Shop Tricks

[Iplayfarmer]

>> RECYCLING CORDLESS TOOLS <<

One of the cordless tools that has waited useless in the case that it came in, due to it's charger going bad, is a Black & Decker "FireStorm" multi-tool set, with drill, sander, jigsaw, and something else that I don't recall; I intend to fix it with a cord in the very near future.

For a multitool set there has to be a way that you can rig a battery vs. rigging the tool. They you can use the same "adapter" with all of the tools.

 

[The Haymaker]

During the winter, when welding in the GarageMajal, I can't have fumes build up because the air is shared with those in the house. I use my wet/dry vac as a poor mans exhaust fan. I have some chunks of house service entrance wire that I drywall screw to a block of wod and use as a "third and" to hold the hose 6-8" from the work spot. I then put another hose from the exhaust of the vac to a port in the nearest window. Of course, I make sure to dump the pine shavings from the vac and dump it again before leaving the shop.

As said, I keep several chunks of the heavy service entrance wire around. You can mold it to any shape and it makes a great third-hand for lights, tools, hanging brake calipers, etc.

 

[BearKiller]

>> CHANGING OIL <<

I can't take credit for this one, as I read it on a Dodge/Cummins forum, but it works so good that I have stock-piled bread-bags.

For those oil- and fuel-filters that are situated such that they always spill their contents all over the engine, first loosen the filter, then skin an empty bread-bag completely over the filter; screw the filter the rest of the way off while it and the mess are contained within the bag.

If you have a FUMOTO drain-valve and use a bread-sack on the filter, you can change your oil in your Sunday-go-to-meetin' clothes and not get nary a drop on you.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

>> CHANGING OIL <<

I can't take credit for this one, as I read it on a Dodge/Cummins forum, but it works so good that I have stock-piled bread-bags.

For those oil- and fuel-filters that are situated such that they always spill their contents all over the engine, first loosen the filter, then skin an empty bread-bag completely over the filter; screw the filter the rest of the way off while it and the mess are contained within the bag.

If you have a FUMOTO drain-valve and use a bread-sack on the filter, you can change your oil in your Sunday-go-to-meetin' clothes and not get nary a drop on you.

I am definately going to try that the next time I change my oil in the truck. I always get oil down my arm when I'm taking out the filter.

 

[Baby Grand]

BearKiller:

For those oil- and fuel-filters that are situated such that they always spill their contents all over the engine, first loosen the filter, then skin an empty bread-bag completely over the filter; screw the filter the rest of the way off while it and the mess are contained within the bag.

I have been doing this for awhile and it works great - one caution: Inflate the bag and check that it holds air. Those bags have a pesky habit of developing little holes. I'd hate to see anyone's Sunday-go-to-meetin' clothes get spoilt. 8^)

-Jim

 

[Egon]

I have been doing this for awhile and it works great - one caution: Inflate the bag and check that it holds air. Those bags have a pesky habit of developing little holes. I'd hate to see anyone's Sunday-go-to-meetin' clothes get spoilt. 8^)

I'm gonna try that. Hate the feeling of warm oil running down my arm!

 

[Dave5264]

Got some Siezed Nuts/Bolts?, tired of waiting Hours or Days for the penetrating oil to soak in? Heat the bolt up with a propane torch nice and hot, then take a standard house-hold candle and melt it against the thread. it will Wick up into the threads inside and youll be able to loosen the bolt. Keep a candle in your tool box

 

[BearKiller]

>> FIX-A-FLAT WARNING <<


This is not so much a tip about what to do, but a tip about what NOT TO DO.

I have seen this daily for years; people bring in various tires for repair that are sloshing full of "Fix-a-Flat".

If I were stranded in the desert with a flat tire and a case of the stuff, I would probably just drive out on the flat and leave the flat-fixer for the buzzards.

If it stays inside a tire/wheel for more than just a few days, or is not completely washed/rinsed out within the first few hours of installation, it will badly corrode the wheel; steel or aluminum, it eats both.

It does something negative to the rubber such that a proper repair will no longer adhere to it, regardless of how much cleaning and preparation is done prior to attempting to patch the tire.

To an un-suspecting tire-monkey, it will spray him in the eye when he inflates the tire to find the problem.

It will also come splattering out in his face when he breaks the beads loose with the changer.



On another tire subject, I read of many who have "ran a tire off the rim".

In most cases, when a tire is run flat and rolls off the rim, it breaks the wire cable within the beads.

This may not be evident to the un-trained eye, especially to the one that just paid big money for the tire and is not wanting to see that it is now a junk tire.

In any case, the ability of the tire to hold itself together under air pressure has been compromised; and, it can and sooner or later will blow off the rim again with death or maiming being highly possible.

Also, in most run flat situations, the "roundness" of the rim will be compromised, thus making the inflated tire/rim a potential bomb just waiting to blow up in someone's face.

If a tire came off the rim and does so again later, consider yourself lucky no one was killed, slash the sidewall and throw that tire away.

 

[BearKiller]

>> GATE HOLDER-OPENERS<<


99% of the standard tube farm gates I see around here have a welded-on bottom hinge-loop and a bolt-on positionable top hinge-loop (so that you can turn the top hinge-pin upside-down to prevent the gate being lifted off the hinges).

Go to the gate factory (if you live in Dunnville,KY = the gate capitol of the world), the gate shop or TSC, and buy two of those bolt-on hinge-loops for each gate you have.

Mount these hinge-loops on the opposite end of the gate from the hinges; one at top, the other at bottom.

Shape a blunt handle (as described below) on a length of 1/2" or so steel rod (rebar will work) and slightly sharpen the other end.

Drop this rod down through the hinge-loops and push it into the ground to hold the gate open.

Shape the rod at the top such that, when in the UP position, it "saddles" itself on the top bar of the gate, thus just riding along out of the way; then lift the rod up and pivot it off the top bar to use it as a gate position holder.

An added advantage of such a position holder is, if you purposefully move the top hinge-pin about an inch off plumb on the side away from the open position of the gate, such that the gate becomes a self-closer, the advantages of the self-closer can be utilized and the gate still be held in any open position by using the rod.

 

[BearKiller]

>> STOP A TIRE LEAK <<

I have done this too many times to count.

When you hear air whistling out of a tubeless tire and can find where it is coming from, dab some grease on a sheet-metal- or wood-screw and screw it into the hole.

If one doesn't stop the leak, drive another beside it, making sure you are going into the hole and not just making another.

I have done this many times and not even bothered with properly repairing it later, just letting the screw wear out with the tire.

Many is the worn-out tire that we have removed from someone's vehicle that had never been low on air pressure, yet had several nails, screws, and wires poking through on the inside, with the owner being none the wiser.