Whats the best "trick" or tech tip a mentor showed you?

My good friend "Wolf" showed me how to remove a stubborn rear axle from a 55 Chevy with a length of chain.

 

When working on Japanese motorcycles use a JIS screw driver from Ames Supply and you wont ruin the screw heads like a US screw driver will. With vertical mounted oil filters like a V12 Ferrari punch a hole in the top and the oil will drain out and not run all over the engine when you remove them

 

Some guys do that with their women!

 

If you need to drill out a bolt try a left handed drill bit a lot of times it ends up backing out the bolt . I usually can find them at ace or true value hardware stores.

 

Ok, I'll throw in a legit one this time.
To remove a pilot bearing or bushing: fill the hole in the end of the crankshaft with grease from a grease gun, then using a piece of solid dowel the diameter of the inside diameter of the bushing, use a hammer to hit the dowel in towards the engine. When you hammer it in, the grease will force the pilot bearing out.

 

I'll try to add some...

Use a flammable spray and a lighter to seat the bead on a tire- mount the tire, spray a pass or two with the spray and light...be sure to expect the "pop"

Installing kingpins or other press fit items, put the inner piece in the freezer and the outer piece in the oven. Take them out and install quickly.

Gotta stuck bolt that you cant use the weld trick on. Use a dremel to cut a slot in the end and use a flat screwdriver. It works best if you round off the edge of the screwdriver too to match the curve of the slot.

Use a piece of rubber tubing to start a hard to reach spark plug or bolt that you don't want to cross thread.

Use compressed air to remove the piston out of a brake caliper. Just don't stick your hand in there to try to catch the piston. Ask me how I know about that one.

Use a socket and a long breaker bar to break free a crank bolt. Wedge it against the frame and bump the starter. Make sure the coil wire is off first.

A pair of panty hose can be used in an emergency as a fan belt.

Another panty hose trick. Stuff a panty hose with an old sock to get the bug guts off of the front end of your ride after a long trip. It won't hurt the paint but takes the grime off quickly.

On trim pieces held on with phillips screws that have been there forever and won't come loose. Put the screwdriver on the screw and tap the end of the screwdriver with a hammer while putting loosening pressure on the screw.

Stubborn hard to reach oil filter. Use your leather belt. Put the belt through the buckle and pull it back on itself. The leather grips the smooth steel great.

Old bullet casings make great gasket punches. Just put the spent casing on the gasket and tap with a hammer. Cuts perfect holes. Save different calibers for different sized holes. Tubing of different sizes sharpened with a grinder works the same way. I've made hundreds of water housing gaskets with a 9mm casing and a piece of old 2 1/2 tube.

I'll add more later as I think of them.

 

My Dad taught me many helpful tricks, when installing a transmission make guide pins out of old bolts by cutting the heads off and grinding a slight taper on the unthreaded end, one on each side on the lower corners and you can hang the trans on them and slide it in place. When looking for a cylinder that's missing ground your test light and carefully slide the point between the boot and the plug wire to short cylinders.

 

never let your girlfriend drive your car

 

Old(?) Craftsman screwdrivers have handles that have a pattern kind of like a big coarse spline.
http://nwwone.org/world-war/worldwa...lips-slotted-screwdriver-set_280648760083.jpg

Usually a 12 pt box wrench will slide on, so the wrench can be used to apply maximum torquage.

 

I'd worry about putting a batch of amps thru the carrier bearings, annealing or pitting tiny spots. The ground clamp might be safer directly on the opposite axle flange, or on the carrier with the diff cover off.

 

and once you let your WIFE drive it ,,,,, she will never give it back ....

 

Originally Posted by Smokin Joe
You can never have enough 1/2 or 9/16 wrenches. Those things vanish faster than a pipe mover when the border patrol drives by...

OKAY - you gotta tell me what a "pipe mover" is PLEEZE

 

One more thing I learned awhile back...if you have a small head screw, either philips or torx that is rusty..worn or just really tight, put a little valve lapping compound on the end of your bit. This will help grab better.

 

Bout' to remove bolts that have been there a while or are definately rusted in place? Before to get started, a good solid whack with a hammer tends to break the rust loose.
This works well on exhaust manifold bolts.

Need more leverage on that box end wrench? Grab the next size up and use its box end to fit over one of the "legs" on your original wrenchs open end. Used this trick many times I have needed a cheater bar on a wrench.

