Can you get small spanners of the same size? ( yes im srs )

[stealthgrow]

What a day today has been, Fitted new turbo, all good expect water started leaking out the bottom feed, has to remove the entire thing again along with the down pipe, air filter, boost hoses etc etc and turns out the water banjo was slightly loose, then my 19 mm spanner won't fit onto it due to the size of the compressor!, i reckon it was a few mm out from going on, pliers are no good either and no chance a socket was going on, so i need a 19mm spanner that's slightly thinner than a halfords pro one!

[eliot]

higher quality are usually more slender. Personally I would grind an old spanner down.

[interloper]

There are various available, you can get spanners with curved handles (mainly for gearbox bolts). You can also get crows feet sockets which are kind of incomplete sockets that connect to a ratchet at an off set point.

Halfords pro stuff is fine but they don't have the shear variety that some makes offer.

Having said all that, some times the answer is to remove other components for better access with conventional tools.

[stealthgrow]

I removed the actuator as well has a nightmare getting that back on as well still no luck its stupidly tight squeeze and nothing else can be moved, grinding my current spanner would work but i don't have a grinder ahhhh,

[stealthgrow]

Hmm i wonder if a 3/4 spanner would fit, that#s in between 18-19 maybe that's what im supposed to use!

[paintman]

eliot said:

higher quality are usually more slender. Personally I would grind an old spanner down.

Me too. I have various sockets, open ended & ring spanners which have been modified for various jobs over the years - usually with an angle grinder!
As you haven't got one sounds like an excellent excuse for an early self Christmas present

Edited by paintman on Friday 4th December 22:08

[Yabu]

You can get ones that are made at only few mm thick look at motorcycle tool kits, don't know what you would call them though, slimline/flat spanner?

[NDNDNDND]

This might not be terribly useful, but try a Snap-On spanner. They are apparently the thinnest-walled spanners you can get. Had a problem getting the intake manifold off a small block recently. Due to a stupid casting modification for the EGR, the only ring spanner that could fit on the bolt was an old Snap-On spanner my Father in Law had picked up at a boot sale... All other ring spanners were too thick to fit on!

[anonymous-user]

stealthgrow said:

Hmm i wonder if a 3/4 spanner would fit, that's in between 18-19 maybe that's what im supposed to use!

Not when I were a lad it weren't....

[Mr10secs]

Just grind your ring down as much as you dare !!!!

[996TT02]

As previous, another vote for grind, grind, grind. Sometimes you just have to... have a few ground down spanners, I call them "special tools" and indeed that is what they become.

[sun.and.rain]

I enjoy using spanners and tools I've modified. As above, invest in a cheap bench mounted grinder. Also, a plumber's butane blowtorch and a vice to bend assorted old spanners to make certain jobs much easier and quicker. Cut-down "half-spanners" are also useful sometimes.

[MDMA .]

Mr10secs said:

Just grind your ring down as much as you dare !!!!

Oh err. How would that help with his turbo ?

[Moulder]

MDMA . said:

Mr10secs said:

Just grind your ring down as much as you dare !!!!

Oh err. How would that help with his turbo ?

Maybe something to do with the dump valve?

[MajorMantra]

eliot said:

higher quality are usually more slender.

Halfords Pro stuff isn't exactly low end though.

Having said that, the spanners are weirdly fat. I'm very impressed with my Halfords set overall, but I've done a couple of jobs where I had to root around for thinner spanners because there wasn't room.

[AdeTuono]

stealthgrow said:

Hmm i wonder if a 3/4 spanner would fit, that#s in between 18-19 maybe that's what im supposed to use!

3/4" > 19mm

[Easternlight]

AdeTuono said:

stealthgrow said:

Hmm i wonder if a 3/4 spanner would fit, that#s in between 18-19 maybe that's what im supposed to use!

3/4" > 19mm

Only by 0.05mm but yes you are correct.

[eliot]

MajorMantra said:

eliot said:

higher quality are usually more slender.

Halfords Pro stuff isn't exactly low end though.

They are OK, certainly not cheap crap - but not that special either. A high end spanner will be higher quality and typically more slender.

[battered]

19mm and 3/4 AF are basically interchangeable. When I'm messing around with old Whit gear I have a lookup table for equivalents, or I did until I got a set of Whit sockets with one missing for about thrupence. A common mechanics trick is to use a 1/2" AF spanner on a rounded 13mm. You have to force it on, maybe even give it a tap with a mallet, but it's a useful get out of jail if the corners are rounded. See also 9mm on 7/16AF. Brit cars mixed fasteners well into the 80s, 90s even on things like Caterhams, made it great fun deciding what fasteners to use when one was borked on removal.

Back to OP - either grind down a ring or get a cone spanner from a bike shop. Park tools are the top of the shop, other brands are available. Most cones are 13,15 or 17mm IIRC, those on my bikes are all 15s and a standard OE spanner is too thick. Sometimes those useless chocolate multi spanners have the right size, and you can get away with them if things aren't too tight.

[colin_p]

If you need to get out of spot tomorrow, go back to Halfords but go upstairs the the bike department. A cycle cone spanner is only 2-3mm thick. They are quite wide though to compensate for the lack of thickness.

It might help. It is horrible when you have an problem like this. You have my sympathy.