Shellshock's DIY inflator / deflator

Especially with the temperature dropping. The Winter Warlock keeps stealing air from our tires.

 

I can only credit those nifty air chucks, but since making the kit, I have been checking pressures at least every other weekend. Prior to, it was monthly or a bit longer. The regular checks did catch a slow leak from a screw in our daughter's car.

The kit with the Viair was also killer when my wife found a flat in a parking lot. That one is on me though. The day before, I heard something clacking in the tire and assumed it was a stone. The screw or nail that was in the tire must have came out just as she was parking. There was no TPMS warning, just an obvious flat when she came out of the store.

 

So, I just returned from "assisting" a tire sidewall tear from a mom dropping off her child at the same school my older kid goes to.

I wasn't able to budge any of the lugnuts. I'm not that much of a wimp and this was just a random hyundai sedan.

Eventually the mom's phone-a-friend showed up with a shop jack and impact driver, took off the front and rear, swapped rear to front and put the donut on the rear, all in about 5 minutes total. I felt rather useless.

I'm thinking I probably need to tool up to attempt this on my truck if the time comes. I don't think our OEM lugnut wrench is significantly longer than the one I just tried and failed to use.

Do you guys carry impact drivers and shop jacks? Is there a middle ground which leaves us better prepared to swap a tire without significant extra size/weight?

 

If you rotate your own tires and torque to spec you should be fine. It sounds like the hyundai had a couple of extra ugga-duggas. A breaker bar and matching socket that fits your lug nuts would be cheap insurance though and take up minimal space.

Edit: you can always position the factory wrench where you can step on it if needed.

 

I actually have a spare torque wrench in my truck, it has enough leverage to help others, and I know mine are torqued correctly so they won’t be difficult to remove. I’ve had it where the truck showed up to swap a tire I couldn’t free the lugs on after stopping to help, and he couldn’t get them either with his tools and had to tow. Sometimes lugs get way over torqued

 

I wanted my corded impact to free up properly torqued lugs, but it does not with the 3A that we have to work with. After anybody touches our stuff, esp lugs and after dealing with induced warp, I always ensure proper torque. So, I have no real worries about using the supplied jack and wrench if needed. In my experience, a plug kit has been sufficient.

About the only helpful additions would be a more stable jack base and some chocks. I got two chocks from HF. For the base, I still need to make it, but a section of 2x8 with two diagonal or four studs and nuts in it to secure the jack base to it would be cool when not jacking on pavement.

 

I usually just use the factory one and haven’t had issues. I do have a 1/2” breaker bar and sockets if need be. If i can’t get it off with that, there’s bigger issues.

You can actually get more power is you squat and lift with your legs. It’s also more controlled and less likely to fall off / round off a lug

 

I also recommend pulling off your wheels and putting some copper anti seize on the surface the wheel contacts. Then you dont have to worry about the wheels getting stuck to the hubs.

 

I have a nice enough husky 150 ft-lb torque wrench from doing hitch installs. I thought I read somewhere that using a torque wrench to loosen fittings was a no-no? But I think maybe they are designed to only do the torque-measuring part in one direction rather than both directions? I have a 3/8" park tool torque wrench (for bicycles) which is specifically advertised as working in both directions (more common to have left hand threads with bikes).

OK, so, assuming my torque wrench would have done the trick, and if I had kept it in the truck and driven the truck there instead of riding my bicycle, the second key is the jack and having a stable base for it? In this situation the factory jack seemed sufficient but didn't exactly inspire confidence. The shop jack was able to float the entire right side of the car well up into the air with just a few pumps. Not much in between?

I should have immediately returned home and retrieved my tools I think.

Oh, and the squat method was something I failed to try, thank you for that suggestion, I should have asked a few minutes ago and maybe I would have been successful.

EDIT: To be clear, I'm speaking mostly of helping others as I sort of expect my own gear to be in good condition and torqued to correct specs and such.

 

Correct. Dont use a torque wrench as a breaker bar.

 

I carry my cordless Milwaukee 3/8" impact with me at all times for situations like this.

If I know I am going to do some hard wheeling, I bring my cordless Milwaukee 1/2" impact with me in case I need something to pull off a wheel bearing, etc.

Obviously this is way overkill but I like to be prepared haha. For just-in-case use and real estate conservation, I would either throw a 3ft breaker bar or a torque wrench(maybe a cheap HF torque wrench), as mentioned above, in the truck for those times you may need it.

As far as the jack, I keep a small bottle jack in the truck with some 2x6's in case I need a sturdier base / extra height. Not the most stable setup and you have to be mindful of everything but it works and doesnt take up much room.

 

Also one of these comes in handy. Then you dont have to worry about having the correct size

https://www.tekton.com/1-2-inch-drive-6-point-impact-flip-socket-set-4950

 

You can certainly use a torque wrench in both directions. Using it as a breaker bar can (might) be bad for the calibration. This is only the case when a fastener snaps free, like our front diff plugs. For fasteners that come free smoothly, like lugs, it is no big deal. In fact, when getting a calibration, they will typically be given in both directions. CCW can fail and still have a useable tool though.

 

Yup, suggest these as well! I have the HF variant of these

 

OK, thanks, 24" breaker bar and shock's nuts, added to cart.
Then as far as jacks go, stick with stock since it's vehicle-specific and just suck up the wimpy factor and keep torqueing it? Seems insane to keep a shop jack in a vehicle and there's not much in between outside of a high lift which would be utterly useless for street vehicles.

 

Yea, it’s definitely not a breaker bar, but it should free them up to what the wrench is good for tightening to, if they take more than 150 lbs, I don’t want to deal with it. And it’s not my good one. Just a spare

 

The OE jack is just a mechanical bottle jack. So, it could be used in a variety of situations.

 

I just use the truck jack.

Also a lot of people seem to forget that you can jack from under the rear axel or front A arm instead of the frame. Then you don’t need to do nearly as much lifting to get the wheel off the ground.

 

Yeah, had I driven my truck I was curious if my jack might help out. But I think it would have just been too tall to fit. Though I could have used her jack to get it high enough to place my jack for good height.

Here are links to the items I'm going with, thanks for the assistance on this:

$28 EPAuto 1/2" Drive by 24" Length Breaker Bar, CR-V Steel

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074WHR1SW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1L7F5DL4H71TK&psc=1

TEKTON 1/2" Drive 6-Point Impact Flip Socket Set (4-Piece) | 4950

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00944N154/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

 

If I was using mine for than general maint, I would treat it better and most likely have a better one.


I do have to say that digi torque adapters now play that role for me. The 1/2in drive one that I have (similar to the HF) is good down to 6N-m.