I'm gonna need a bigger torque wrench...

I finally got around to finishing off the chain replacement on the ST3.
All was going well until I went to tighten up the front sprocket nut. I
had my trusty torque wrench to hand, which has served me well for many
years. Then I checked the required torque for the sprocket nut. How
fucking much??? 135 ft-lbs (183 Nm) that's how much. My old torque
wrench tops out at 105 ft-lbs so that's no good. Still every cloud and
all that - it's an excuse to get a shiny new Halfords professional
jobbie that tops out at 225 ft-lbs. That should take care of any and
all likely future needs.

 

Heh, check out the torque required for the nut behind the clutch basket,
it's very impressive.

 

I can get you a 15% discount at Halfords if you want,

 

Yep, 3 grunts on a breaker bar will do it. About the same as a
crankshaft pulley nut ....

No need for new torque wrench, unless you like collecting tools ...

Paul.

 

Hub nuts on older VWs are 149ft/lb IIRC, which for me was (limit of
torque wrench)+(a bit more).

 

I used an old ratchet tie wrapped to 3m of 21 x 41 Unistrut for extra
leverage. It was still an uter sod to shift.

 

It was a good job the ratchet didn't let go - IME cheapy ratchets don't
like that kind of punishment. If it wasn't a cheapy I wouldn't have
abused it like that...

I've managed to break a breaker bar on a VW.

 

I have a 1" 36mm socket and bar - with the addition of a length of
scaffold pole for undoing hubs on campers.

I also have a stupidly large, and nearly new, army surplus Britool torque
wrench for doing them back up.

I have been defeated undoing one in the past; that required a trip to the
local commercial vehicle tyre place and a small contribution to the tea
fund which had their FOAD 2-man air gun on the case.

 

It's about 50 years old and has an ovalised handle rather than a round
one, which made it fit into the unistrut perfectly.

I had already snapped the non ratchet 1/2" square drive.

 

In my case, 'older' means 1980s FWD Watercooled. I'm pretty sure you're
right about the Beetle.

 

The original aircooled, rear engined VW had a notoriety regarding their
rear hubs.

 

I had a 411 which was just a Beetle with a flat haircut and the hubnuts
on that were so tight I was convinced one of them was welded on.

 

**** off! They're brilliant. I couldn't find one at the right price at
the right time when I was after one. I'd still really like one.

 

Think Porsche. Now put that right out of your mind.
The 411 had nothing to do with the Blessed P, except the origins of
both.

Beerholder, etc.
Actually, I quite liked mine, but like all Beetles, the heater was shit
and if it didn't gas you (some Nazi designer) it would freeze you.
Windscreen had a habit of popping out on fast corners, too.

 

One of my campers started leaking oil from the rocker covers, straight
into the (as usual) rotten heat exchanger - cue clouds of thick smoke in
the cab. Jolly exciting for my nine year old!

After changing the exchangers and flaps the heaters were bloody
marvelous. So, excellent in good condition, but unlikely to stay that
way for long.

 

I had a very toasty 72 1300 beetle. until they rusted out again.