SO Flank Drive+ Wrenches

[James O’Hara]

So as most frequent users know I had purchased one set of these a while back and spread them on a sensor nut. Got them replaced for free due to this and then did it again. I had also bought the expanded set at that time. I had engraved the first set and expanded set. Well because of the engraving I had the return price dropped some.

Well today I am trying the long pattern style. They were on sale for an extremely good price. I already talked to the tool guy I am not going to engrave them. But, I tell you this I will have my camera with me this time and if I spread them I am taking pictures. If they spread I will also return them for a full refund.

I was just wondering what your guys experience has been with the Flank Drive+? Do you have long pattern? When did you buy yours? Have you ever spread them? Have you ever not been able to get full return price on a new item due to engraving?

Topic

[Andrew Button]

My advice, you chose well. I have them, and although I don’t think mine are that long, they make other wrenches look like a joke. There is no reason to even use any other wrench. No, don’t ever, ever engrave tools. It trashes the value. Lock you box, get a rottweiler to watch it, whatever, just don’t deface Snap-on tools. Its like spittin on something religious, its just wrong.

[Mike]

I was convinced very early on in my career. I had a old rusty Audi 90 I had to do a tie rod end on. It was the type with an inner and outer end with a threaded rod in between them with a 14mm hex in the middle to adjust length. All the 14mm wrenches in the shop spread and slipped over the hex. A little later that day, Snap-On showed up and let me take a flank drive plus off the truck to demo it on the Audi and it worked. It has those serrations in the open end which mar up fasteners, so I use smooth wrenches unless it’s really tight and I need the serrated jaw. But when you need ’em, there’s no substitute.

[Andrew Button]

Amen bro, words of wisdom. I have some pretty nice SK wrenches from a long time ago, but they are not as nice as SO. I cannot endorse any other wrench beside Flank drive and flank drive pluses. They make every other wrench look like something from the kids toy aisle at walmart.

[James O’Hara]

Once again these wrenches fail to do what I need them too do. I do not understand why it is so hard to make an open end that actually works.

It rounded both 13mm head M8 x 1.25mm x 25mm and 10mm head M8 x 1.25mm x 25mm bolts their hardness is 10.9 or greater. Both bolts are captive head and both are stainless steel. If I was pulling on copper or brass or something soft I could understand. The marking I remember seeing on them is Ax. They are also heat resistant bolts as they are in the exhaust.

They go back to SO on Thursday. Unless someone can tell me why these are doing this over and over again. I believe they have started to cheap out on the metal or something.

[Andrew Button]

So here is the question, if you can kill the best wrench money can buy, do you start getting cheap wrenchs and see which one doesn’t fail? Or buy two pittsburg and weld them together, in a stack.

[James O’Hara]

First off it is not the best wrench money can buy I am pretty sure Industrial wrenches are better. Secondly, there is no possible way to use two Pittsburgh wrenches the bolts are not that thick its bad enough with one 😛

Atm I am using Craftsman USA Made and Gearwrench 9901Flex Ratcheting Wrenches. Open end is strong on the Gearwrench and the box works well on the Craftsman though the 10mm and 13mm are starting to show wear. It gets the job done most of the time.

I am thinking I need something like J H Williams MWS-27TA 27pc Metric Supercombo Wrenches. Though then again 1k for a set of wrenches is steep by anyone’s budget. I have been trying to figure this out for some time wth to buy. I am open to suggestions.

[Andrew Button]

Williams is Snap-on. Have you tried the Snap-on with the black finish ? I cannot believe that SO tools have let you down. This to me must be an anomoly. Have you discussed this with your Truck guy ? You need the So rescue rig guy to visit your shop. i think you need to show him what you are working on that is causing the wrenches trouble. I wonder if you got ahold of an older Snap on wrench of the same size what you would find. I have some SO wrenchs from the 70s and don’t think a Gorilla on steroids could bend them.

[James O’Hara]

The older stuff is fine. My coworker’s set from 3-5yrs ago basically when Flank Drive+ came out he bought them they work fine. Shit keeps getting cheaper. BTW, Andrewbutton442 this is the third set of Flank Drive+ wrenches that I have spread the open ends on so much so they round the bolt. It takes a considerable amount of force to do, do not get me wrong, but if the bolt is still in there and my coworkers can take it out something has changed. They still say USA on them but,I have my reservations. Either that or they are using real cheap alloys in the steel or they made it more springy so people can’t break the wrenches as easily.

I do not care what it is if it rounds it it’s not worth 324 bucks on sale let alone 554 not. I own a set of Craftsman that rounds things perfectly well I don’t need another set to do that for me.

I am debating making a video this week during my lunch time demonstrating it.

[John]

[quote=”MDK22″ post=130972]

I am debating making a video this week during my lunch time demonstrating it.[/quote]

Please do, I for one would be interested in seeing it since I’m debating buying a set. I have a couple older sets of the standard Flank Drive OEX___B’s and a couple early A-series ones too. I had a set of the MAC Knuckle Savers when they first came out but wasn’t really impressed with how they work and how they felt in hand. They just didn’t grip as advertised and the edges where sharp and uncomfortable after long time use. I heard some company in the UK makes something similar but haven’t seen any in a long pattern yet.

[James O’Hara]

I ended up doing some experimenting. I have only been able to use thes in low light situations till today. I was tearing pieces of the bolt of. It says the hardness is 10.9 but, I have sneaking suspicion that is false.

Basically I took a bolt and put it in the vise and then applied that same ridiculous strength that I was before to the vise. I then proceeded to try and turn the bolt and metal shaving could be seen coming off the bolt. The wrench stretched only ever so slightly it was actually eating the bolt head. I have decided I will retest with regular steel bolts that have a hardness of 12.9 and I will get back to you guys. I feel that because it is stainless that it may be of a softer metal but, because its stainless have a higher tensile strength.

