Tools! - Crimpin ain't easy but it is necessary.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Tools! - Crimpin ain't easy but it is necessary.

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oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Air tools promote limp wrists. :gay:

# ¿ Mar 5, 2008 21:13

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 23:59

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Hypnolobster posted:

What the hell was that?

It is a lead impact hammer. It's due for a recast.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2008 21:51

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Hypnolobster posted:

Why lead, and not steel?

It's so confusing.

It's like the difference between punching and pushing. A steel hammer will spend more energy bouncing off the tool, and the sharper impact will be more likely to break the tool. The lead deforms and transfers more force, while being gentler on the other tool.

Also, steel can chip on impact, and these dust sized shards invariably wind up in your eyeball. If you ever have to hit a steel tool with a steel hammer, wrap one in a rag.

edit:
Plastic deadblows work, but I can't stand how they feel in the hand. Also, they don't work as well striking upwards.

oxbrain fucked around with this message at 22:52 on Mar 5, 2008

# ¿ Mar 5, 2008 22:48

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

miklm posted:

*edit*
Anybody have these Craftsman offset ratcheting box wrenches? I bought them yesterday.
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00943376000P
I fully expect that plastic to break eventually, but hey, free replacement...

I bought a set at HF last year. I used them once and immediately went and bought another set for my junkyard toolbox. They are amazing for any tight areas you can't easily get a socket into.

I bought one of these on impulse and loved it so much I stopped using my normal adjustable wrenches. The action was a bit sticky at first, but after being soaked in vehicle related fluids it smoothed right up.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2008 00:28

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

hippynerd posted:

I noticed some of those last summer, but didnt get them, I was wondering how well they work.

Just like a standard adjustable wrench, only faster. The only downside is it's too easy to bump the slider and lose the adjustment.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2008 01:47

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

SNiPER_Magnum posted:

I understood 12pt box-end wrenches because there are only so many angles you can use them at, but a ratchet and socket doesn't have the same restraint.

When you've just gashed your forearm wide open squeezing your hand to the back of the engine to get at a bolt it's annoying to have to pull your arm back out to rotate the socket 1 click.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2008 10:10

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

slidebite posted:

In addition to ratcheting wrenches, I actually bought one of these at Princess Auto (basically a equiv of Harbor Freight) for $4 not expecting it to work worth a poo poo.

But for $4, the thing worked loving awesome.

http://www.speedbleeder.com/

More than $4, but worth it.

# ¿ Mar 11, 2008 22:13

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Impact sockets are made the way most sockets should be made. Tough and to the proper size. :colbert:

# ¿ Mar 21, 2008 00:08

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

rhombus posted:

Anyway, I have an E36, the Bentley manual calls for 74 ft lb on the lug bolts and I have an 80 ft lb torque stick. Should be good right? I hand tightened the bolts and then tighted them up in a star pattern (5 lugs). What am I doing wrong?

Torque sticks aren't that accurate.

Torque a bolt down with the torque stick, then break it loose with a real torque wrench set to the same torque. I'll bet it releases early.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2008 04:34

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

SNiPER_Magnum posted:

How do you calibrate a torque wrench, or check to make sure it is calibrated?

My test rig is a spool of fishing line with an OD of, close as I can measure, 4". Stick a bolt through the center and hang it from something so it can rotate freely. Lifting X pounds by rotating the spool is 2X in-lbs. That's enough for my 3/8" wrench, I don't bother calibrating my 1/2" wrench since it's used on unimportant stuff.

# ¿ Apr 10, 2008 00:05

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

pr0craztinazn posted:

Are there any cordless impact wrenches worth a drat under $100-$150? I don't have the space to keep a 30 gallon air compressor around.

http://www.amazon.com/Cook-Hammer-Company-Hammers-117/dp/B000V7QZEW/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1211226060&sr=8-1

# ¿ May 19, 2008 20:42

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Wow, it's not really a community garage as much as a shop class for adults. Their class list is pretty impressive. I'll have to check them out when the seattle location opens.

# ¿ Jun 1, 2008 12:05

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

whiskas posted:

I was wondering if it'll be sufficient enough to take the the track with me to inflate tires. Keep in mind I likely won't have access to a power cord, so assuming the 3 gallon tank is topped up to 100psi, will I have enough air to inflate 4 tires from 32psi to 45psi?

