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Anyone ever make a tool


The Dude Abides
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Cut "teeth" in the end of a piece of old exhaust pipe to use as a wrench when I needed to put new output seals in my GL's transmission.

Large snap ring pliers worked but the pipe was faster. And it seemed easier to keep track of the number of turns for the right bearing preload.

 

Not really a real tool, but still useful. I assembled a kit of large washers, some different small sections of pipe, and a good axle nut for pulling front axles through the knuckes. I just stack and restack as needed. A ziptie keeps it all together between axle changes.

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I have a cam tool for EA82s to tighten the timing belt tensioners. I took a cam sprocket, welded a 1/2 drive socket to the back of it in the center, and welded two bolts through the holes so they poke out the front. Slide the bolts into the two holes on the cam sprocket on the engine, put a 1/2 breaker bar into the socket and tighten the timing belt. I'll get pics when I can

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i used a 10mm bolt with a pair of visegrips when i didnt have a 10 allen. also i couldnt get the bolt of the crank of my xt so i placed a breaker bar and socket on the bolt and rest it on the inner fender and bumped the motor. so i guess the motor was a impact gun for .199 seconds of its life:banana:

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i used a 10mm bolt with a pair of visegrips when i didnt have a 10 allen. also i couldnt get the bolt of the crank of my xt so i placed a breaker bar and socket on the bolt and rest it on the inner fender and bumped the motor. so i guess the motor was a impact gun for .199 seconds of its life:banana:

 

The motor bump trick is pretty old and is mentioned quite frequently here.

Just need to make sure you have it on the correct side.

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I made a vise-grip adapter for attatching to a come along yesterday. Great stuff! 2 1/2" 5/16X18 grade 8 bolt. add threads all the way up the shank. weld two chain lings to head of bolt. Probably the most memorable tool I made was a limited access 12mm wrench. Didn't have a vise or a torch to put a curve in it. I did have a seven pound sledge and a curb. All fun and games untill it rocketed across the street and dented the neighbors garage door at 1am! oops.

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We made a caliper winding socket by cutting an old large socket so it just had two pointy bits to fit in the grooves the calipers have.

 

We also made a pipe bender for 40 to 48mm pipe utilizing our 12tonne press.

 

So many more, but its just a spare of the moment thing normally. The biggest tools we have is the one my mum gave birth too.

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lets see......i took a steering wheel puller,welded a bolt through it to use as a cam wrench on an ej22.

 

i have a bracket that i mount to a flange on the rear differential and a large piece of beam i have, to loosen those sometimes pesky stub axle bolts.you know, the e10 ones.

 

ummm,,the ever infamous "persuader"............

)of which someone has not given back yet(

 

 

and,hmmm, lets see......

a valve spring compressor , out of a c-clamp and a piece of metal that came on the valve spring compressor that i had but didna work.as it was inadequate for the spacing of access to the valves.in other words, it was hittin the damn sidewall and would not allow me to get a long enough throw to compress the spring as needed.

 

several jigs for this or that....

 

multiple axle pin removers..allen wrenches,random old screwdrivers,and the occasional bolt, screw or nail....whenever they go to the abyss, i make another one......until now:)

 

 

made a huge allen wrench to get out the plug on the front of an ea81 block to install the block heater.

 

i have some custom 4eat automatic input shaft clips.

 

 

then theres the modification of a multitude of tools that i have utilized,but who hasn't?cheers, brian

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i've made a few tools here and there. the one that comes to mind at the moment is a socket i made for adjusting the brake band on 4EAT's. i cut the head of a box end off and welded it to a little 1/4 drive socket to get the inch-pound torque value on the square-head adjuster bolt just right without rounding it.

 

oh, and i countersunk a drywall screw in the end of a 2' piece of closet pole to use for pulling rear crank seals from ej blocks. drill a little hole in the seal, hand thread the screw in and it pries them right out without a scratch everytime.

 

i've also got my "custom benchmount soldering iron" - the heating element from an old laboratory hotplate just sitting on a ceramic floor tile. i've only electrocuted myself with it once, won't let that happen again.....

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I have a tool called the "persuader" as well. 3 foot, 1/2 inch o.d. steel pipe. one end is for sticking the ends of a ratchets into, the other end is hammer flat to pry things with.

Only bashed myself in the face once with it while prying something.

 

made a block wrist pin cover tool using a 9/16 coupler. so techinically I didn't make it, except for a little grinding here and there.

 

made a axle pin remover using a long metal rod. Not sure of the o.d., but b/c of it's length, I can pop out the pins through the engine bay.

 

BW

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I made my own axle puller. I'll see if I can find pics. Tim

 

I made one as well for an EA82. I used a steel rod with a steel cylinder that slid on the rod, with a flat piece on the end to keep the cylinder on the rod. I then welded two axle nuts on the end and those thread on the axle and then you just slide the weight and pull the new axle through the hub!

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  • 1 month later...

I've notched pipe ends to match the nut on power antennas, filed a groove into the side of it to fit a 12mm wrench to turn it with. This way I don't have a chance of scratching the paint while changing a mast with snap ring pliers to twist the nut.

