I just bought a manual impact tool called a Swench.It was built by Curtis-Wright,the airplane people for working on large hardware on planes.The military picked up on it,there's pics of mechanics working on tanks with their Swench.It has these spring loaded cams that when released gives off ungodly amounts of torque.Mine takes 50 lbs. of force to move the handle and then when the handle is rotated to 30*,the whack comes into play and releases 800Lbs. of torque.I tried it yesterday on a never been out 1.5'' bolt head on my '59 JD track loader.First whack and the gobs of paint went flying--loosened it immediately.The largest one they make puts out 4K lbs. of torque. Cool stuff.
That does sound interesting. I'd like to see and use one for myself. Kinda like a manual impact wrench. Best part is that you don't have to have air or hydraulics. What was the price like? That Curtis-Wright bunch makes good tools.
Here is the first one to come up in Google.I never heard of it before but will be looking now.Thanks,Ron G http://www.powerhawk.com/products_swench.html
These used to be available from caterpillar, 1" drive part# 5P2410
I paid $70 to a young guy who just bought it with an odd assortment of other strange looking tools.I know it was a steal because with all the googling I've done,my model goes for $1K new,without the kit.Some blogs that I've looked at,the comments were to the effect that the only ones that could afford these are big business and of course our government for the military.I was wrong on the big daddy--that gives 7K lbs. of torque.I want to try and find those adapters and a manual now,their impact sockets I don't believe would be anything more than any other good one.
What a tool! I will keep my eyes open for one of those. Most people (including myself until I saw this) would not have any idea as to what they are or what they are worth. John
I can see two things that might give an old man like me issues. First is pulling that thing hard and then having it release, probably with an impact into my shoulders. The second item is that small one with the half inch drive and 500 foot pounds of torque hitting it. I can't imagine the drive or the sockets holding up to that very many times. It is still and interesting tool.
The swench This is a great tool for your tool box, check you military surplus they have them sometimes at auctions, i have seen complete kits show up new. mine is over ten years old and is used when i have no air close by or need more than 2000ft lbs torque, simple adjustment low maintance.
Not so at all.Like I said,on my model,the 750,you pull the handle with 50lbs.of force,once the handle rotates 30*,thats when the springs release converting that inertia to the socket.There is no harsh sting when this happens as there are built in cushioning devices in the head.As far as sockets,you have to use impact ones just the same as any other impact gun/wrench.Doing a search,these Swenches have been around for a long time and they're still being made the same way as the originals,so what does that tell you?