Technical Little tips and tricks for garage hobbyists.

Good point, I only lifted one rear wheel on a Vette. Did that easy, no idea how it would do on a heavier load.

 

^^^ Great idea on the vacuum line and very clean!

 

I had a regular HF hyd jack (full size) years ago. It was crappy and you could not control it when lowering. Got rid of it. Haven't had any problem with newer small ones, but I'm sure they have some bad ones on occasion. I'd say try one when someone buys one and see how it does. They really are handy when you are out in a field buying an old car and needing to put some tires on it........or alongside a road when no one is around to help.

Its amazing how much heavier things have gotten as I get older.

 

I have one of their 1.5 ton jacks and it works good lifting my cars but isn't great lifting the front end of my 4WD pickup. They do sell 2, 2.5 and 3 ton light weight racing jacks too, so it depends on what you buy on how much it will lift!

 

I won one of those HF 1.5T 'racing' jacks at a chinese auction and was impressed enough that I bought three more. I waited until they were on sale though, got 'em for $50 each. Won't pick up what my 20+ year old 3T CostCo-bought jack will but weighs in at about 1/3 as much if not less. But will pick up one corner of any of my vehicles with no issues. Test 'em when you buy 'em, HF does have a 90 day warrantee and will exchange defective units.

 

This is the rapid jack I got from Harbor Freight about 7 years ago.....use it daily....never any issues, the rapid pump feature is way cool...about 5 pumps with the foot pedal and its all the way up, but its not for lifting.....use the foot pedal until it gets to whatever you are putting the jack to then switch to normal handle jack...it's low profile too, low enough to slide under my Snap-on tool chest to stow.

 

I spotted a friend's HF 1.5 light weight jack. I picked it up and thought it was light so I bought one. The one I bought wasn't as light. I can feel the difference and so could my friend!

 

I started reading this thread yesterday. Today I was in town and went to HF and checked out the jacks. I'm way more confused now. I shouldn't have clicked on this one.

 

Try this one......$99

 

Another simple idea..

 

I have a piece of aluminum with 3 speaker magnets glued to it that I use. Easy on easy off easy to store I just stick it on the back side of my rollaway.

 

Super slick! Great idea. That has an ol' school look and feel that's right at home in there
You could also braze instead of solder.

 

Im gonna share this hackery here...I built this little cart for my auto trans when I did a flexplate swap...its light,no oil leaks,easy to break down and easy to store...
Then I modified it in 5 minutes to fit a sm465.
All I do is roll it out of the way and roll it back when I'm done...

 

Plans were to build these from steel angle and plate as drop on accessories for my engine stand, then post 'em to this thread. But others have wood stuff so here are the prototypes lol. I have a big rectangular drain pan that sits on a pair of 4x4 blocks or right on the stored heads.

 

On sale this weekend for $85. Gonna get one, an I'm sure I'll blow the other $14 on something..

 

easy to get at bolt storage

 

Man, that represents a lot of oil changes! But a good idea.

 

If you can't get a nut started, try turning it backwards slowly until you feel it click down. Then turnout forward, and it should start to thread onto the bolt.

 

Hmm, looky what's new at HF

 

Ever try changing the battery in a vehicle with side terminal posts. There is a special ratcheting wrench made just for those terminals. But if you drop the wrench it sometimes falls way down out of reach. The cure is to tie an old shoe string thru the hole in the wrench and put it up around your wrist. The shoe string trick works for other wrenches that might fall into the depths of the car never to be reached again.

 

Kids' soccer socks are perfect for protecting long thin chrome plated parts like axles & leaf springs.

 

Those long socks can be good as arm protection when wrenching around hot engine components. Just cut the end off and slip it over your arm...easy money.

 

I used to use them as arm protection when using grinding and sanding disc's too.

Got tired of those hot little Johnny balls seeming to always find the crease in my elbow joint, hell I looked like a junkie with needle marks after a hard day at work !!

.

 

With me, they always seem to find their way into my socks. And there ain't no way to shake them off .....they just lay there and burn till they cool off. Got a scar on my left foot where a piece of molten slag landed just under the lip of tongue of my shoe...........it was like dancin at a hoedown.

 

Good tip. I've always did it this way to start an uncooperative nut.
And without fail, anytime someone is watching/helping me, they blurt out, "No, it goes the other way"

 

country joe ....funny you mention this , the first time i saw someone do the "rotate backwards " nut /bolt starter trick was when i was in the navy and working along side an older salt . told him he was going the wrong way and he promptly stood up and punched me on my shoulder....hard punch ....got my attention and then schooled me on the procedure .

 

Save that 3 or 4-inch toe section that you cut off to use as a shift knob koozie for when parked in the hot sun. Sometimes the knob can get "too hot to handle".

 

I grew up in snake county on the ranch here in Oklahoma and my Dad made me always wear boots! At 71 I still wear tall boots 24/7!
So I have to snicker at the guys with shoes, I have seen ….doing the “ hot metal dance” !




Bones

 

i spotted alightwieght craftsman jack in the scrap bin at work the person who put it there said it leaked i took it home with intensions of a cylinder rebuild after it sat for a while i put it on the bench and it really did not leak that bad i spotted an old half full bottle of auto trans sealer thought why not it has been leak free for 6 years now but i will not use it without a jackstand even if not going under the var

 

Not being an a$$hat here, but I learned a long time ago that when welding or cutting always wear pants long enough and boots tall enough that the pants cover the boots. Then dingleballs can't fall inside your shoes/socks.

edit:
I started this response a while back and got interrupted. In the meantime @Boneyard51 replied saying basically the same thing.