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Technical Little tips and tricks for garage hobbyists.

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Ron Brown, Jul 30, 2019.

  1. ol'stinky
    Joined: Oct 3, 2010
    Posts: 375

    ol'stinky
    Member
    from New Jersey

    Tip 1) If you need to apply masking tape to a surface but you're afraid of peeling off paint with the tape, stick it to your pants first to kill the stickiness a bit.

    Tip 2) wipe a little paint over the handle of your wrenches, then wipe off the excess so it only fills in the letters. It makes them much easier to read.

    Tip 3) when in doubt, get a bigger hammer.




    Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
  2. blowby
    Joined: Dec 27, 2012
    Posts: 8,661

    blowby
    Member
    from Nicasio Ca

    Wrenches I can read, it's the sockets. And they put writing all the way around the damn things so you have to read it 360 degrees a couple of times before you catch the size

    CRAFTSMAN MADE IN USA PART #164758632 11/16 CRAFTSMAN MADE IN USA PART #164..
     
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  3. alanp561
    Joined: Oct 1, 2017
    Posts: 4,610

    alanp561
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    At least yours rattle. We've got rattlers around here but I think the eastern King Snakes keep them in check. The ones I worry about are the ones you don't hear, like copperheads and water moccasins.
     
  4. Six Ball
    Joined: Oct 8, 2007
    Posts: 5,776

    Six Ball
    Member
    from Nevada

    I had a really creepy water moccasin experience but I'll spare you all. Just think a small pond, a small boat and Lonesome Dove.
    By the way the "Plantskydd" I mentioned is a real tip too. Rodents don't like being around it. I bought a bunch of small cloth bags about the size of Bull Durham sacks. I put a table spoon of Plantskydd in them and put them everywhere I don't want rodents. Tool box, parts box, drawers, glove box, under the seat, in the trunk, attic, different spots around the shop and house .......
    https://www.plantskydd.com/prodfaq.html
    They sell a liquid version but I haven't used it. I put some in a can of water and it really stinks, REALLY STINKS! A bad side is my dogs love it and it may attract bears and mountain lions .:eek:
     
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  5. loudbang
    Joined: Jul 23, 2013
    Posts: 40,276

    loudbang
    Member

    A word of warning about cable ties. :eek:

    Yesterday was cleaning around my computer monitor and yeeoooowww felt like I had been stung by a wasp or something. Bleeding like a stuck pig between my fingernail and the skin around it. Looked close with a flashlight and found when I snipped off the tail end of the tie I must have had the sidecutters at an angle and it left a little stub with like a 45 degree angle sticking out and it was pointed and VERY SHARP.

    Went around all of the rest of them with a lighter a few second heat up and then squash the end flat cures those pointed parts.
     
  6. Mart
    Joined: Mar 3, 2001
    Posts: 4,893

    Mart
    Member

    ^^ good call on the lighter, LB, never thought of that.

    FWIW my old pair of garden secateurs make good flush cutters for cable ties. (May have mentioned that before).
     
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  7. Fordy Frd
    Joined: Nov 9, 2008
    Posts: 91

    Fordy Frd
    Member

    Just buy "Flush Cutters" available anywhere, have been using them for many years.
     
  8. I use flush cutters from HF. Inexpensive but it works.

    Phil
     
  9. oldskool.
    Joined: Sep 11, 2010
    Posts: 62

    oldskool.
    Member
    from florida

    This may be old hat for us old timers but for the younger guys it could certainly make life easier on the road. I remember my first cars were not always that reliable and roadside repairs were relatively common. I recently picked up a new/old project driver and was going thru the car to get it roadworthy... new hoses,belts,waterpump,fuelpump etc. Well I 'd made quite a few trips back and forth to my large shop toolboxes for various wrenches etc.... wrenches too long or short or not comfortable etc. Well like most of us we have many multiples of our tools. So I decided to set aside the exact tools ( wrenches,screwdrivers,pliers etc) that I used to perform the various tasks with the most ease ( the 16" 1/4" drive extension with a universal to thread my way thru the maze of tranny cooling lines, exhaust system and front suspension to get to my starter terminals which I couldn't see}.along with other repairs that might occur. Well when all was said and done I had a nice condensed toolbox of the most needed tools that would actually work in the dark, on the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere when the option to find that right wrench in your garage wasn't available,
     
  10. oldskool.
    Joined: Sep 11, 2010
    Posts: 62

    oldskool.
    Member
    from florida

    Sorry for the interruption... the tool box still had plenty of room for items like rags,hand cleaner, brake cleaner, fluid , WD40, wire, terminals etc. Pretty much exactly what one would need to get back on the road, without taking your entire shop with you!
     
