Hydraulic toruqe wrenchs

[steveo2108]

Anyone have any experience with hydraulic torque wrenches. Or any suggestions on breaking big rusty bolts and high torque situations such as the giant 50mm counter weight bolts on the komatsus they get torqued to 1300ftlbs and 2300ftlbs with adhesive?

 

[Mike L]

Don’t have experience with komatsu counter weight bolts but back in my Volvo days we would just heat the bolts up cherry red which would loosen the adhesive and then just hit it with the 1” gun. We had hydraulic torque wrenches but it takes quite a reaction bar to reach anything and then you need 4 men and a fat Boy Scout to hold it all in place.

 

[steveo2108]

Thank you for your response, we tried heating them up with a induction heater and a torch with a air 1" and a Milwaukee 1" also tried a torque multiplier with long bars and a loader lol

 

[Welder Dave]

I worked in a vessel shop that used a Sweeney hyd. torque wrench to tighten the flange bolts for hydrotesting the pig traps for the Trans. Canada pipeline. The blank was 5" thick and the 32 bolts needed to be torqued to 5000 ft./lbs. to not leak. I think the torque wrench went up to 10,000 ft./lbs. I looked at the gauge that converters pressure to torque when I walked by and it was less than half way. Before the hyd. torque wrench they tried tightening the nuts with about a 12' long std. torque wrench. Couldn't get them tight enough and was kind of dangerous. I can't remember but I think the nuts were 2 7/8".

The other tool that would work is a Rad Torque torque wrench. Similar to an impact wrench but a lot more torque and also shows the torque. I think they're adjustable and give accurate torque settings. They have planetary gear reduction and up 11,000 ft./lbs. torque. They have air, electric and cordless models. I think there's other brands too but Rad Torque has several patents on them.

 

[92U 3406]

I've used Hytorc hydraulic ones and Rad Torque pneumatic and cordless ones.

The battery powered Rad gun is a beast. I've used their 5k ft-lb model.

Better go talk to the bank because those units are very pricey.

 

[Welder Dave]

I don't know if they can be rented?

 

[92U 3406]

You never know. Most places that require torquing of that level on a regular basis have one in the tool crib.

 

[chidog]

I've loosened and tightened D8H lift cylinder piston nuts, by hand. I forget the torque but I think its 2K or more. Yes had a 2K snap on torqueometer. Don't need anything too fancy for that torque range.

Too loosen use a strong enough tool, and use another excavator, dozer, loader or ? to strong arm it.
Even a shop truck crane can do miracles.

 

[Welder Dave]

One of the larger rental outfits that supplies shut downs and stuff might. Maybe contact Rad Torque and they may rent them or know who rents them. It's amazing how much torque they have in a hand held unit. The gravel pit by me has one but not a Rad Torque. They wouldn't loan it out but I think would have came over to use it on some big bolts I had to tighten on the grader ripper. I ended up not needing it as I rented a 1" drive high torque Milwaukee cordless that had a 1400 ft./lbs. loosening rating. I needed about 850 ft./lbs. min. but the torque wasn't really critical, just needed to be pretty tight. It cost $60 to rent with a socket and universal joint. To buy a socket and 1" drive breaker bar would have cost more and I'd probably never need it again.

I just thought of something. Could you take an impact socket, preheat it a little and weld a lever on it out of at least 1/2" plate so you could pound on it with a large hammer while someone else was running the impact wrench? Would be best to use high strength specialty electrodes in the 120-130,000 tensile strength. Any decent welding supply would have them in small 1lb. packages. Harris Super Missleweld is a common type but there are others. Look on the package and it will say for difficult to weld steels, spring steel or unknown steel. They are stainless based. It has been mentioned on the forum in the past that the shock from pounding can loosen things that won't loosen by conventional means. Initial force by an impact wrench and the additional shock from pounding at the same time could be enough get the bolts turning.

 

[cfherrman]

I've used a 30' cheater pipe on a 36" pipe wrench before on some galled threads, had a good 5' of spring pulled into it.

Is there room to get something long and have a backhoe to push on it?

 

[Welder Dave]

How badly did you bend the pipe wrench? A good pipe wrench can handle a snipe but 30' I think would either break the wrench or severely bend it.

 

[cfherrman]

It was a 2 3/8 joint of tubing and it didn't bend it that much in the direction it's strong in, but in the other way (up/down) it bent it that way a few inches.

 

[CM1995]

Moved this over to Shop Talk.