[Holyghost]

Originally Posted by mvadg

Thanks Aroy, Thad, for trying to answer!
They are like circlip pliers expanding outwards. I need this to extract a broken faucet aerator. (No thanks to the plumber who fitted them with his pipe wrench). Guess I will have to use circlip pliers plus jugaad.

External Circlips are available from Taparia, Stanley etc and can be purchased from Amazon. I bought both Internal and External Circlip plier from Amazon.

External Straight Nose
https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00P66O8FG/..._jI-3DbN7YRDSD
External Bent Nose
https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00P66OI3S/..._tI-3DbD8MF895

[mithun]

Which type of spanner should I use to unscrew this nut?

The problem is that its in a tight spot where normal spanners can access and there is a slight barrier on both sides for the free movement of open-end spanners!

(I'm a newbie in the world of DIY )

[saket77]

Originally Posted by mithun

Which type of spanner should I use to unscrew this nut?

The problem is that its in a tight spot where normal spanners can access and there is a slight barrier on both sides for the free movement of open-end spanners!

Try a ring spanner if there is space to turn the spanner. If not, a socket wrench should definitely too.

Regards,
Saket

[Thad E Ginathom]

I vote for a socket. Socket sets often include an extension bar.

Batteries contain acid. Might be a good idea to clean your tools afterwards. Ordinary bar soap will neutralise acid. Then rinse and dry.

(Take care of hands and eyes too!)

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by mithun

Which type of spanner should I use to unscrew this nut? The problem is that its in a tight spot where normal spanners can access and there is a slight barrier on both sides for the free movement of open-end spanners! (I'm a newbie in the world of DIY

Safety first - that's the battery's +ve terminal. So make absolutely sure you do NOT touch any tool/spanner (whilst it's in contact with the battery post/terminal) to any other metal part of the car. That will cause a massive spark at the very least and at worst can cause an explosion. So to be safe remove the -ve cable from the battery post. Use a 10mm spanner to do this. Consult your car's owners manual for the correct spanner sizes to remove battery terminals. 10 mm is the most common size.

Now for some "terminology" (pun intended) - battery "post" = the dark grey "stump" like protrusion from the battery case. And battery terminal = battery clamp (with the nut) and a wire/cable attached. People use this interchangeably but you need to know which part is what.

Coming to the nut that secures the +ve cable lug to the terminal, it seems like a 11 or 12 mm nut. As advised by TEG and Saket, try a box or ring spanner of this size.

You will need to wash the tool with water and dry. Also make sure you wash your hands carefully after doing this task. it is not just acid but the battery post is made of lead and clamps are coated with this dangerous heavy metal.

PS - Do consider cleaning that terminal. Only use petroleum jelly (Vaseline) to coat it.

[Jeroen]

Excellent advise from Thad and R2D2.

In order to clean the battery post and the battery clamp I have a special little nifty tool.





Jeroen

[Thad E Ginathom]

Amazing! Trust Jeroen to have a purpose made tool for the job.

But now I know they exist, I wonder if everyone should have one!

[Jeroen]

It is probably one of the cheapest tools I have. Cost less than an Euro

[audioholic]

What would be the ideal torque for unscrewing a wheel lug nut? I am inching forward to buying a cordless impact wrench whose most demanding application would be to unscrew the wheel lug nuts. Considering the lug nuts are not jammed and have been removed frequently, what kind of torque rating of the machine would help? Of course for the stubborn nuts or for final tightening I would do it manually but I the machine to speed up this activity.

I have Li-ion cordless drill for the smaller nuts and screws and a pair of drill guns for household work. The impact wrench is mainly for the more demanding applications. Any suggestions? I dont want to blow my purse though

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by audioholic

What would be the ideal torque for unscrewing a wheel lug nut? I am inching forward to buying a cordless impact wrench whose most demanding application would be to unscrew the wheel lug nuts. Considering the lug nuts are not jammed and have been removed frequently, what kind of torque rating of the machine would help? Of course for the stubborn nuts or for final tightening I would do it manually but I the machine to speed up this activity.

