrench on heads or cyl. base , ya got to have the feel! I do use it else where though, like axle nuts ect. Just me.

[PanPal]

The C shaped wrench is also called an obstruction wrench. I have been told, if the torque wrench is used at a 90 degree angle to the two boxed ends, you get the correct torque. If it were a little more or less torque, you still have even torque on all bolts. I too used the two huffs and a grunt method of tightening before I found this set up reaches everything. The obtruction wrench has 5/8 one side and 9/16 on the other. providing you have both a 9/16 and 5/8 socket allen, you can do both the head and base nuts with this.

[VintageTwin]

True. "The foot would not change the torque applied to the nut being tightened, as long as the foot remains at 90 degrees to the head of the torque wrench." Used as a text-illustration to a group senimar of U.S. government engineers, 2001