So around 4:30 I get a call from my friend Ethan. Apparently the guys doing construction at his office dumped some nails in the road, and he managed to catch one with his new tires. He's got his car jacked up and can't break any of the lug nuts free because someone handed a monkey an impact gun, and the monkey torqued them all down to between 130 and 150 ft-lbs each.
I packed up my impact wrench, breaker bar, and floor jack in the car, along with a fresh battery and set off. Dun dun da dun! Swanage to the rescue! When I got there, two of the lug nuts came off with the impact hammer.
The other two didn't budge. I'd been suspecting this, and that's why I brought the floor jack. I was really only interested in the handle, which slides over the end of my breaker bar perfectly and gives me a nice 4-ft lever to wrench on stubborn bolts with. I figured the jack could come in handy and wouldn't hurt as long as I had the handle with me. The jack, as predicted was useless, and the handle, as predicted, was essential.
At one point, I had him record me trying to brreak the stubborn ones loose. I sat with the impact gun for the better part of 45 seconds, doing my best to burn out the motor. If I can get ahold of the audio alone, it's entertaining.
Of course, after all was said and done, the part that boggles my mind was that these things were torqued down so insanely far and the wrench they give you in a miata is about 6 inches long if that. My impact wrench is good for 135-ish ft-lbs of torque. For those playing the home version, you'd need a good 265 lbs on the end of the dinky little wrench to break the lug nuts free.
Yet another reason to check the torque on your lug nuts/studs as soon as you get a car back from a shop.
After all was said and done we went and grabbed some dinner and I finally caught Borat. It's funny in parts, but honestly I was expecting a lot more offensive and eye-opening material from everything I heard.
I suppose I'm a bit more desensitized than most.
I packed up my impact wrench, breaker bar, and floor jack in the car, along with a fresh battery and set off. Dun dun da dun! Swanage to the rescue! When I got there, two of the lug nuts came off with the impact hammer.
The other two didn't budge. I'd been suspecting this, and that's why I brought the floor jack. I was really only interested in the handle, which slides over the end of my breaker bar perfectly and gives me a nice 4-ft lever to wrench on stubborn bolts with. I figured the jack could come in handy and wouldn't hurt as long as I had the handle with me. The jack, as predicted was useless, and the handle, as predicted, was essential.
At one point, I had him record me trying to brreak the stubborn ones loose. I sat with the impact gun for the better part of 45 seconds, doing my best to burn out the motor. If I can get ahold of the audio alone, it's entertaining.
Of course, after all was said and done, the part that boggles my mind was that these things were torqued down so insanely far and the wrench they give you in a miata is about 6 inches long if that. My impact wrench is good for 135-ish ft-lbs of torque. For those playing the home version, you'd need a good 265 lbs on the end of the dinky little wrench to break the lug nuts free.
Yet another reason to check the torque on your lug nuts/studs as soon as you get a car back from a shop.
After all was said and done we went and grabbed some dinner and I finally caught Borat. It's funny in parts, but honestly I was expecting a lot more offensive and eye-opening material from everything I heard.
I suppose I'm a bit more desensitized than most.