What does "flank drive" mean. I keep seeing this term on the Snap On website, especially in reference to wrenches and sockets. Then they also have "flank drive plus" wrenches?

Thanks
Jeff

 

Flank drive means the wrench or socket use the flat areas of the nut or bolthead to loosen or tighten it , not the pointed corners like some tools do. Flank drives don't strip nuts and boltheads as easily .

 

Cool... thanks for the help

 

No prob. If you can spare the extra $$$$$, the flank drives sure save the skin on your knuckles plus save time not dealing with stripped crap!

 

I once had a set of flank drive Snap On wrenches. They will even take of power steering lines that you can't even hardly get the wrench to. Best set of wrenches I ever had. Too bad someone found them too nice and had to steal them. If I was still working on my own car all the time, I'd have to get another set though. A+ rating in my book.

 

Is there much of a difference between the "flank drive" and the "flank drive plus" (except for the extra $$$)? I am mostly curious about the 10 piece (10mm-19mm) combonation wrenches.

 

Get the racheting flank drives , they work great in tight spots and, hands down , are one of the best tool investments I ever made!

 

I'm not sure, but I do own that 10-19mm flank drive plus set that you're talking about. On the open end, there are little grooves inside that prevent the wrench from slipping off (therefore damaging the fastener). Very handy, especially in tight spaces where you might need a lot of force. Not sure if that's the only benefit or not.

Dope

 

Flank drive is box end design, plus is improved open end design both pressuring the sides rather than the corners of bolts

 

So basically they would be what most call a line wrench???

 

9 year old thread resurrection !!