Improvised Open End Torque Wrench

Rarely---for most DIY'ers---there arises the need to tighten something to a specific torque. What happen when that nut is on a pipe? Or has a lot of extra bolt that your deepwell socket can't handle. You don't want to fork out cash for "crow feet" wrench heads just for this one rare time you need them. They they'll be laying around for years in your way. What do you do? You play some DIY jazz, is what you do.

You will need:

1. a socket style torque wrench
2. a bolt of some kind
3. washers
4. lock washers
5. nuts
6. an adjustable wrench---or standard wrench in the size you need.

Assembly will vary according to what nuts and lock washers or lock nuts you're using.

1. Put the bolt through the hole.
2. Put a nut on one side, or the head of your bolt.
3. Add a washer.
4. On the opposite side place a washer on the bolt and then a lock washer.
5. Add a nut or lock nut.

TIGHTEN DOWN UNTIL IT CANNOT MOVE AT ALL!

That's it. It's ready to use.

1. Adjust the wrench to fit the nut you need torqued.
2. Attach the torque wrench with a socket appropriate for the size of bolt you used.
3. Crank it!

Will this setup take a high torque situation? Maybe? But it'll likely work better for lighter torques. I can't even imagine what the upper limit may be. But a simple 15lb torque worked fine with this.

See the pictures and notes in them for permanently altering the wrench. Buy a cheap adjustable and mess around. Either mod will make them more closely resemble a crows foot adapter and may ensure they'll take the big torques.

Happy messing about.