I have Li-ion cordless drill for the smaller nuts and screws and a pair of drill guns for household work. The impact wrench is mainly for the more demanding applications. Any suggestions? I dont want to blow my purse though

My bad I didn't read your post completely. Torque for taking off the wheel isn't all that important as tightening torque is. Well, rule of the thumb is whatever it takes to loosen the lug nuts I guess

Don't torque the wheel nut using the impact wrench. The wrench is for quick installation onto the hub. Use a good quality torque wrench to tighten all nuts equally. The recommended torque should be mentioned in your car's owners manual. Torque is especially important with alloy wheels.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

It is probably one of the cheapest tools I have. Cost less than an Euro

Got 2 of these from eBay, for about $2 US each including shipping. It's one of tools I want in my tool kit. Sandpaper does the trick but not as well as the battery post cleaner.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by R2D2

Don't torque the wheel nut using the impact wrench. Torque is especially important with alloy wheels.

I have mentioned in my earlier post that the final tightening would be done manually. I was not looking for the torque that I should tighten the nuts to, but rather the torque rating of a wrench which can open up the lug nuts.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by audioholic

I have mentioned in my earlier post that the final tightening would be done manually. I was not looking for the torque that I should tighten the nuts to, but rather the torque rating of a wrench which can open up the lug nuts.

Yep...I answered that too belatedly realising you required the loosening torque, not tightening. My bad. Frankly if the nuts are torqued correctly you would not need an excessive amount of torque to loosen them. The Indian method of tightening lug nuts till you grunt with the effort isn't required. Co-efficient of expansion of dissimilar metals keeps the nuts locked in place + there's a lock washer too.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by audioholic

I was not looking for the torque that I should tighten the nuts to, but rather the torque rating of a wrench which can open up the lug nuts.

For regular cars:
Don’t get anything less than 350 Nm. Most electrical torque wrenches will easily do more and just about all pneumatics will do more.

Here is how it works in practice. The more torque you have on tap, the quicker it comes loose. So even if a lug nut has been tightened correctly at say 120 Nm, you will need quite a bit more to undo it. If you use a torque wrench of 400Nm it will come off roughly twice as fast as one with 200Nm on tap. You don’t want to be hammering away for 10 - 20 seconds. You want it off in 2 seconds flat!

My pneumatic torque wrench is rated at 520Nm. The other day working on my son’s VW Golf GTI that was still not enough to undo one of the nut. Had to get a breaker bar out. Even so, that was the exception. The 520NM has done me fine so far.

Jeroen

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by audioholic

I have mentioned in my earlier post that the final tightening would be done manually. I was not looking for the torque that I should tighten the nuts to, but rather the torque rating of a wrench which can open up the lug nuts.

A midrange (torque wise) impact wrench which has about 285 to 300nm torque should be able to undo the wheel nuts of most cars and lmvs. The makita dtw285 I have can take off Innova and hyundai i10 wheel nuts quiet easily. It struggled a bit with tempo traveler lug nuts but undid all of them eventually.

Dtw1002 on the other hand makes all nuts and bolts ask "am I a joke to you?"

I'm using both impacts on 3ah batteries only. Not higher.

Buy a brushless impact over brushed whichever brand you choose.

https://youtu.be/5jMSvQLRJFg

https://youtu.be/Ew_Jc9kmA0k

https://youtu.be/fUaOtn4nmrI

[Sankar]

Today i made a video of both Makitas on the lug nuts of the i10. The nuts on the i10 was done by a tyre shop using their air impact and then hand checked by the technician using an extra long tyre wrench as is the usual practice here.

Excuse the shitty camera work since one hand is on the impact and the other on the camera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1HfAEgD1ac

DTW285 on medium setting doesn't undo the nuts, i just wanted to demonstrate that here. It will probably work on medium setting maybe if the wheels are tightened to factory torque specs which is almost always not done but is often overtorqued by shops.