If it passes with a 12.9 hardness bolt or does the same thing the issue is not the wrench but, the bolt.

[Nick Warner]

I’m shocked you are having issues with the wrench. When I left tech I had a set of Matco wrenches and not only would they spread they could round bolts that were rusty. Certainly not cheap wrenches either. I tried a FlankDrive and it was convincing enough to get me to replace all of my Matco with SnapOn. I have not had a wrench spread in over 5 years because of that. The FlankDrive for me has been the best I have owned. But realize that there is only a finite amount of force you can put on the open end of any wrench. They aren’t made to pull a super heavy torque load. Might want to look at something that can put force that you need in a tighter confine if you are running into this.

Like the experiment you are doing. I have found especially with metric hardware made overseas that they do not have good consistency like US hardware has. No telling if a grade 12.4 is actually that strong. US fasteners are held to a stricter standard, and a grade 8 bolt is a grade 8 bolt here. The bridges I fab at work are only allowed to use US fasteners and steel specifically for that consistency. We can do destructive testing and certify the true strength of the hardware we get.

Might also have something to do with it being easier to haul an American company into court if the bridge collapses too. I’m sure there are a few factors involved there.

[Andrew Button]

Yes I agree, SO wrenches, Flank drive and plus wrenches are so far above and beyond everything else, its almost like magic. The grade of steel that SO uses for its sockets and wrenches may or may not show up in a rockwell test or whatever, but its far superior to anybody elses stuff. There is a guy on youtube that tests tools and stuff, and he breaks the heads of grade 8 bolts instead of rounding them, and the only wrenches that actually do this are the SO and the Wright, which is of course SO manufactured as well.
I have a set of very old SK polished wrenches that are a close second, but I haven’t seen anything else lately that I think compares.

[James O’Hara]

[quote=”nickwarner” post=132764]
Like the experiment you are doing. I have found especially with metric hardware made overseas that they do not have good consistency like US hardware has. No telling if a grade 12.4 is actually that strong. US fasteners are held to a stricter standard, and a grade 8 bolt is a grade 8 bolt here. The bridges I fab at work are only allowed to use US fasteners and steel specifically for that consistency. We can do destructive testing and certify the true strength of the hardware we get.[/quote]

I think you are prob right the stuff we have is lowest bidder on our trucks that might have something to do with it. I even searched the markings on the bolts and found nothing about them also lending me to believe they are from overseas. As for the things I use the open end on its is not much mainly sensors, flare nuts, and a couple tight places you can’t get a socket on.

SO wrenches are made to flex. They are good when stuff is not too tight. Otherwise I hurt the crap out of my hands using them even with heavy leather gloves on. Flex is good in a lot of respects but, whenever I go to break something really tight loose I wind up using my craftsman box end and cheater wrenching or hitting it with a hammer. The SO flex too much and often get in the way of other things when cheater wrenching.

I think it may be hard for most of you to realize that are not in diesel or a larger equipment field. The amount of force that normally gets put on stuff is roughly 3-4x that of most automotive applications. I feel they are a good investment but, I still do not think they are worth the money I spent on them even on sale. Btw, I have the long pattern of them. I ended up buying a set of Gearwrench just to get away from my Craftsman simple because I want an open end I can actually use and the box ends were starting to get a little spacious on the main wrenches I use.

As for the 12.9 bolts I haven’t the money and we are all out at work so I doubt I will be able to give advice on that any time soon. Also on top of that my camera is acting up which sucks because I was trying to take a video of my new tools for inventory sake and it isnt working right.

[Greg L]

I haven’t seen the question popped yet, so I’ll ask. What exactly are you trying to loosen with an open end wrench? What is the torque spec when tightening whatever it is you’re trying to loosen? Why are you using an open end wrench instead of a different tool, like the boxed in wrench, socket, etc?

Open end wrenches are weak, so way about it. I have an old set of Flank Drive Plus wrenches, SAE set that were repo’d. I scored them for $70 as the tool guy was taking them out to his truck. I want to say they are dated early to mid 1990’s, I’ll have to look at the date stamp. I can put a decent amount of torque on them, before they begin to slip, but the boxed in will always out bite them. One thing I hate about them, they are the older knife edged wrenches. Gloves or a shop rag is a must when putting serious power to them. If you’re dealing with fasteners that are exposed to exhaust temps, an open end wrench will never work. Without knowing exactly what it is that you’re fighting with, I can’t give you suggestions, but if you can elaborate, I may be able to give you some input.

[James O’Hara]

I acquired a set of long pattern recently and all it does is take metal off of the sensor as the sensor is made too cheap. What it is, is sensors and tubes for both the Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC) and Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF).both are part of the exhaust and both can reach temperatures as high as 1,500F with an average operating temperature of 800 and an average regeneration temperature of 1,000F-1,100F. The tubes go back to another sensor to measure pressure difference across the DPF and determine is soot or ash load.

So it high temperature heat cycles and instead of using a proper fitting they have the cheapest possible fastener and the metal just gives up. The other thing is most guys do not put anti-seize on them because you can ruin the sensors or the differential pressure sensor at the other end of the tubes if you use too much. The old versions had ample room around them the new versions do not as they are crammed against the new Suggestive Catalyst Reduction (SCR) systems. A wrench is pretty much the only thing you can get on them any more that or the 18″ universal pipe wrench from bahco which is also re-branded for snap-on but, they run same price and ruin the flats which pisses off the next guy 👿

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