Can I cut and weld two wrenches to make a longer one?

[sixdogs]

You must not have needed the wrench too bad, because if you did, you would have made one in the time it took to post here, and then came here after and told us how it worked! lol

SR

Lots of people here are way smarter than I am and have already been there and done that. There are great ideas I can steal.

Current thinking is to maybe weld a flat bar to a stubby socket OR maybe a flat bar to a half wrench. Ideas fro posts. I'll measure it tomorrow but am trying to delay this miserable chore as long as possible.

 

[sd455dan]

Sure, do it. Ive done that kind of thing as needed for 30 years. Watched my father do it as a kid, make that 'one-off, just for this situation, needs to be exactly this' tool modification. Be it bending an 'S' curve in the shank to clear an obstacle to extending as you speak of, to simply cutting off a 10mm wrench to a stubby 2" long.... Do what you gotta do to make work easier.

Your welding plan sounds good, leave as much of the original wrench as possible, so the heat wont effect the temper of the box end/open end you need. Go for it, good luck. Let us know how well it worked.

Edit: cut the ends to be welded together at an angle, 45 ｰ or more, not just at 90 ｰ to the body of the wrench as is ones first impulse, so as to increse your lenth of weld. Then grind your v bevel to lay weld in.

Yep- same here,
from welding a ratchet to a home made clutch fan holder to
1/2 and 9/16 inch shortys welded to solid bar to loosen distributor hold down bolts (timing 1960-70s muscle cars) to
even making six sided socket for removing Dana 4x4 axle nuts and welding up cracked sockets that I needed to get the job done. Some of them are UGLY but they did work.

I figure the worst thing that can happen is the weld breaking- in which case weld it again or figure a stronger way of building the tool on the next try, Go for it.

There is a special feeling of reward in modifying a tool that would not have been able to do a job unmodified. Especially when the modified tool allows you to get the job done.

 

[bcp]

Even crows make tools. But I haven't heard of them welding yet.

New videos prove crows can make complex tools that only humans have made before | Ars Technica

Bruce

 

[ruffdog]

We use to modify wrenches all the time for the production line for hand tools or reaction bars for air tools. We didn't use china tools though. We used a 680 stainless/nickel rod which also works for dissimilar metals too. I lost count how many Snap-On wrenches I cut apart to make a "special" wrench.

 

[Rocky J]

Years ago I went to school for welding and remember some little things about increasing the strength of a weld. In this case it sounds good because you are weld the same metals together and they will act the same when heated and cooled. Carbon is what make the steel strong, when heated it elongates the molecules and lines them all up in the same direction making a fracture line. To prevent this being a problem when welding be sure to stay out of a cool draft and just as soon as you lift the welder start peening the weld with your chipping hammer to stir the molecules back up into a random pattern before it can cool and chase the carbon back where it came from. The heat draws carbon to the welded area and will make the weld harder then the steel around it if let cool with out peening it. Called crystallizing ? I remember everybody peening and laying old welding gloves on top of the multi pass welds for certification tests.The gloves slowed down the cooling. The top of your bevels need to be half as wide as your wrench is thick if it is welded all the way around, your gap between the two wrench ends need to be as wide as your welding wire. With that said I hope I did not make a big deal out of nothing. My welds did not break before I went to school but it tripled my pay to go , it was a no brainier other then I quit 6 months later to drive a truck.

 

[LD1]

No worries, just weld it.

Couple of questions, why use a wrench. Can you not get on with a socket? And perhaps a breaker bar with a ratcheting head?

Just how tight are the bolts? Are they so tight that you would be worried about stripping the gears out in a ratchet wrench? Because it may save some time if you lengthened a ratchet wrench as opposed to a standard wrench?

 

[sixdogs]

No worries, just weld it.

Couple of questions, why use a wrench. Can you not get on with a socket? And perhaps a breaker bar with a ratcheting head?

Just how tight are the bolts? Are they so tight that you would be worried about stripping the gears out in a ratchet wrench? Because it may save some time if you lengthened a ratchet wrench as opposed to a standard wrench?

No room for a socket and wrench. There is room for a wrench on each side and that's about it. The bolts are torqued as much as two wrenches can torque. Maybe 80 ft lbs? Anyway, maybe I can grind a socket shorter and weld to a piece of metal. Next choice is to get two donor wrenches and see what happens. The point is that I need the wrench long enough for clearance as well as long enough to get bolt/nut torqued tight.

 

[Ford850]

I'd use LD1's advice and extend a ratcheting wrench. It will save a lot of time and you'll have a ratchet on one end and an open box wrench on the other end of the extended wrench. One for speed, and the other for power.

 

[Xfaxman]

sixdogs, have you seen or used a ratcheting box end wrench?
You would still need to lengthen it.

 

[k0ua]

sixdogs, have you seen or used a ratcheting box end wrench?
You would still need to lengthen it.
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I have several of those, and they are dang handy!. Like the others I would not hesitate in welding to make the tool I needed. After all if the crows can make little hooks to dig out grubs, surely we can weld on an extension.

Although on second thought, crows are mighty dang smart. :laughing: