Thread: Specialist tools.

What are they for? Respectively removing External and internal circlips or derivitives there of. They arent used for those e clips that you sometimes get with UJ's for your prop shafts.

Who should have them? well theyre certainly handy, most normal maintenance you wont need them for its only once you start stripping sub asemblies (like the distributor) that you are likely to come across them. But since its not expensive to buy the changeable head ones from supercheap Id say most people who do their own maintenance should have them. (My personal ones are the super cheap ones and theyve been going strong for over 5 years now)

How do you use them? place the tips in the slots or the pin holes of the circlip and gently squeeze the handle... the clip will open up or contract in and you can slide it up or out of whatever it was in.

What else can I use? Screwdrivers to carefully lever the clip out is my fave but needle nose pliers work ok on the bigger ones and if you grind them down the needlenoses will handle little clips on the side of the road.... If you get really desperate you can sometimes punch them out/off with a long tapered ***** punch. Usually this method will break them so have spares on hand before you reach for MR knockometer.

The top board (red one with a door closed) is a universal puller set. below that the yellow "pliers" are brake hose clamps.
pullclamp.jpg
Pullers

What are they? they are a plate with 2 or more legs hanging down with a screw int the middle that allow you to pull pullies, gears and bearings off of shafts. They typically come in an external and internal grab setup depending on what you need to pull off, External grab is the most common.

Who should Have one? Mechanics mainly, if you do lots of your own work you might like to have a set but you dont really need them. The number of jobs where this is a vital tool to have isnt that great and if your good with a drill and a grinder you can make one up in no time flat.

Hows it work? pretty simple really hook the legs in and wind the screw down. As the screw pushes on the center of the axle that the pully is on the legs pull against the pully seperating it from the shaft.

What else can I use? hammers to start with, your little hammer used in conjuction with the rubber faced hammer will usually get most things off. But in the case of a harmonic balancer you want a different beastie alltogether. you want a harmonic balance puller (didnt think of this one earlier will do it) If you dont want the part your trying to remove cause its stuffed ,drill a couple of holes in it, and chisel it till it snaps or make up a puller out of some 8mm plate, nuts and bolts....



Brake hose clamps..

What are they? a specail clamp that can be used on the flex line of your braking system to stop the flow of brakefluid

Who should have them? Everyone. And they should be carried with you or something that will work similarly should be carried. If you bust a brake line applying one of these can get you home by preventing uncontrolable fluid loss.

How do they work? pretty much the same as a pair of vice grips but the plastic will yeild before the hose gets permanantly crushed.

What else can I use? vice grips mainly but a good pair of pliers with the handles wired together will also work. Ditto for a pair of screwdrivers laid across the hose and crimped together with hose clamps.

Didnt know what to put for this lot These are "tools" that make life easier, you dont need them in the toolbox (ok tyre gauges maybe) but Ive included them here. Im not going to do a write up on each one, just its name and what its for... if you want to know more about it post in, if you cant identify one also ask and I'll get a better pic.

All of the tools on this post are in one or more of the classes of "nice to have but luxury tools in reality", "not something you need for routine maintenance jobs", "the name is self explanitory" or mechanics tools.

working across the top from left to right youve got

4 types of tyre pressure gauge,
Spring gauges, the let you know how hard you pull
nut breaker
G clamps
tyre valve stem removers
magnet and mirrors on a stick.

A hydrometer.(looks like a syrning) This ones used for testing the specific gravity of the acid in a battery. one of the last checks you do before writing off a battery is done with this. It will also provide a rough guide as to the charge state of the battery from the specific gravity of the acid.

the wheel brace
thee 2 smaller items under the wheel brace that look like small wheel braces are battery terminal/conector maintenance tools
haedband magnifiers

Air tools.
Die grinder
engraver
degreasing gun (looks like a spray gun)
rattle guns
air ratchets
air drills
blowers/dusters and
an air grinder.

var2.jpg
Custom tools

These are all similar to but not quite the same as lots of tools that should be in any toolbox, bent spanners, custom made drifts, specially bent levers.

only Experience will tell you which of these you need and If your at the stage where your needing these in reality you should be able to identify the need for them and fabricate them yourself although all can be purchased from the manufacture of the vehicle your working on if you have the service manual. In the manual somewhere It will state something along the lines of "using Landrover Special tool #itcosthowmuchnow hold the wigwam for the gooses bridle and rotate the duvallacky left 2 turns"

these are usually a pretty deep level maintenance item.

cutdrift.jpg
hacksaws, tinsnips, shears, files and hole punches

What are they? tools used for the manual cutting and shaping of metals of various thicknesses.

Who should have them? Everyone, no exceptions even if your not doing your own maintenance on your vehicle you may need to cut something off in an emergancy (think trailer rolls behind vehicle in the middle of nowhere and you cant get the coupling unhithced to recover) or take an edge off of a damaged panel. These are what you need.

How do they work? they cut via a shearing motion in the case of tinsnips and shears and hole punches or they cut by a slicing motion in the case of hacksaws. Files remove metal by abrasion.

What can i use insted? Power tools, if you have them.

I'd ofter to do a generic Multimeter and current clamp write up...but I'm pretty sure there's pro sparkies out there somewhere!

Go for it relay.

Thank you so much for this thread and the effort you are clearly going to, to wright detailed descriptions and intended use ideas. For someone who has no mechanical aptitude - thanks & I'll continue printing the pages.