  11. Six Ball
    Joined: Oct 8, 2007
    Posts: 5,776

    Six Ball
    Member
    from Nevada

    I built my first two cars with fewer tool than that. :eek: Several years ago I went from here to Paso with a group of young guys and their cars. I was surprised to find out that I was the only one with tools enough to make the several several repairs needed on their cars. They are all older and wiser now, well at least older and carry tools. :rolleyes:
     
  12. My first vehicle and the one I used stateside in service was a 56 Ford so you know I HAD to have tools in the trunk. I remember once 300 miles from home I had to readjust the valves on one side of the engine with a pair of pliers and a nickle...but it worked...:)
     
  13. Kentuckian
    Joined: Nov 26, 2008
    Posts: 863

    Kentuckian
    Member

    When working in tight places with a side terminal battery I tied a shoe string thru my 5/16 ratcheting battery wrench and put the shoe string around my wrist. The same shoe string trick works on any wrench that could be dropped down in tight quarters.
     
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  14. atch
    Joined: Sep 3, 2002
    Posts: 5,625

    atch
    Member

    I learned something today that all you body men probably already knew.

    I had been using an air powered die grinder with a cut off wheel (1 1/2" +/-) on it to cut rusty places out of Clarence. A friend happened by my shop and told me I should use a 4 1/2" electric angle grinder with a 4 1/2" cut off wheel on it.

    WOW!!!

    Comparatively speaking the bigger electric cut circles around the smaller air. A panel that I cut by air and the hole in the body to put it into, about 14" x 17", took about 3-4 hours. The same cuts with the electric would have taken about 10 minutes.

    I'm sure that the patch panels that I'll cut tomorrow will go just as quickly.

    b-t-w; these are the cut off wheels that are about 1/16" thick.
     
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2020
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  15. atch
    Joined: Sep 3, 2002
    Posts: 5,625

    atch
    Member

    Another thing I learned about a month ago. This happened to be on an OT car but many of you (me included) have disc brakes on our hot rods so this applies to lots of our old cars as well.

    When replacing brake pads on disc brakes be sure to get those little clips in correctly. Whoever did the brakes on this car previously didn't and here's a pic of the result: Buick brake pad installed wrong4.jpg Buick brake pad installed wrong2.jpg

    Note: that's just an old chisel propping up the pad to vertical in the 2nd pic.

    Also note: I guess that the weird stresses that this put on the pad by the piston caused the steel part of the pad to bend and the lining to crack.

    Note for the third time: it's only by dumb luck that I was changing this before it got into metal on metal contact. I was doing the fronts anyway so bought the rears at the same time. This was a rear, which I didn't think was needed, but decided to change while I was doing the front. I knew I would be hot/dirty anyway...
     
  16. atch
    Joined: Sep 3, 2002
    Posts: 5,625

    atch
    Member

    I made several of these. This one happens to be mounted near my chop/cutoff saw. I have them mounted near several different work stations.

    These are just scrap 2x4's with different size holes drilled in them.

    The tape measure is hanging on one of those picture hangers; you know, the strip of metal that has the "saw tooth" pattern on one side. Mounted upside down (smooth side up) they work great for hanging tape measures. In addition to on these pencil holders I have 6-8 others mounted around the shop, pretty much at every stationary or bench mounted tool, so I don't have to go looking for a tape measure every time I need one.

    at chop saw.jpg
     
  17. Kentuckian
    Joined: Nov 26, 2008
    Posts: 863

    Kentuckian
    Member

    This is something every person who does their own oil changes should know but the first timer can learn. Before you screw on the new oil filter be sure to coat the gasket with a thin layer of oil. If you do not put that layer of oil on the gasket the filter will be stuck the next time you try to change it. Stuck oil filters are almost impossible to remove. We all have horror stories of trying to remove a filter where someone failed to put a thin layer of oil on the gasket.
     
