Almost lost my eye - WARNING! not pretty

[Russ Chung]

I always make it a habit to wear safety glasses when I use power tools, but I didn't think that it was necessary to wear them when I'm using ordinary hand tools.

Yesterday, I was tightening the bolts on my Jeep. I was almost done--I had only the rear bolt on the front passenger side lower control arm to tighten and I'd be done. The specifications call for 130 ft-lbs of torque. The service manual says that the Jeep should be on the ground, so I was squeezing under my Jeep trying to get my torque wrench to click when the crofoot wrench (more about that later) broke and the piece hit my head, narrowly missing my right eye.

[Russ Chung]

The bruise next to my right eye shows where the broken tool hit my head--less than half an inch from my right eye:



This is the tool that broke:

[SIZED]http://www.myjeeprocks.com/forums/gallery/files/1/3/2/6/P1050532.JPG[/SIZED]

If I had been wearing my safety glasses, the area that the tool hit would have been protected:

[SIZED]http://www.myjeeprocks.com/forums/gallery/files/1/3/2/6/P1050535.JPG[/SIZED]

[Russ Chung]

Lessons learned

I'm going to make it a regular habit to wear my safety glasses whenever I'm working on my Jeep (and the next time I crawl under my Jeep to tighten the LCA bolts, I'll think about wearing a protective cup, too).

Another lesson I've learned is to USE THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB. I had to use a crofoot wrench on the driver's side LCA bolts because I couldn't get a socket to fit between the nut and the driveshaft. But on the passenger side, there is plenty of room to use a regular socket on the bolt and a deep well socket on the nut; I was too lazy to change sockets when I moved to the other side of the Jeep. I used a 3/8" drive crofoot because that's all I had on hand. I used an adapter so that it would fit the 1/2" drive on my torque wrench. I should have realized that a 3/8" drive tool might not have been designed for that amount of torque.

I came very close to losing my right eye; I guess it was dumb luck that saved me, because in hindsight, what I was doing was pretty dumb.

[NAILER341]

that is a pretty good bump you have there, Russ.
i'm glad it was nothing more.

[Black & Tan TJ]

Russ,
You amaze me with your ability to bring out the best of any situation, very good advice and lessoned learn for all to learn from (I'll stop talking in circles now).
I'm glad to see your alright. Personally I try to use impact type sockets with torque spec's that high. Those control arm bolts are a PITA at times.

Tom

[swbooking]

Damn Russ, that was a close one... Glad to hear everything is OK. Yeah when we work we try to make it a point to wear glasses when were using power tools (grinders etc...) but not normally hand tools. Looks like im going to just constantly wear my glasses from now on.

[NAILER341]

Russ,
fix those glasses

[mrblaine]

I'm going to make it a regular habit to wear my safety glasses whenever I'm working on my Jeep (and the next time I crawl under my Jeep to tighten the LCA bolts, I'll think about wearing a protective cup, too).

Another lesson I've learned is to USE THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB. I had to use a crofoot wrench on the driver's side LCA bolts because I couldn't get a socket to fit between the nut and the driveshaft. But on the passenger side, there is plenty of room to use a regular socket on the bolt and a deep well socket on the nut; I was too lazy to change sockets when I moved to the other side of the Jeep. I used a 3/8" drive crofoot because that's all I had on hand. I used an adapter so that it would fit the 1/2" drive on my torque wrench. I should have realized that a 3/8" drive tool might not have been designed for that amount of torque.

I came very close to losing my right eye; I guess it was dumb luck that saved me, because in hindsight, what I was doing was pretty dumb.

I'll save the dumb comments, but what you were doing with the crow's foot would not have given you the correct torque value anyway, even if it had not of broken.

Because the point you rotate the wrench with is offset from centerline, you are essentially adding another lever similar to the handle on the torque wrench.

If you check the torque on any of the bolts you did use it on, you will most likely find they nowhere near the torque value you wanted.

[Materdaddy]

So... what bolts did you tighten and to what? You finished, right?

[sarah]

Glad to hear you are ok, Russ, and thanks for posting this. It is a good safety reminder. Hope to see you on the trails soon.

[Russ Chung]

I'll save the dumb comments, but what you were doing with the crow's foot would not have given you the correct torque value anyway, even if it had not of broken.

Because the point you rotate the wrench with is offset from centerline, you are essentially adding another lever similar to the handle on the torque wrench.

If you check the torque on any of the bolts you did use it on, you will most likely find they nowhere near the torque value you wanted.

Yes, I agree with you that when you use an extension, you have to make an adjustment to the torque wrench setting. Norbar Torque Tools website explains it better than I can: torque wrench extension calculator

In my case, my torque wrench is pretty long (20") and the crowfoot attachment is pretty short (less than 1/2"). According to the calculator, in order to get 130 ft-lbs at the nut, I should set my torque wrench to 127 ft-lbs; but that's less than the plus or minus four percent accuracy variance stated by the manufacturer of my torque wrench. If the extension was longer, say two or three inches in length, then I would definitely need to adjust the setting because that would result in a ten to fifteen percent difference in torque.

Another thing I remember from my Army maintenance training is that to CHECK torque, you have to be turning the fastener while taking the reading. That's because static friction is higher than dynamic friction, so you won't get a correct reading if you simply take a reading without actually moving the fastener. In some cases, you may have to back off the fastener a bit in order to get it to move while taking the reading.

[Mtbikbob]

Thanks for the lesson Russ, even at your own expense. I guess most would not have brought it up....including me. I figure I do enough dum stuff, I dont need to post em. There would be too many.

[medicmahem]

I am glad your ok. Thanks for the reminder. I think we all do stupid stuff while working on our jeeps. My favorite stupid thing was when I was intalling my new CV shaft. The holes for the u joints on the axle would not line up. So my simple solution was to just roll the jeep back to line up the holes. What I forgot to take into account was that the jack stands were holding up the transfer cases from just re-installing the case after the SYE conversion. AS anyone could guess the stands fell over!!!! ON MY DAD !
:oops:

[RAT]

Dang Russ! That mouse is cute! I have a cool face mask that is part respirator and part face shield. I use it when crawling under the Jeep (sans respirator filters). It's kind of like a paint ball mask. Covers the whole face. It's saved me from similar damage before.
Glad you came out of that with only cosmetic damage. That could have been bad. Heal fast!
Kurt

[FRMNJJ]

Russ,
fix those glasses

glad there wasnt any other damage.....you would look funny w/out an eye............but you need to fix that nose piece !