149 ft lbs + 1/4 turn + 3/8" drive = snap!

[Steve Scalmanini]

Can anyone recommend a tool for torquing (sp?) front hub bolts
when the bold head has a 17mm female hex instead of the original
27mm male hex?  The new bolts came with the CV boot kits I got
from SJM and the only tool I could find to torque them was a
socket (plug?) made for installing VW & Porsche oil drain plugs.
Its like a 3/8 drive socket but with a 17mm male hex head.  I
tried all the auto stores and tool stores in town
and no one had or could get a 1/2" drive version.  So I got the
3/8" drive tool, knowing it was guaranteed and having explained
to the clerk what I was going to do with it.  Well, it delivered
the 149 ft lbs, but when I tried to add the 1/4 turn (90 degrees)
that Bentley specifies, it got only a few degrees before breaking
through the side of the drive end at each of the four corners.
Fortunately I had Loctited the threads so I assume the bolt
won't go anywhere for a long time.

Anyway, does anyone know where to get a proper tool for the job?
I know I could always cut a few inches off of a 17mm Allen wrench
and drive that with a 17mm socket?  Or is the proper tool no tool
at all but to get new bolts from AoA (assuming they'd have the
same 27mm male heads as the original bolts) and don't waste time
trying to put so much torque on a 17mm hex.  I know many of us
have learned a similar lesson with the OEM oil drain plugs with
the 17mm male hex that is so easy to ruin when trying to remove
the plug after some oil-changer had overtightened it.

TIA,

Steve


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