Technical Little tips and tricks for garage hobbyists.

The hard drive idea is good, but could be a little cumbersome when you break down on the side of the road, 300 miles from home.

I keep info in this, and store it under the seat.

 

Me too.

 

We all use ratchet straps and have about a hundred ways to store them. Here's mine:



The never get tangled up when in the baggies.

Here are 4 ratchet straps and one motorcycle strap. I just grabbed these to snap a pic of. There is a milk crate about half full.

You'll note that the length is shown on the baggie and/or the actual strap. That helps to know which one to grab.

 

Mount cheap Walmart mirrors on the inside of your garage doors. Makes it simple for one man to work on brake lights and turn signals, and see if they work from the drivers seat.

 

I use the ball bungee cords to hold them after wrapping them like you do. I also use the bungees to keep the excess tied to the strap when in use as shown here

 

I saw an idea for drive on ramps that work well for vehicles that are low to the ground. The commercial units rise at a steep angle and do not work well. I modified the you tube video idea to work for me. The feature that allows you to swing the ramp out of the way, or unpin it and remove it, makes it even more useful. I used two old door hinges and made removable pins to hold them together. I wrote the 2x8 dimensions for the ramp in the last photo. I will be using wheel chocks behind the rear wheels for safety.

 

@WZ JUNK. I used the 2x8 when I painted for the Swedish and American army.
Sorry for the shity pics,,

 

The last set my dad built like that he mitered the cuts for the end of each board. Makes it easier to drive up.

 

True,,,did that to my "garage set"

 

I've made the same ramps, with mitered ends and all, out of some left over 2x8-10-12 material (I forget which dimension, and they're out in the unlit shed right now, and I'm choosing to be lazy....). I like the hinge and handle idea, I'll definitely need to look into making those adjustments to mine.

 

I thought about mitering the ends. I made a much smaller version of these years ago, with mitered ends. I used them to be able to raise a vehicle enough to get a floor jack underneath. They tended to slid sometimes when you started up the first incline. I thought the square end would let the tire load the ramp before in could slide. These do not slide but I do not know if that is what is making the difference. Probably it is the weight of the ramp.

 

A computer friend said to put everything onto a portable hard drive in case my computer died, which I did, and then the computer died. When it was time to set up the new computer, the hard drive croaks, and nothing was retrievable.
I'm going to stick to pen & paper!

 

How about some self-adhesive small non-skid rubber pads on the bottom of the ramps? Wouldn't take very big ones.

 

I have a set of the plastic off-the-shelf ramps for my daily drivers (actually work well for my low stuff too). They have rubber feet on four corners, but I find they still push particularly with heavier vehicles. If they're 4wd, that helps pull the vehicle onto the ramps.

 

My long time computer croaked finally about a month ago. Apparently Microsoft pulled the plug on supporting Windows 7. Took said computer to fellow I had used several times in the past and he made sure it was virus free and put Windows 10 on it. Never could get it to work right even though he assured me it should. So I gave up and bought me a new computer with Windows 11. Figure this one should last as long as I do. Anyway, I had a ton of information and pictures that I had saved on a separate external hard drive. I hooked it to my new computer and downloaded it all into a single folder, and then unhooked the hard drive. Worked perfect for me and I still have it sitting next to my computer for when I want to hook it up and add some new things. All I can say is, I'm sorry it didn't work for you, but I'll never rely on one computer to store all my hard sought data and pictures. External hard drives are pretty small and not very expensive these days. One simple plug in connection.

 

Typically the best practice for data backup is at least 2 forms.
try a 3 way backup, external drive from western digital or seagate, a large brand name usb thumb drive and then google drive (free up to a certain amount of space)

I do agree, paper is easier, just pull the folder and look.

But if you have lots of pictures etc, just make sure to back everything up properly. It is probably easy for me, but for others it might require hiring a local IT company to get you setup.

 

We back up all our important photos in a device called a photo album. Even they're getting harder to find.

 

Found this on the Interweb

 

I made one of these for swapping out gas bottles on my welders. I've had 2 hernias over the years, and bear hugging those big argon bottles up the 5 inches onto my cart shelves was killing me. With the stair ramps, I just walk them on up! Work smarter, not harder!

 

From a Popular Mechanics 1951.

 

I’ve got to start paying attention to things like this. After having some vertebrae fused earlier this year i need to relearn/rethink a lot of things in the shop. I need to go thru this whole thread again

 

(I have posted this before but it was a long time ago)


I ask lots of questions so I hope this will help some others and keep me getting answers.

I found a great site while looking for information on machining pistons.
It is really about the "South Bend Lathe" but the information explains the use of a lathe for the "service station" all set in the 1920s
Things like recutting valve faces, machining pistons even boring cylinders.
I highly recommend it for those who have a lathe in the shed.
Sample attached

The site has copies of manuals in PDF for download.


Brendan


http://www.wewilliams.net/SBLibrary.htm

 

boring a crankcase w/ a lathe??-that must be quite the set-up

 

From the Interweb

 

Here's one for breaking wheels stuck to the hub off(the ones that stay on even with all lug nuts removed). Back all the lug nuts off halfway on that axle (both wheels). You and a buddy each take opposite sides as far to that end of the vehicle as you can go and still get both hands firmly on the quarter/fender. Then each take turns shoving the car towards each other. Wheels will break loose and at that speed the wheel studs are more than up to it. And half on lugs will keep wheel from coming completely off. And no hammer marks

 

I've loosened the lugs and drove the car around the block. Slow speed of course..

 

Or do figure-8's. Slowly.
Marcus...

 

And when you put them back on put Antiseze on the center hole. I finally pulled the rear axles on my blazer and turned the center down in my lathe.

 

like it jan !

 

That works great if the car runs. I've done similar to pop a bead off a tire myself a few times. But going off some of the heaps I've dragged home and I assume the same with many here a lot of times the vehicle in question may not be able to run for a good while. Some may not even roll lol