No, you'll need a lot more than that.

I'm planning on building something like this, but with a larger tank, for track use.
http://www.instructables.com/id/CO2-system-for-running-air-tools-and-filling-tires/

# ¿ Jun 3, 2008 00:00

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Nerobro posted:

I don't like that rig. There are some problems with it that I could fix.. But filling your tires with CO2 has it's own trouble. CO2's pressure of vaporization is a rather nasty curve, and you can reach tempratures and pressures that will cause co2 to condense without any real trouble. If that's "all I had to work with" I'd do it, and I'd put a vapor separator between the bottle and the regulator, and then I'd put some sort of radiator on the regulators output, the closer to ambiant the co2 is when it goes int the tires the better off you are. And then I'd fill my tires slowly.

The 100psi air tank won't get you far either. If you picked up a paintball air tank you could have a chance, but you'd need to find a 88 or 114/4500 do do any real good.

You kind of hit on my reason for a bigger tank. A 15# bottle filled 2/3 full wouldn't have nearly the same problems as a full 10#. Running an impact hammer or grinder takes a lot of flow, and they usually vent right at your hand. The cold also attracts moisture, and since your co2 won't have any oil it can lead to rusty tools in no time.

I wouldn't worry about track tires. Topping off a 195/60/14 on a warm day isn't going to use much volume, and the wheel/tire would retain plenty of heat to flash-boil any vapor that makes it through the hose. Any pressure change after filling would be too small to measure with normal gages. Filling a 35" off-road tire in cold weather is another matter, and I see your point. This isn't usually an issue as you're either filling from flat to low-psi or from low-psi to road-psi. Unless you're coming very close to the sidewall rating you won't see enough pressure change to blow the tire.

My original idea was to use a 20oz paintball co2 tank through a 5gal expansion tank. The problem was that paintball regulators that flow enough to run an impact hammer are far more costly than what I want, and adapting a standard regulator would have been far more clunky. Instead of adding weight in fittings and a mount I figure I'll add weight in the bottle.

Maxwedge posted:

http://www.ultimate-air.com/

I like their setup, I don't like the $200 price tag for something I could assemble for <$100.

# ¿ Jun 3, 2008 02:25

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Serrated knives go through hose when dull.

I bring an assortment of everything, some of the bigger stuff gets left in the car. Socket sets in long and short, ratchet in 1/2" and 3/8", breaker bars, nitrile gloves, pry bars, box wrenches, flarenut wrenches, vice-grips, flatnose and needlenose pliers, big wire cutters, long and short screw drivers, impact driver, rubber mallet, lead hammer, slide hammer, and small bolt cutters(great for power steering lines). I've also brought my engine hoist for pulling engines.

# ¿ Jun 3, 2008 03:39

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

ease posted:

For those of you who have air ratchets, how awesome are they, and how much would you hate not having one now that you do?

They're more cumbersome than normal ratchets and it's much too easy to break or strip threads. I used mine a couple times, then put it away and haven't touched it since.

# ¿ Jun 10, 2008 20:44

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

PTFE works fine with brake fluid or mineral oil and is the most commonly used material for hydraulic seals. :eng101:

You shouldn't use brake fluid because it absorbs water and will rust the metal in the cylinder faster. The sudden failure is from the seal tearing after being rubbed on a rusty cylinder too many times. If you change the fluid every 6-12 months(like your car) it'll be fine.

# ¿ Jun 13, 2008 23:06

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

I got a black and decker "dremel" for $30 at their outlet store. It's worked very well for me.

Any leads on good bits for metal grinding/filing? All I can find is for wood or plastic, or metal cutting discs. I want a drum or cone grinder that can handle mild steel.

# ¿ Jul 8, 2008 07:09

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Check craigslist and start trolling garage sales. You can find complete or mostly complete tool sets for much cheaper than buying new. Bonus points if you can find old(pre-90s) craftsman, snap-on, mac, etc.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2008 20:13

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Disciple of Pain posted:

I'm guessing we're talking about a HF Racing jack, yeah?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=91039

This is the one I have. I haven't had it long enough to say about the longevity. It pumps a bit slower than my old sears 2-ton, but sits lower, has about the same range of travel, and is more stable.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=40105

If you want to spend more, this jack is only 1/2" higher, but can lift nearly 3" more and is wider for more stability. It's also rapid pump, and the same weight as the smaller jack.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2008 05:11

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Kynetx posted:

Why not just buy a beam style and be done with it?

