Magazine article about restoring 1988 Land Rover’s cooling system, it says “the viscous fan required the use of a special cranked 32 mm spanner”. What is a cranked spanner?
Bicycles require a special type of thinner than normal wrench to remove the crank bearing. Could that be what they are referring to?
Cranked = bent
Spanner = wrench.
So bent 32mm wrench.
+1 … Took a closer look at the photo of the wrench. Appears t the part that grabs the fastener is offset from the handle’s plane. So not related to bicycle wrench above.
So “crank” means bent? Maybe the origin of the term “crankshaft”?
So I dunno but why wouldn’t you just use a socket wrench with an extension if you needed to? Unless it is like a strut socket where it has to fit over a protrusion. Either way, got a welder? Trust your welds? What do they call welders in the uk?
The fan clutch attaches to the water pump.
I expect there isn’t enough room to place a socket on the fastener. Something is in the way.
For example, if you were removing my Corolla’s water pump pulley. It’s right up against an inner fender., no room for a socket to remove the bolts that hold it on. I actually do use a socket, but have to jack the engine up a few inches first. If I had a wrench bent in the exact form for the job, I wouldn’t have to jack the engine to remove the fasteners. But I would still have to jack the engine to remove pulley from water pump hub.
I looked it up in my big dictionary. “crank” does in fact mean “bend”, but that meaning is pretty far down the list. Maybe it is a more common usage in the UK. I’ve never used the word “crank” in verb form to mean “bend”. If I say “I cranked” something it means I applied a lot of torque, usually when tightening a bolt or nut. Or I “cranked” the engine.
It seems that the article is from a U.K. and you are likely using an American dictionary. Also, the term is probably English slang. Why would you expect all of this to match well?
Yes, UK publication. My personal dictionary is pretty good for including UK common usage as well as USA. I use that particular 2-volume dictionary for that reason, b/c cross-word puzzles often use UK usage to obfuscate.
You are probably correct. Oxford English Dictionary puts “crank” meaning “bend” higher up the list.
Americans typically use Merriam-Webster’s dictionary and the Brits us the Oxford dictionary and I did not find it there either under normal definitions, even looking for slang or cliché expressions, but I do remember my Scottish Grandfather using the term and referring to an item being “bent…”
Two nations separated by a common language. If I were going to ask for one at the store, I’d say I needed an offset box end wrench. I’ll ask for a cranked scanner next time though just to see if they show me the welders.
We’ve pretty much covered “cranked vs bent”, but what about “spanner vs wrench”? hmmm … I guess the jaws span the bolt head, so if you need something to span 32 mm, calling it a 32 mm spanner sort of makes sense. Wrench is used a verb too, “I wrenched it down hard”. I wonder if in the UK they say “I spannered it down hard”?
L