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  18. For cheap flexible strip magnets to hold things like dust/paint covers on curved body panels go to your old fridge's seal and cut them out, they work great for lots of things....except pacemakers.

    FB_IMG_1602678210760.jpg FB_IMG_1602678215274.jpg
     
  19. alv
    Joined: Dec 23, 2007
    Posts: 592

    alv
    Member
    from jackson,NJ

    it is better to use a thin layer of grease, works much better than oil.
     
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  20. Kentuckian
    Joined: Nov 26, 2008
    Posts: 863

    Kentuckian
    Member

    Yes grease would do a good job too but I find the oil is right there in the drain pan at my finger tip. The important issue is to be sure some type of petroleum is used to lubricate the new gasket. That way when it comes time to change oil, the filter will come off with not too much effort.
     
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  21. Truck64
    Joined: Oct 18, 2015
    Posts: 5,325

    Truck64
    Member
    from Ioway

    Yup, run a finger dipped in clean engine oil around the gasket and let it soak while draining the old oil.

    The stuck oil filter deal also happens when people reef the oil filter down tight to 75 yard/tons. It only needs to be hand tight. It even says so right on the box but, nobody believes them.

    It also pays to check and see that the old gasket from the previous filter, isn't still stuck on the engine.
     
  22. Boneyard51
    Joined: Dec 10, 2017
    Posts: 6,440

    Boneyard51
    Member

    Hand tighten is right, but I’m not as strong as I once was. So I use a filter wrench to give it that last tug.




    Bones
     
  23. loudbang
    Joined: Jul 23, 2013
    Posts: 40,276

    loudbang
    Member

    Current OT honda filters now come with a thin layer of grease of some type already on the gasket.
     
  24. LAROKE
    Joined: Sep 5, 2007
    Posts: 2,079

    LAROKE
    Member

    Also, if possible due to the filter orientation, fill it with fresh oil before screwing in on.
     
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  25. Six Ball
    Joined: Oct 8, 2007
    Posts: 5,776

    Six Ball
    Member
    from Nevada

    I'm not as strong as you once were either. :rolleyes:
     
  26. theamcguy
    Joined: May 7, 2009
    Posts: 254

    theamcguy
    Member

    I have found that by wearing those disposable rubber gloves that I can easily tighten oil filters by hand without needing an oil filter wrench; also once I loosen an oil filter a quarter turn with the wrench I can then use my hand to finish spinning it off. The extra grip using the rubber gloves really helps.
     
  27. LOU WELLS
    Joined: Jan 24, 2010
    Posts: 2,754

    LOU WELLS
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from IDAHO

    Very Obvious But Sometimes Over Looked...Make Sure You Can Remove The Fill Plug Before You Remove The Drain Plug On A Transmission/Rear Diff.... factory_fill_plug_locator.jpg
     
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  28. GearheadsQCE
    Joined: Mar 23, 2011
    Posts: 3,375

    GearheadsQCE
    Alliance Vendor

    First thing I learned on the lube rack, punch a hole in the bottom and upper side of the filter to let it drain.
    Second thing was to be sure that you have the correct replacement filter before you punch the holes in the old one.:eek:
     
  29. SilverJimmy
    Joined: Dec 2, 2008
    Posts: 524

    SilverJimmy
    Member

    I learned a great trick while working on boats for changing oil filters. Take a liter soda bottle and cut it a bit longer than your new oil filter, then slide it over the old filter once you’ve broken it loose from the engine mount. The bottle is pliable enough that you can grip the old filter and spin it off the mount and it catches most if not all the oil that seems to run everywhere before you can get it off! Cuts down on cleanup too.
     
  30. Oil drain plugs from a 2002 Dodge 360 have a nice, built in rubber seal. Make sure the female threads are the same (1/2"x20) when retrofitting.
     

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