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I will have to post pictures of the axle puller/installer that Supernova built it is a tru piece of art. Axle nut welded to a plate and a piece of plumbing pipe and a long threaded rod. It is really something ealse and functional as all heck.

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Just whipped this up a half hour ago:

05-05-09_2025.jpg

 

05-05-09_2024.jpg

 

That is the axle puller tool. Works like a charm! made this one with about 9 inches of 3/4" threaded rod, an axle nut, about 8" of 2" exhaust pipe, and a pair of 3/4" flat washers and nuts, then welded a handle on it so it wouldnt turn while I was turning the nut. Shazam! Thats all just crap I had layin around, I did have to do a little lathe turning, but nothing I couldnt have just as well done with a grinder (had to round the points on the axle nut to go into the pipe)

-Bill

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I have a steel wedge I use to remove front hubs from the struts. I have a bolt and nut that I can link a box wrench and torque wrench at 90* to torque that hard to reach center bolt on EA81 cylinder heads. I use two ball peen hammers as axle removers, one smaller one to rest in the dimple of the hubshaft, and the other to strike the first one without messing up the threads.

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I made this to replicate Special Tool #123456 to pull the studs out of the tilt mechanism in the steering column of my G-pa's 86 scottsdale. It's just a 1/2-20 bolt drilled and tapped for a 10-32 stud. The 10-32 threads into the stud, the that aluminum washer goes between the column and the big hex nut. Hold the bolt stationary and turn the big hex nut...

 

PICT0181.jpg

 

When I was doing my trans the other week, I ordered a 36mm socket for the big nut on the back of the main shaft. When it arrived, it turned out to be 3/4 drive instead of 1/2 drive. I don't know if it was their fault or mine, but either way I didn't want to wait for a replacement or buy another one so I made this adapter. It's a 3/4 square on one side and a 7/8 hex on the other. Made it out of some O1, hardened it and added it to the box!

 

PICT0182.jpg

 

PICT0183.jpg

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  • 2 months later...

Here's the latest,

 

I just replaced all of the brake lines on an older Volvo. I don't know if anyone is familiar with the 200 series, but the bleeding procedure is a PIA. The front calipers have 3 nipples each!! Anyway, I've thought about getting one of those Motive Powerbleeders or something similar, but looking at the pictures I figured it wouldn't be too hard to make. So it was off to Home Despot and:

 

compression sprayer - $8.97

cap from fluid reservoir in question - $?? (I got one from the JY along with a bunch of other stuff, but com'on, a stupid plastic cap?)

barbed hose fitting - $1.xx (The hose on the sprayer is 1/4 so that's what I got with a 1/8 NPT thread)

hose clamp - <$1.00

Silicone - $5.00 or so

 

Drill and tap the appropriate NPT thread into the cap with a little silicone gooped around the fitting and a hose clamp for good measure since there isn't enough meat in the cap to create a seal. One could easily drill an oversize hole, skip the tapping, and just glue it in, we're not talking but a few PSI of positive pressure to make this work.

 

And voila-

 

DSC_0030.jpg

 

Total cost is under $20

Edited by lostinthe202
add some detail
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  • 6 months later...

I have built many tools. Mostly for VW's. I built a valve spring compressor with an old rocker shaft a kickstand and a bearing race from a bicycle, a case splitter from an old oil pump, a wrench from flat-bar. This is the only one I have a picture of and it is Subaru specific. It is for the EA81 head bolt that is behind the rocker shaft.

 

IMG_3242.jpg

IMG_3243.jpg

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I took a new EA-81 intake valve and reduced the O.D. of the head a bit, so it would drop into a EF-12 Justy oil pump recess. It's like the recess for the EA-82 oil pump.

 

Flatened and polished the head, (combustion chamber side). Fill the center divot with JB Weld, and flattened that.

 

Spray adhesive to attach very fine wet/dry sandpaper.

 

Drop it in the recess and rotate, under water for lubricant, to polish and clean up that flat section. Rotate back and forth by hand i mean.

 

Doug

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Built a turnbuckle clamp as a project in school... never used it :lol:

Modified a screwdriver to work on those stupid security screws with two holes, propane kit in my truck had 'em to prevent tampering...

countless wrenches and sockets ground or filed down to fit in tight places...

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  • 1 year later...

Many but most have been left at the shops where I made them for specific applications such as a special cutting tool holder to take "O" ring cutting tool blades for "O" ringing blocks such as the Moroso tool.

This tool holder took those commonly available blades that have a special taper so they can cut a grove around the cylinder bore as to insert 41 thou stainless safety wire for big boost drag engines.

My adapter allowed fitting to a micrometer boring head so that any size cylinders could be "O" ringed on the CNC mill,because of the circular cut the blade has to be tapered to clear the walls of the groove and is quite a specialised cutting blade.

Since then they now make the tools in smaller sizes,hand operated for ease of use for those without a machine shop.

Mine however was made over 20 years ago when there was nothing available.

 

Have also built many jigs such a rotiseries for preparation of Rally and race car shells,jigs for modifying struts and retubing struts etc to allow fitting of things such as Bilstein inserts to models not catered for by Bilstein.

 

Have also made special radius cutters for modifying valve radius in the chambers to unshroud valves in some cylinder heads etc.

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