Guide to Breaker Bars

If you need higher torque and leverage than a standard spanner can provide, you may want to consider using a breaker bar. These outsize, non-ratcheting bars are ideal for loosening very tight, rusted, or frozen fasteners when ordinary spanners, wrenches, or ratchets won’t do the job. Read this guide to discover what breaker bars are, when and where they should be used, and how they compare to other tools.

What is a breaker bar and what are breaker bars for? Sometimes you need a particularly heavy-duty tool to loosen a fastening. Enter the breaker bar, which ‘breaks’ fastenings open, hence the name. Breaker bars are much longer than a standard spanner: Breaker bar sizes may be as much as 300mm to 600mm longer than a typical wrench.

This extra length enables the user to generate much more torque with the bar with a similar amount of force, meaning it can unfasten even very stubborn fastenings quickly (often loosening them enough in just a half-turn to enable a spanner to subsequently be used). Using a breaker bar can prevent a situation where your spanner or ratchet is damaged because of a particularly tricky fastening.

When should you use a breaker bar? Nuts and bolts are sometimes too tightly fastened to be loosened with a conventional spanner, socket set, or wrench. Or fasteners may be frozen shut, or too caked in rust to move easily. In these situations, a breaker bar can be used initially, together with a spanner, sockets, and wrenches to further loosen the fastening.

Can you tighten with a breaker bar? Generally, it’s not a great idea. Because breaker bars generate a lot of torque, it’s best not to tighten nuts or bolts with them. The level of torque can be too high for the job, resulting in over-tightening or damaging the nut or bolt.

The biggest benefit of a breaker bar is that it provides much more torque to loosen a fastening for the same amount of force. Because breaker bars are long, they can also reach distant fixings, while still applying enough torque to get them loose. Breaker bars also have benefits in situations where spaces are confined and there isn’t a lot of room to operate because of the high level of torque they generate. Breaker bars also provide a faster alternative to using a torque wrench. Finally, breaker bars are simple to use for everyone from mechanics and engineers and technicians to DIY enthusiasts. Their ease of application makes breaker bars hand tools anyone can get to grips with.

What is a breaker bar tool used for? Breaker bars are widely used in automotive applications. They are also used in the construction industry for maintaining heavy plants and machinery or taking scaffolding to bits. Building engineers also use breaker bars to loosen troublesome nuts and bolts that are part of structures on site. And because breaker bars are so easy to use, they also find favour in the home for all manner of DIY projects, from disassembling furniture to repairing cars in the garage.

The breaker bar truly is a versatile and powerful tool in the engineer’s armoury.

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