Beam wrenches are for when you're assembling your engine or transmission. For anything else they're overkill. For most work a clicker wrench is more than adequate, and they're much easier to use.

# ¿ Aug 18, 2008 20:13

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

ease posted:

I've considered building a sound dampening box around mine.

I did this for our oilless craftsman at work, but got pretty poor results. Sound levels went down, but without lead/tar sound barriers you aren't going to stop the low frequency vibration very well.

# ¿ Dec 9, 2008 02:55

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Those disposable tupperware containers are nearly as cheap, and stackable.

Or just buy a car, like mine, that only uses 4 or 5 bolt types and throw everything in one bin. :shobon:

# ¿ Jan 5, 2009 20:38

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

The local redneck garage has a SBC they use for sandblasting. Cut the fuel(but not air) to four cylinders, connect the "exhaust" of those four to a manifold with a fuckoff big turbo wastegate to adjust pressure, run that to your air hose.

# ¿ Jan 14, 2009 01:03

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

The sears here gives you a repaired tool out of a bin. You turn in a 20 year old ratchet and they give you a butter steel replacement.

Fix it yourself, ratchets aren't that complex. Buy a similar HF ratchet to take apart first if you're worried about breaking something.

# ¿ Jan 15, 2009 21:52

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

12 point sockets are fast, I use them on anything 14mm or below. Just pay attention and switch to a 6 point if you're applying too much force.

6 point sockets are aligned with the mounting hole so each 1/4 turn aligns the hex in a unique position. If you can't get your breaker bar on a bolt, flip it over or rotate it 1/4 turn. 12 point sockets don't always follow this convention. :eng101:

# ¿ Jan 16, 2009 19:29

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

944 posted:

Stand up for yourself. It works.

When I bring my 25 year old craftsman ratchet in I want it repaired and returned to me. Their quality has been on a steady decline since the mid '90s and their current stock is barely on par with harbor freight.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2009 01:52

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Drunk Pledge Driver posted:

I know it's probably been discussed, but I don't have search nor the time to search 19 pages. What is a good, cheap impact wrench? Looking to spend under $100, if not significantly less.

http://www.amazon.com/Cook-Hammer-Company-Hammers-117/dp/B000V7QZEW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1233449893&sr=1-1

Throw in a wrench and you've got the most versatile, long-lasting, cordless impact wrench available.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2009 02:01

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

RealKyleH posted:

$29 for a hammer that's just going to get hosed up? I'll take a rubber coated dead blow for $8 at HF thank you.

1. My hammer is nearly 50 years old and is nearly due for its third recasting. It takes a lot of use to mushroom out the lead like that, more than a plastic hammer would stand up to.

2. Try using a shot filled hammer under a car, swinging upwards. Or in a wheel well with only 6" of travel.

3. Lead is more stable during the impact, no bouncing around from the plastic housing rebounding before the shot hits. Lead imparts more force for the same weight hammer.

4. Most hand tools, you don't respect them and they might smash your thumb or cut you. You respect lead or it will turn you into a limp-wristed nancy and your children into thugs and prostitutes. Consider it good practice for respecting your jack, or engine hoist, which could kill you in a heartbeat.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2009 02:55

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

http://www.batteryjunction.com/titanium-spotlight-bulk.html

I ordered one of these flashlights a couple days ago and it just came in today. It's a brilliant idea, a flashlight small enough to fit into the 12v cigar lighter socket. It's always close at hand in the car, and always kept fully charged. It sits a bit loose in the socket, but a couple wraps of electrical tape fixed that. It's about as bright as a non-LED AA maglite, but the beam isn't adjustable. The whole thing is solid state, so it should be drat near indestructible.

Perfect for stocking stuffers. :doh:

# ¿ Feb 3, 2009 03:36

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Does anyone make a grease gun that doesn't leak?

