Tools and their uses

[CoupedUpSubie]

I know many people are mechanically inclined when they look at modifying a car. I personally work with all different types of tools(some of which should never have to be used on a car). I am not looking to degrade anyone just helping those who don't know how to find the right tool or what a certain tool is. I will be expanding on this as time goes. If anyone has additions to the list post below.


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Combination wrench- A wrench with two ends for removing nuts and bolts. The ends could be fully closed or open style. The closed end could be 6 point or 12 point. 6 point wrenches are better to use as they reduce the risk of rounding off a bolt or nut. Use 12 point once the fastener is free.


Tubing wrench(Flare nut wrench)- A wrench that is a 6 point wrench with a narrow slot in it. Commonly used for removing brake line connections and other hydraulic connections.


Adjustable wrench- A wrench which has a movable jaw and can be many sizes. The use of these is not advised as they commonly lead to rounding off fasteners. They do have a proper direction sometimes marked by an arrow on the handle.


Screwdriver- Normally in a standard(flat) or phillips head(+) they are used for removing their perspective fasteners. Standard blade screwdrivers sometimes used for prying, be careful as they break or bend. Screwdrivers also come in special styles such as torx, safety torx, etc.

Allen wrenches(keys)- Fairly self explanatory. Comes in folding, single(bent with a 90), t-handle, or as a socket. Make sure the fit is correct as you can strip the fastener.

Ratchets- Used for removing fasteners without having to swing a wrench or handle around or removing and replacing many times. Either as a drive for sockets or built into a wrench. Not meant for lots of force, never to be used with a cheater bar. They come in a few different styles based on who makes them.

Breaker bar- A solid bar with a head that pivots in one direction. They come in multiple lengths and drive sizes. Used to break fasteners free or break them clean off(the latter is not a desirable result).

Sockets- These come in a number of different styles. Basic sockets are 6 or 12 point and deep or shallow. 6 point sockets are better for using with a breaker bar as the risk of rounding off a fastener is lessened. You can switch to a 12 point once you start using a ratchet. The other two important factors is impact versus non-impact. If you are putting the socket on air tool chances are you will need an impact rated socket, these are generally black in color. The chrome ones break fairly easy with impact tools. Same goes for extensions and other items used with a socket.

Extensions- Either a regular end or wobbler end. Generally a regular end is fine but if a completely straight shot is not possible then a wobbler end is probably all you will need.

U-joints and other adapters- Used with ratchets, sockets, and extensions to gain better access to fasteners or adapt to a different drive size.

[Abyssul]

This thread desperately needs images.

[CoupedUpSubie]

Originally Posted by Abyssul

This thread desperately needs images.

That is something I'm going to do, especially with more specialized tools.

[SomeoneWhoIsntMe]

Pickle Fork



used to ruin ball joints and/or outer tie rods

[Pkush]

Subbing, I'm not mechanically inclined at all.

[SomeoneWhoIsntMe]

SAE sockets



used to round hex heads on metric cap screws

[Jesse36m3]

Harbor freight tools - mean to be used and abused for shit work so that your Snap-On's don't get rekt.

[mid_life_crisis]

12 points are useful when range of motion/access is limited. You can sometimes get a 12 point to work where a 6 point won't instead of removing unrelated parts to get access.

[Tcoat]

Multi size wrench, broken bolt extractor, hammer, temporary muffler bracket, window winder, lug wrench, wire stripper, wire twister, oil plug wrench, air breather wingnut remover, sparkplug gap adjuster, timing adjustment tool....
(Can you tell I was an old school muscle car guy once?)

[stugray]

I would post the reference for the following, but I have found it in so many places that the original author is TBD:


The True Definition of Tools
DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, splattering it against that freshly-stained heirloom piece you were drying.

WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned guitar calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, "Ouch...."
ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning pop rivets in their holes
until you die of old age.


PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.

HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.
VISE-GRIPS: Generally used after pliers to further round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub you want the bearing race out of.


WHITWORTH SOCKETS: Once used for working on older British cars and motorcycles, they are now used mainly for impersonating that 9/16 or 1/2 socket you've been searching for the last 15 minutes.

HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after you have installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack handle firmly under the bumper.

EIGHT-FOOT LONG DOUGLAS FIR 2X4: Used for levering an automobile upward off of a trapped hydraulic jack handle.

TWEEZERS: A tool for removing wood splinters and wire wheel wires.

E-Z OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR: A tool ten times harder than any known drill bit that snaps off in bolt holes you couldn't use anyway.

TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST: A tool for testing the tensile strength on everything you forgot to disconnect.