 

After cleaning bare blocks, heads, or any large cast part, give it a pretty liberal final rinse with hot water. It heats the metal and the water evaporates rapidly and the part is dry in a minute or less, no time to oxidize and leave rust. If it is going to be stored, spray some oil on it. If you're a hoarder of used parts like I am, resist the urge to clean your junkyard find before you need it, leave it 'preserved' in its greasy dirt coating.

 

Blue Loctite on the tip of your screwdrivers works well to grip a screw head also.

 

Someone has probably already posted this, but using oxy-hydrogen to gas weld aluminum.

 

One great piece of advice I got years ago during my apprenticeship was "never get mad with a hammer in your hand". It's a hard rule to follow and every time I've broken it I've regretted it, and I've even got a flattened finger as a reminder too!

 

if your removing outer ring of bearing out of rotor or drum.weld bead around inside where bearing rides then it should fall out.no hammer or chisel needed

 

My wife showed me how to get the paper of the straws at McDonalds by tearing it around the center then pulling the ends off. Wow!

 

if it dont fit, force it,

 

On 70s 350 small blocks there are tapped holes on front of block ,the one that is next to the fuel pump has a short 3/8 bolt in it that is just a plug, take it out and run a longer bolt in it against the fuel pump rod finger tight to hold the rod ,change your pump, remove long bolt put short one back in, i'm not sure if 283,327 etc. had this hole

 

Even the newer ones can be turned by the handle with a crescent wrench, I just did it this weekend. I'd guess if you torque on it too hard it'd spin or break the handle though ... but I also think the blade would slip on the screw first. Worth a try if you're in a bind anyway.

 

I actually think its pretty funny to stick the straw in without unrapping it. It pisses people off every time!!!

 

okay i have a couple my pop showed me. hes a heavy equiptment mechanic and 30 vet of the Hells Angels.
1. keep an old speaker magnet handy while on the road or in the shop, when your working with lots of small nuts, bolts, and tools, toss the loose items at the magnet so they dont get lost on the roadside, roll around on the shop floor or get kicked across the room by a drunk friend. it works great for under the car too it can be stuck to the undercarriage so your not reaching around blindly, its all right there in plain sight.

2. instead of using a magnet to grab that little dropped nut or bolt and the magnet sticking to everything except what you need. try hooking up your mityvac/vacula and put the hose end right on part itll stick as long as theres suction.

3. after drilling a hole or cutting metal, take a tig and "MELT" the edges of the cut. this will seal the frayed ends of the metal and prevent possible future cracks.

4. if your like me and like to use polished stainless tube with rubber ends for radiator hose, before polishing weld two small 1" beads 180 degrees from each other on every end that will have rubber over it. make sure your hose clamp tightens down just past the bead, this will keep the rubber hose from potentially slipping off. (use stainless filler rod)

5. if you run across stripped allen bolts that wont hold your allen wrench, a cheap set of torx sockets (i.e. harbor freight) will have something close. find a close one and tap it in with a small hammer, this will usually be tight enough to remove the stripped bolt. one torx, used this way will usually last numerous times.

6. heres one i came across, when i get mad i usually throw tools. lately ive been setting the tool down, but still going through the violent motion of throwing it. works! no noise, no damage, no frustrations. i look like a fool but... fuck it!

 

had an old Studebaker...1949...the fuel bow would fill up with rust from the tank and stall the car...didn't have any real money for a new tank or repair...took a large speaker magnet and stuck it on the tank ...worked till I sold it a year later

GM door/window handle remover? use an old dinner fork, bend the center tines out of the way...and to put the handles back on? Just put the circlip back on before you push the handle back on the splined shaft...make sure the plastic draft ring is there

found (or driving) an old car that a wheel wont come off? as in the rims are rusted on the hubs? let the air out of the tires and drag or drive it with the wheel nuts real loose for 50 feet or so....saves hours of beating the back side of the rim

I've got more

 

Oviously you're a city kid. Never seen guys moving sprinkler pipes on a field of crops?

 

Using temperature differences to get things that otherwise wouldn't fit or come apart, to work with me instead of against me. My dad taught me.

 

kinda simple: using grease to hold the old canister style oil filter gasket in place when re installing.Just thought of it the other day when I was changing the oil in the 57
Plymouth

 

Is it just me or does this seem time consuming, and pointless. There are more than a few alloys that are more susceptable to cracking after a tig weld.