Hot Rod Forum banner

show me your home made tools so I can copy them!

290K views 238 replies 67 participants last post by  OneMoreTime 
#1 ·
home made tools that worked

I just thought it would be cool to hear of peoples home made tools that worked to do the job, or even better if it worked better than the actual tool did.
 
#232 ·
Hey, I posted this tool in the Garage Tools board, and with the recommendation of cboy I'm posting it here too! Hopefully many of you will find this useful!

It's a leaf spring spreader to make installing leaf springs WAY easier.
I decided to do the threaded rod method, and it worked wonders. About $13 for the tube, allthread, nut, and washer. not bad for a tool that is so incredibly helpful with a difficult task.
I did just as described in this thread. I bought a piece of 5/8" all thread, and a piece of square steel tubing just slightly larger than the all thread. 3/4" I believe. Used a couple whacks of a hammer and steel chisel on two opposing sides of one end of the square tubing. basically making one end of the tube look slightly like an hour glass. The point of this was for the two side walls to fold inward instead of outward when I flattened the end. Then I beat the end relatively equal on the other two sides the create somewhat of a chisel tip on one end of the steel tube. Then I used a grinder on one end of the all thread to accomplish the same thing. Thread the nut onto the all thread, stick the washer on it, and slight it inside the tube. Now you have yourself a handy dandy leaf spring stretcher that will save you lots of time when trying to remove or install leaf springs. Just put either end of the stretcher in the crevice near the eye of each side of the leaf spring, tighten the nut, and voila!

Now here come the pictures.
The first few pictures show both ends of the spring spreader so you can see how they were made.








The next two pictures show how both ends are positioned on the leaf spring itself.




And the last two pictures are a before and after, if you will, of the spreader in action.
The first is before the nut has been tightened. The spreader has been extended just long enough to hold it on the leaf spring. In the second picture, the spreader has been extended enough to spread the leaf spring out at least a couple of inches. I didn't measure but you can tell just by looking that the difference is clear. The nut wasn't even getting difficult to turn at this point. This is definitely a great tool to make and keep around.


 
#233 ·
Riv-nut Tool...

Hi guys!

Made a new tool over the weekend, a hydraulic press for clinching "Riv-nuts" that are beyond the size capacity of a hand-plier, to be used with my existing HF 4 ton press kit. My hand tool will only do up to #10, anything over that required a "stud, nut, and washers" rig that uses bolt rotation to clinch them. If you've ever done this, you know what p-i-a that can be! I found a small "Enerpac" hollow cylinder on E-Bay ($75), bought a set of mandrels from McMaster-Carr ($13 ea), and made the remaining parts on my old pre-war Atlas lathe. The nosepiece is threaded 3/8-16 to screw into the cylinder, bored 1/4" through and is 3/4" OD x 7/8" long. It is used alone for the 3/8" mandrel and riv-nut. There is a 1/8" spacer for use with the 5/16" rig and that spacer plus an additional 3/16" spacer for the 1/4" rig. The smaller sizes are easy, but the 3/8" nuts takes a pretty good amount of "arm" to press them. I made these pieces from aluminum because I had the stock, but the nosepiece would ideally be from steel, as once the ID is bored, there is only 0.020" wall thickness to the thread's root diameter! It can only work if the nosepiece is screwed flush to the piston so the force is not on the threads...

Russ
 

Attachments

#234 · (Edited)
Harbor Freight sells this hose roller for $20 / $10 or $12 on sale. The problem is the hose hangs up on the eight fingers, making it difficult to roll up hose. I have bought and modified 4 of them by adding 3/8" hoops I bent around an old 15" wheel. They work great after adding the hoops. Here are photos of before and after adding hoops.
 

Attachments

#235 ·
graydog said:
Harbor Freight sells this hose roller for $20 / $10 or $12 on sale. The problem is the hose hangs up on the eight fingers, making it difficult to roll up hose. I have bought and modified 4 of them by adding 3/8" hoops I bent around an old 15" wheel. They work great after adding the hoops. Here are photos of before and after adding hoops.
That is so awsome. I use them also and the hose always jumps off of one rung. I love that and will find some metal to do the same thing. That rocks.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top