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Home > Jeep Articles > General - Tools > Industro Sockets |
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Industro SocketsArticle written by Moab ManDate Added: 11/29/2009 New purchasing outlet and video added. |
 Industro Tools is one of the elite. They not only made a difference but made it matter, with their patented universal sockets.
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The traditional ?mouse trap?, the 12 point socket, uses a repeating ?V? pattern. This design, while effective, has been around seemingly forever with little significant change until now.
Industro?s new cut allows for a single set of sockets to replace the need for both metric and SAE. However, the innovation of these sockets doesn?t stop there. This design will also fit spline cut, square, traditional nuts & bolts, and reverse torx. |
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Of course if you?re like us, you have to wonder how well a universal socket could fit. Would it be sloppy? Is this design prone to rounding off bolt heads? Is it more gimmick than function?
To answer the question of fit: there is zero slop, and the fit is as expected of a high quality tool. So what about holding power, and will these sockets prematurely strip bolt heads under load? Industro tells us these sockets will hold better and longer than traditional 12pt sockets, and will grip a bolt with up to 30% removed from the corners of the bolt head. |
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Now if you have read MJ for very long, you know that we don?t like claims of performance or capabilities that are not repeatable in the real world that we wheel in. So we felt it necessary to see if these sockets really can stand up against the time-and-battle-tested ?V? cut socket and fulfill their manufacturer?s claim.
To test the holding power of Industro sockets, we purchased a number of bolts and set out to strip the bolt heads. Our testing went like this? clamp a bolt into the vice, set the torque wrench to a certain amount of poundage, and see what happens. We continued to increase poundage until finally? we repeatedly snapped bolt heads off. |
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Time to quit screwing around! After breaking too many bolt heads, we jumped up to a ¾? bolt head. Obviously we weren?t going to be able to strip the head of a brand new bolt with a good fitting socket (at least not exerting a reasonable human amount of torque), so we pulled out the grinder. After five quick hits of the grinder on each corner of the bolt heads, we put the bolt into the vice and set the torque wrench to 70 lbs. We then tried the traditional 12pt socket and the Industro socket on the bolt head and pulled till the torque wrench clicked off 70lbs. Each time both sockets could handle the 70lbs of torque, we would hit the bolts with the grinder again and repeat the test with the further rounded bolt head. |
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In the end it took us four times at the grinder before the ?V? cut socket cried uncle and failed after the Industro socket had held firm. We continued to try the ?V? socket three more times. No matter how much we tried angling the socket for more grip, it just would not hold. At the risk of going to the well one to many times, we wanted to know if the Indo-Socket could still hold even after the ?V? cut socket had stripped additional metal from the bolt corners. The answer, YES! We applied the 70lbs of torque to this stripped bolt head three more times with no slip of the socket.
Note: We performed this stripped bolt test from start to finish with different bolts two additional times with the same results. | |
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What does this mean to you as a four wheeler? Rock Rash! If you wheel more than the mall parking lots, it's inevitable that nuts and bolts, especially on the undercarriage of your rig, will suffer from rock rash (deformities or damage to nuts or bolt heads). We found that the Industro sockets fit better on nuts and bolts suffering from rock rash than the traditional "V" cut sockets. In some cases the Industro sockets easily removed a bolt that a traditional socket wouldn?t even fit on.
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It?s pretty obvious these sockets delivered on their claim, and of course we like them; but we were curious what some MOABJEEPER readers would think. Like a classic 80?s commercial, ?We secretly changed out Mrs. Jones regular coffee (V cut sockets) for our Folgers instant crystals (Industro sockets).? |
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Okay it wasn?t that secretive, but we did ask to swap their standard and metric socket sets for our ONE set of Industro sockets. Here is an abbreviated list of the mechanical jobs performed and a few comments from the mechanics themselves. |
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Bill Fields (Suzuki Samurai) I like the sockets. It is easier to select sizes when working on a truck in my garage.
Cindy Clayburn (Jeep Wrangler LJ) |
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Brandon Shaw (Toyota Tundra) MOABJEEPER Magazine gave me these sockets for a weekend of wrench turning on my Toyota. They fit outstanding, less tools laying around, and no frustration of trying to figure out which bolts are standard and which are metric.
Jeff Graves (Heavily modded Chevy S-10 and Toyota highbred) |
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 Final ThoughtsWhen we started using Industro sockets, we were concerned they would strip bolt heads. The design is strange, and looking at the smooth rolling curves of the cut makes you question how well they actually work. Our repeated use of the sockets, and torque loaded stripped bolt test, has resulted in us replacing the multiple socket sets we carry with one set that does a better job easier.We liked some of the well thought out details built into the sockets. First the cross-hatched grip strip recessed in to a groove on the socket. The cross-hatching allows you to hold the socket in place preventing it from going back and forth with the ratchet. Second, the groove on the sockets allows you to keep your fingers over the cross-hatching without sliding down the socket.
I?m sure by now most of you tool junkies are drooling over these sockets, but here is a little more icing on the cake for you. Industro sockets will do the job of multiple socket sets for less than half the cost, and they are covered by a lifetime replacement warranty. To Purchase Industro sockets can be purchased directly from HB Distributors.
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