Wrong tool for the job?

To remove rear axel seal on a 9" Ford ( behind the backing plate ) -
a bent 5/16" bolt with nut through the last link of my kid's bicycle padlock chain (no key for lock of course so it's attached too) wrapped around a concrete block painted pink from the kid's old book shelf. Take said assembly and after threading the bolt inside the seal (National 8871S) use the block to pull said seal. The fun is the flayling away basically trying to throw the block with slack in the chain to snap the seal out - Like pulling a loose tooth with a door knob and string.
Revel in the pleasure of doing this in the street of a nice neighbourhood while there is gear oil pouring out of the tube and the bolt is spipping out of the seal lip - Repeat several times until sun goes down the just when at the verge of tears (you have to drive this in the am to work) the seal lets loose and you toss the entire assembly into middle of road.
Last assemble with new seal while clenching mini mag lite in teeth.

 

Use a Harbor Freight Tool (name one of your choice) to do (any job of your choice) Have used the reversed circular saw blade to cut sheet metal (eye and ear protection recommended) Pocket kinfe for a screwdriver/ gasket scraper, forearm as welding helmet Igot lots more but don't want to appear stoopid

 

This is a good one, but rather outdated now---I have the jack that came with old volkswagen beetles, when purchased new. The design of that jack not only lets it push, but also will pull. I have used one as a body and fender tool for years now---welded a chain grab hook to the bottom and to the slider for using it as a "puller" to pull things into alignment, and have a number of peices of hollow tubes with flatbar welded across the ends which can be slipped over the jack-post, and used as "pushers".

 

thats funny

 

I know somehone who used a jack as a belt tensioner on his VW Rabbit. It worked quite well for a while. Clever guy. He has a PhD in internal combustion engines -- he really actually does.

 

and prybars

 

[QUOTE='29MurrayTub]That may cause another tool to become unemployed for a while.[/QUOTE]

Oh, and I once used a Lincoln 225 arc-welder to draw and quarter the rusted remains of a '63 Ford wagon and cut in half a 307 Chevy block. Rods were soaked in water beforehand, but someone mentioned later that there is such thing as "cut-rode" for doing the same.

 

I've used an air chisel to open an employees can of soup he brought for lunch since we couldn't find a can opener.

 

heres a good one,,,a coworker had to drop the full gastank on his car so he decides to use an electric drill to drill a hole and drain the gas just about lost his garage and house by the time the fire was put out

 

Not the wrong tool, but the wrong way to do something.. The fuel pump on my dakota went out, and I'll be damned if I was going to drop the tank to get it out. I pulled the bedliner out, put some wet towels on top of the tank (between the tank and bottom of the bed) Got a fire extingusher handy and used the cut off wheel to make a 12" square access hole right above the fuel pump hole on the gas tank. Welded some tabs to the cut out (away from the truck) and screwed it back in place. Took me like 2 hours total in the driveway. Pissed me off that the factory didn't put the hole there to start with.

 

I insert one jaw of a needle nose pliers into the eye of a cotter pin, then beat the hell out of the pliers with a hammer to pull the pin.

Used a flat blade screwdriver as a cold chisel on the roof section of a '64 Suburban, to remove the entire area around the rear barn door latch. I was not only amazed that it worked so well, but it didn't damage the screw driver one bit (handle being whacked with a hammer or the blade).

Used a 6x6 block of wood, logging chain, four 4x4 wood wheel chocks and my dad's Dodge conversion van to pull the back end of my '72 Buick back into shape after hitting a concrete light post base at 35mph (don't ask).

For the ultimate Cheater Bar, I used a 2-ton floor jack under the end of my breaker bar. Whatever it was I was trying to remove came off.

I have a couple Pinewood Derby car blocks that I've sanded down and use as caulking tools to straighten valve covers and oil pans.

Cut down a 9/16 deep well socket so that it had two small teeth on it, across from eachother, and use it to remove those stupid little chrome pot-metal retainers on '50's GM wiper shafts.

