Does anyone know what this extension is used for?

It's a Thorsen 3/8" extension and has 53J stamped on it.

I acquired it about 30 years ago.

 

It appears to be an extension that is severely bent!

 

for the canadian fords, just kidding guys. don't kill me

 

lenny1carl, I think it would be the perfect tool to hand a drunk mechanic working on his vehicle.

Birdhunter1, and those are factory bends.

 

door handle????

 

Alright... it's a toothpick for a walrus!

 

i think lemeux used to tune his stick, or Red Green used it on his projects.
i know i'm getting hunted down.... btw, i love Red Greens' shows.

 

good grief have you never needed to get a socket around a corner. I see the perfect tool.

 

Thorsen has a lifetime warranty, Advance Auto Parts also carries the line. Kind of hard to make a ratchet work on that.

 

It's actually a custom wrench made for Yugo's; there's a hole in the middle of the front bumper where there is an extension from the balancer bolt, you put a 1" socket on the end and use that wrench to manually turn the engine when it doesn't run. Takes two people to go anywhere, one to lie on the hood and crank and the other to drive....

My best guess is someone broke their only ratchet doing a midnight wrench job and improvised with the extension and a torch, then bent the extension the same way they broke the ratchet.

 

Here I thought it was a coffee stirrer.

Though for me, anything somewhat clean is a coffee stirrer!

Fred "ratchet handle coffee stirrer" B.

 

FWIW: Does not look like a factory bend to me.

It is most likely bent to reach the hold down bolt on a rear mounted distributor. It takes a short wrench too. Personally, I use swivel sockets and a ratchet. Since the most common sizes are 1/2 and 9/16 that gizmo could work on both.

 

It looks like somebody made a tool to remove the fill plug on a differential case.

 

Maybe I'll contact Advance Auto Parts and see where the Thorsen Co. is and see what they make of it.

If you look at this extension closely, it looks like it's a factory bend, or someone did one hell of a job bending this.

No heat, vise, or hammer marks.

Then again, maybe superman was bored.

For now it's a paper weight.

 

Okay, been around the mechanic trade for some time now, it a custom extension to be used with any socket, that way you pop on any socket needed and use it like a wrench. No need to carry wrenches, just sockets and that customized bent extension. I seen them done with wrenches sometimes.

buck