Hello Billy and I share my fellow members' sorrow and concern at your experience. The good news though is that it can be explained so that it never happens to you (or anyone else reading this) again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BillyRover
Most poignantly I broke my torque wrench ... It's on the highest setting but with 5 foot of box steel over the end trying to undo these wishbone bolts ...
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This was your big mistake. A torque wrench should
never be extended in length in this way. You exceeded the maximum torque of which your wrench was capable so it is not surprising that you destroyed it. I made it clear when I gave a torque wrench as an example that it must be used within its range.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BillyRover
I bought a hexagonal socket for the rear bolt and ... gave it a good tug with the torque wrench, swivel head and shorter length of box steel for leverage ... but alas the socket had slipped ... When the socket slipped it damaged the bolt head ...
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Your swivel head applies the turning force to the socket at an angle. The undesirable effect of this is that it will cause the socket to lift off the bolt head at a point directly opposite the applied force. That is why your socket slipped and damaged the bolt head. To avoid this happening, use the tooling as near to level as possible and with your other hand press the swivel and socket downwards onto the bolt head to oppose this lifting force. That's what I did and my bolts loosened unscathed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BillyRover
I've got a breaker bar coming tomorrow ... and am running out of options. Any issues me getting the blow torch on these suckers?
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You don't need a blowtorch Billy. The difficulty is because the bolts are at 150 Nm and access is limited. The tool length I used was 50 cm and with one sustained pull the bolts released. It's all about how and where you apply the force, not the amount of it.
Good luck!
Simon