CRAFTSMAN 1/2 x 16-INCH SCREWDRIVER: A large prybar that inexplicably has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the end opposite the handle.

AVIATION METAL SNIPS: See hacksaw.

TROUBLE LIGHT: The home mechanic's own tanning booth. Sometimes called a drop light, it is a good source of vitamin D, "the sunshine vitamin," which is not otherwise found under cars at night. Health benefits aside, its main purpose is to consume 40-watt light bulbs at about the same rate that 105-mm howitzer shells might be used during, say, the first few hours of the Battle of the Bulge. More often dark than light, its name is somewhat misleading.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids and for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.

AIR COMPRESSOR: A machine that takes energy produced in a coal-burning power plant 200 miles away and transforms it into compressed air that travels by hose to a Chicago Pneumatic impact wrench that grips rusty bolts which were last over tightened 50 years ago by someone at Ford, and neatly rounds off their heads.

PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.

HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to cut hoses too short.

HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts not far from the object we are trying to hit.

MECHANIC'S KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use.

DAMMIT TOOL: Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while yelling "DAMMIT" at the top of your lungs. It is also the next tool that you will need.
EXPLETIVE: A balm, also referred to as mechanic's lube, usually applied verbally in hindsight, which somehow eases those pains and indignities following our every deficiency in foresight.

[mid_life_crisis]

Phillips screwdrivers are also handy for stabbing yourself in the thigh while supposedly removing a stuck screw from a part you are balancing on your leg.

[stugray]

Gear puller:



Typically used for pulling gears or hubs off of press/friction fit parts.

Optional usage: For putting hole in the drywall ceiling of your garage.
For this perform the following:
Place engine crank in flywheel and set upright on workbench.
Install gear puller to pull the cam gear off the front end of the crank.
Tighten puller actuator screw until you are blue in the face (torque settings = 2X grunts & 1X fart).
Heat gear with propane torch very slowly.
Eventually (when you have relaxed and let your guard down) gear and gear puller fly off with enough force to lauch gear puller ~6 feet vertically where it will intersect with garage ceiling making a "gear puller" shaped hole in the drywall.
Quickly retrieve gear from where it landed before it sets something on fire.

[Koa]

Originally Posted by stugray

I would post the reference for the following, but I have found it in so many places that the original author is TBD:


The True Definition of Tools
DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, splattering it against that freshly-stained heirloom piece you were drying.

WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned guitar calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, "Ouch...."
ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning pop rivets in their holes
until you die of old age.


PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.

HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.
VISE-GRIPS: Generally used after pliers to further round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub you want the bearing race out of.


WHITWORTH SOCKETS: Once used for working on older British cars and motorcycles, they are now used mainly for impersonating that 9/16 or 1/2 socket you've been searching for the last 15 minutes.

HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after you have installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack handle firmly under the bumper.

EIGHT-FOOT LONG DOUGLAS FIR 2X4: Used for levering an automobile upward off of a trapped hydraulic jack handle.

TWEEZERS: A tool for removing wood splinters and wire wheel wires.

E-Z OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR: A tool ten times harder than any known drill bit that snaps off in bolt holes you couldn't use anyway.

TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST: A tool for testing the tensile strength on everything you forgot to disconnect.

CRAFTSMAN 1/2 x 16-INCH SCREWDRIVER: A large prybar that inexplicably has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the end opposite the handle.

AVIATION METAL SNIPS: See hacksaw.

TROUBLE LIGHT: The home mechanic's own tanning booth. Sometimes called a drop light, it is a good source of vitamin D, "the sunshine vitamin," which is not otherwise found under cars at night. Health benefits aside, its main purpose is to consume 40-watt light bulbs at about the same rate that 105-mm howitzer shells might be used during, say, the first few hours of the Battle of the Bulge. More often dark than light, its name is somewhat misleading.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids and for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.

AIR COMPRESSOR: A machine that takes energy produced in a coal-burning power plant 200 miles away and transforms it into compressed air that travels by hose to a Chicago Pneumatic impact wrench that grips rusty bolts which were last over tightened 50 years ago by someone at Ford, and neatly rounds off their heads.

PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.

HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to cut hoses too short.

HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts not far from the object we are trying to hit.

MECHANIC'S KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use.

DAMMIT TOOL: Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while yelling "DAMMIT" at the top of your lungs. It is also the next tool that you will need.
EXPLETIVE: A balm, also referred to as mechanic's lube, usually applied verbally in hindsight, which somehow eases those pains and indignities following our every deficiency in foresight.

THIS THIS THIS THIS

[D_Thissen]

Sub'd