Home Depot sells small concrete cutting abrasive wheels that turn your Skil Saw into a concrete saw. Messy as hell, but handy when you have to trim poured concrete.

Used my bottom lip to stop a steering wheel I was pulling off without a puller.

Feet do not make good wheel chocks. They work, but I don't recommend it.

-Brad

 

12" crescent hammers are great!!!

 

HEY..Never the wrong tool, it's the wrong JOB for the tool
"Albert I."


duane

 

Two words... Waterpump pliers!

Dad told me if I come near his tractors with those damn things again he would kick my ass. There aint nothing you can't tear apart and reassemble with two pair of waterpump pliers.

CHAZ

 

My best friend spent about a year as a valet in Seattle, and once DROVE a Ford truck with vicegrips for a steering wheel!!

 

Did this last nite at work with a hammer and chisel and a big can of Spaghetti-O's.

Buddy of mine cut a piece of exhaust tubing with a kitchen knife. Now that's determination.

Got the trunk of a Falcon in a local junkyard open with a broken screwdriver and a big f-ing rock.

Can't think of anything else right now. I'm sure there's lots more.

Dave

 

I always say if it works then it was the right tool for the job!

 

My favorite is the collar of your shirt as an oil catch-pan.

 

Not really car related,but it is tool related: we use sponge forceps to remove impacted feces from the rectum of dogs who've eaten bones and gotten stuff stuck. Under sedation,of course. Just part of our fun here at the vet hospital.

 

I bought the Snap on tool which is advertised to remove cotter pins, but designed to remove mechanics' money.

I still use my dykes.

-bill

 

my pop's old craftsman ratchets are used as hammers all the time (thats when craftsman tools were still good). Used my old F-100 to pull a quarter panel out of the tire on my 63 ford.

 

Hello..Well, what I've learned is you always have the right tool, just the wrong job for the tool..
don't blame your "tool"....
Duane

 

That harbor freight drill press comment kills me. I've used one of those and it sure drills great oblong holes though.

I couldn't find my lighter yesterday so i had to use my "acetelyne lighter" to lite my cigarettes.

I've used my steel toe boots as wheel chocks, you just step in front of the wheel and when the tire hits the toe you pull your foot out and leave the boot there. Also used my boots to hold two pieces of steel together while i welded them. That was the first time i ever set them on fire.

Speaking of fires, i don't know if it counts as a tool, but i've found that nothing works in place of welding leathers. I have the burn scars to prove it.

 

Straightened a bent 9" axle housing by chaining the ends to the wheel lift on my two truck, chained the center to the boom and 20 tons of hydrolic boom lift pulled it real easy.
Sent the body shop shag boy over to a nieboring mechanic shop once to borrow a metric cresent wrench so I could work on a jap car, told him my cresents were all american. Guys next door got a big kick out of that.

 

Stopped the same shag boy just as he was firing up the cutting torch to cut the top of a just emptied 55 gal laquer thinner drum to make a trash barrel. He wasn't the brightest bulb in the box.

 

had a 74 chrylser newport when i was 17 or so. was at my friends house and his dad had cut down a small tree and was trying to get a stump out the yard. After all sorts of digging we decided to use my car, first try was some crappy chain which just broke the chain so then I just drove up to it and pushed it out with the bumper. Not completly out but uprooted it enough so that he could finish.

other then that I've been a big fan of using exhaust instead of a real breaker bar, finally got around recently to buying one.

 

In a pinch, the tip of a lock-back pocket knife makes a pretty good phillips screwdriver for smaller sized screws.

 

Ever blow a coolant hose on the road? A dime makes a perfect screw driver to get the hose clamp off! Weld the jaws of an open vice grip to 2 pieces that need to be pulled together for welding, pulls and holds all at once!

 

Ha! You and Frances Farmer.
Sorry, obscure reference.

 

Used a tube of liquid nails to stop a severe oil leak, then later that day used it again to seal the carb. Oddly worked very well for an " on the trail fix"