[Vwdiesel] Minor tragedies--A4 suspension work

[Val Christian]

Actually everyone is partially right.  THe benefit of a hammer is at least 
three fold.

First, it imparts force.  Oddly, it is more than just a simple pulse
of force (more abou that below).  Force is essential to getting things
to move, unless you have wheel lugs like I do on my tractor, which 
develop their own Brownian motion and loosen themselves spontaneously.

Second, it imparts broadband noise.  That hit carries with it all kinds of 
harmonics.  Those, coupled with some kind of translational force, help
do things like bust up a rust matrix, and allow things to turn easier.
This is why rapping on the head of a rusted exhaust mount bolt can help
free up that bolt so that a wrench can turn it.  It is also why air 
impact tools tend to be effective a loosening, rather than just breaking,
something that I manage to so when I just grab for the "breaker" bar.

Third, the force is delivered elastically, assuming your 8# sledge hammer
is not traveling Mach 3 on impact.  The elastic shock helps free even 
things which aren't rusted by breaking the static friction bonds.
So even a small tack hammer, with a wrench applying less than max 
torque, can help free fasteners which aren't even rusted.

Finally, on power to accelerate, to double the sledge hammer's speed will require 8 times the power.  Approximately.

When faced with stubborn fasteners, I find that walking through some
of the phenomenology of fastener loosening, keeps the job more interesting
and lowers my frustration level.  Right.







> 
> Usually bigger, but the physics of it indicate that velocity is more important (force delivered increases linearly for mass, but the second order of value for velocity).  In other words, swing twice as fast, get four times as much force delivered.  Skill and manual dexterity again becomes the key ingredient.
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Erik Lane <eriklane at gmail.com>
> Date: Sunday, February 27, 2011 6:48 pm
> Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] Minor tragedies--A4 suspension work
> 
> > Actually, in my experience it's usually when you don't have a big 
> > enoughhammer that problems happen. If you have a big enough hammer 
> > then you don't
> > have to force things as much, so you can be more in control while 
> > actuallygetting the job done. Right tool for the job and all 
> > that... :)
> > 
> > Although sometimes when I'm reaching for the monster *BIGGER* 
> > hammer then it
> > truly is out of frustration and I'm just planning to beat the snot 
> > out of
> > something. But in general if you have a big enough hammer to start 
> > with then
> > you can actually go easier on it while still getting it done, is 
> > all I'm
> > trying to say.
> > 
> > Erik
> > 
> > On Sun, Feb 27, 2011 at 3:17 PM, Shalyn Shourds 
> > <sshourds at flash.net> wrote:
> > 
> > > Wow, sorry.  I'll have to go back and look at what I wrote.  I 
> > must have
> > > sounded like I was about to jump off a bridge.
> > >
> > > I meant just to ask if the axle just pushes out of the 
> > bearing/hub like on
> > > A2 cars or if it has to be pressed out.  Usually I do memorize 
> > appropriate> Bentley section, but for this job it's a bad as the 
> > Chitlins [sic] manual.
> > >
> > > Honest.  I don't mind working on VWs.  I think it's suspensions 
> > I hate. I
> > > don't have a lot of upper body strength and it's always a 
> > beatdown fighting
> > > the various parts under tension.  Speaking of:  I've tried the 
> > two hammer
> > > trick, but never succeeded.  Guess my hammers were too small.  
> > Usually,> though, when I find myself reaching for a bigger hammer, 
> > I know I'm about to
> > > witness a truly spectacular mistake :)
> > >
> > > -Shalyn
> > >
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> 
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