# ¿ Feb 13, 2009 07:26

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

I had an ancient grease gun that was hand filled. It worked like a champ, until I left it in a wet toolbox and the pump rusted solid. I replaced it with a HF gun, which leaked at the piston and made a horrible mess when I went to uncock it. I replaced that with a lincoln, which uncocks itself if you breathe on it. Both of those are now returned.

I'm considering just buying this and leaving it in a big ziploc.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2009 08:23

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Answering from the resource thread.

Pooperscooper posted:

How do you know what a good tire gauge is? Every time I go to a car place they seem to over inflate my tires or my gauge is poo poo?

Are you driving somewhere before checking pressure? Are they exceeding the max safe psi on the tire, or the recommended psi on the door sill sticker? As long as they're within a couple psi it shouldn't be a problem. If they're filling way over you should complain.

Get yourself a digital gauge. I have this one,

http://www.amazon.com/Accutire-MS-4021B-Standard-Digital-Gauge/dp/B00080QHMM/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1235383228&sr=8-2

# ¿ Feb 23, 2009 11:24

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

atomicfire posted:

My lovely 1/4 inch manifold will make the pressure drop to an indicated 40PSI even though the regulator is set for 90PSI.

Get this and T it into your air line. It's only 125psi, but it runs at regulator pressure and most tools don't use more than that. It will give you a lot more air before the psi starts to drop, which can make a huge difference for burst use like an impact gun. Use a quick disconnect and shutoff valve and you've got a portable air tank for filling tires.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2009 08:26

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

What size are you looking for? $300 is pretty low for a good tool box. Either HF or keep trolling craigslist for an older craftsman.

# ¿ Mar 2, 2009 21:05

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

RealKyleH posted:

My craftsman tool box has not held up any better and maybe worse than a HF unit would.

The new ones are basically better painted harbor freight. The old ones, pre-'90s, were built much better.

# ¿ Mar 2, 2009 21:33

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

They don't have the second one in red in the local stores here, just blue with a crying eagle. :patriot:

# ¿ Mar 3, 2009 19:54

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Kynetx, I forgot you're in western WA. There are some decent deals on CL right now.

This looks like a shorter version of this one sold at costco.
http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/tls/1048624699.html

Sweet old timey snap-on. :wal:

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/tls/1055984467.html

Better upper than the HF one, about the same quality lower.
http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/tls/1056760961.html
http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/tls/1054914859.html

Korwen posted:

I've used Craftsman tools all my life, but is there something else I should try? I'm not going to spend Snap-On kind of money here, I just need some basic tools, but I'd like to get a good deal. What is your favorite brands as far as hitting the quality/price sweet spot?

If you've got the time, far and above the best way of building up a tool box is garage sales. I've seen people sell a rolling box, with tools, for a couple hundred bucks.

Harbor Freight is pretty good for cheap tools that don't get used much. Their tools generally feel junky, but get the job done 99% of the time. I stay away from their box wrenches, pliers, taps/dies, blades, drill bits, and grinding stones. Their ratches are very good for the price, and simple stuff like hammers and screw drivers are always good. I've gotten some great sockets from them, and some lovely sockets that don't fit.

I've got 1/2" and 1/4" socket sets and ratchets from Shucks that are surprisingly good. Several years of (hard)use and I've broken the 1/4" ratchet and one 1/4" socket. They're over twice the price of HF, but they come with a lifetime warranty.

# ¿ Mar 3, 2009 21:05

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

RealKyleH posted:

Lastly anyone tried out or see these types of sanding discs?
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=65287

I've yet to be satisfied with any kind of wear item bought from HF. Drill bits, sanding discs, blades, grind stones, etc. all seem to wear out or break far too soon to be worth while.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2009 08:08

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 23:59

oxbrain: Aug 18, 2005; Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the mothership.

Todays woot is a 2-pack stanley 1/4" drive socket set with SAE and Metric sockets in nice carrying cases. Great for sitting behind the seat for that time when your fan belt breaks and you're 50 miles from home. Also good for giving to people you'd like to not have to go pick up when they're 50 miles from home without tools.

http://www.woot.com/

# ¿ Mar 10, 2009 06:22

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Tools! - Crimpin ain't easy but it is necessary.

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