Easy tips for shadetree mechanics

Many mechanics have devised some easy tips when working on cars. I'll start with a few. Feel free to add yours.

1. Changing trans fluid is often a messy job. If you take the lid off a Hefty garbage can and drill holes in the center of it, you can place it over your drain pan to avoid slopping the fluid on your garage floor.

2. Forget about the extendable magnets. Tape a magnet to the end of a 36" dowel rod. It's long enough to reach most places that things fall into under your hood. You can also use it to find those small parts that you drop on the floor or in the grass outside.

3. When changing bearings, save the old race. If you don't have a seal and bearing driver, use the race to pound the new bearing into place. It's just the right size. Put a block of wood over it to distribute the hammer blows.

 

4. Got a floppy swivel that's hard to put on a bolt or nut or spark plug you can't reach?
Wrap some electrical tape around it.

 

Man, you two stole all my good ideas! But I still have a few good ones up my sleeve. If you're working on a car that has 'Quick Disconnect' fittings (a misnomer if I ever heard one), and you don't have the cash to buy the special little tools to uncouple them, take an oil bottle and cut small pieces out that you can push into the coupling to help get the locking tabs past the point that they lock on to. Sometimes, it takes a second layer, but it does help when the little b*stard just won't disconnect.

 

To go along with Andy's post, when using your swivel in that awkward spot and the nut or headed bolt keeps falling off put a piece of masking tape over the socket then jam the nut/bolt in, it won't fall out and the socket cones off with ease.

I also keep a select few extra sockets and driver bits in a magnetic tray, mainly for at work but having them magnetized has helped many a time working on cars.

 

some of the fords i believe had some easy to pull spark plug boots cut one of an old wire with maybe 2" or 3" of wire and it makes it easy to catch your new plugs

 

Those are called "Donkey d!cks." I've found that some of the mid-'80s GM FWD engine boots were the best because they had the longest length, and the six-sided end made it easier to turn it.

 

If you need a little more leverage on your screw driver bits, you can use a 1/4" drive battery wrench.

You can use a piece of bar stock, a bullet level and a protractor for a camber/caster gauge.

If you have a difficult to find water leak into the passenger compartment, use some modeling clay to make a segmented dam around the suspected leak area (sealed at all points), and pure water in each of the segments...if one drains, you have isolated the leak to that area.

For toe adjustments, measure the front and back of the tire to the outside of the tread. If they are both the same, you are at "0". If they are not the same, adjust the tie rod turnbuckles until they are. You do need a helper to do this. Check your steering wheel centering while you are doing this, and adjust accordingly.

For "frozen" wheel opening trim screws, if you can get a channel lock pliers over the end and the head, wiggle it a little, and it will break the screw loose. You should be able to use a screw driver to easily remove them.

Cracked styrene interior door panels can be fixed with MEK or MEK substitute and some scrap styrene for reinforcement. Just like a plastic model kit. Align them carefully, and apply the MEK...allow to set overnight without moving. Do not touch the visible side with MEK on your fingers, or you will leave your fingerprint permanently etched into the plastic.

If you have to move a heavy part, like a rear, put two pieces of cardboard on top of each other, and the part on it. The top cardboard will slide on the bottom piece. You can also use furniture sliders, or a kitty liter cap, under the parts if you put a piece of cardboard or carpet on the floor/ground. This can be used on the bed of a pickup, in a wagon, or an SUV.

 

Methyl Ethyl Ketone is not so easy to get a hold of anymore. I used to use it for model building when I ran out of Tester's Model Glue in the middle of the North Arabian Sea (I was on the carrier USS Constellation; I had a friend who worked in VF-154 who set me up with some MEK). Since I can't get any of it anymore, I use a 23-watt soldering iron and weld the plastic parts together on the back side. It's saved my bacon many times when I've had to do repairs on interior pieces that broke because you have to destroy it in order to remove it.

 

There are some states who have stupid restrictions on some chemicals. You can get MEK substitute at the same place you used to get MEK. It will work the same as MEK. I also solder some parts, but those are the ones that MEK will not work on. Large surfaces, and long cracks are extremely time consuming and often difficult to "weld" with heat. The MEK substitute allows you to "liquid weld" pieces on the backside to reinforce the joint as well.

 

Yes, I understand about the use of the liquid gluing, but even with the long cracks, I've gotten used to welding them, as it doesn't mar the front if you accidentally touch it, and the time factor's the same when you have to wait for the solvent to evaporate from the plastic. IMHO, it's six of one, half a dozen of the other.

 

A hockey puck works great for pressing in wheel bearings. Put the puck over the race and smack it with a hammer.


Anyone got some good tricks for removing and installing freeze-out plugs?

 

If you have good access to it or them, smack one side in with hammer and chisel so it turns90* in the hole, then snag the outside with Vise-Grips and lever it/them out. Use a wood block to start them in, then use a bearing driver bigger than the plug's diameter to finish knocking it in.

 

Blue tip wrench for seized bolts.
Take a plumbers torch, where safe to do so, and heat the bolt and then spray some liquid wrench after you pull torch away.
The expand and contracting helps free the bolt and will draw the liquid wrench in as well. I had to do this on an exhaust manifold bolt that I broke the head on but had a bit of the bolt body I could get vice grips on.

If you blow yourself up because you tried this around the gas tank, don't blame me.

 

Most spiral type EZ-Outs are counterproductive. As you screw them in, they expand the side of your bolt, actually making it tighter. A better alternative is to drill your hole and drive a good quality Torx bit into it. Then you can get a breaker bar on it.

Don't try to back it out immediately. Try to tighten it first and then loosen. Repeat this until it starts to move and continue until it's backed out. Add penetrating oil to keep the threads free. Finesse and knowing the strength of your tools is the key to success. If you are one of those ham-fisted gorillas, you'll break it every time.

 

I use a tool that is shown in the Haynes Manual for removing balljoints. It is a large bolt, a nut for the bolt, two washers, and a long socket that fits over the threaded part of the bolt. Loosen the nuts, leave the nuts on the ends of the ball joint studs for the "tool" to sit on, and assemble the stack (in the sequence above) between the two ball joints. Turn the nut to push the balljoints apart. If one or both do not want to let go, put pressure on them, and tap the reluctant one with a small sledge hammer. They will usually let go with a loud bang.

If you are at the junk yard, and have to retrieve a bolt or nut from inside of a frame rail, get a trans dipstick and make a hook on the end. You can fish it out from almost anywhere.

When in the junk yard, and trying to remove a wheel from a freewheeling axle with a disk brake, put a large screw driver in the slot of the wheel, and allow it to jam against the caliper. You can now put pressure on the wheel nuts to remove them. This does not work with drum brakes, but most newer cars have disks on all wheels. Aluminum wheels may be damaged by this technique, unless you can put a rag between the wheel and screw driver.

For those who go to the junk yard a lot, Harbor Freight sells a small 800W generator that runs for 4 hours on a gallon of 2 stroke mix gas. It will power almost any standard tool you need to remove parts. Angle grinders, sawzalls, impact wrenches, drills, power shears, vibrator cutters, and any other tools that are 800W or less. They are occasionally on sale for $88.88.