Tools / Things Everyone Should Have

Hey guys,

Couple tools I've found invaluable over the course of my engine rebuild, and having this motorcycle.

A Good Rust Penetrant

I've tried a lot of chemicals that work well, like liquid wrench or pb blaster, but I run out of it when I need it, or use ungodly amounts for it to not even work.

50 / 50 Acetone and Automatic Transmission Fluid.

When rebuilding the engine I accidentally ripped out a stud by mistake, and I tried soaking the acorn nut and stud in liquid wrench. It didn't work, and I paid Len $20 for a new stud. Well, I'm done that but I saved the stud. I tired the exact same method of removal ( putting in vice and using a breaker bar ) this time, except that I just sprayed the nut and stud with this homebrew concoction. I removed the rusted nut from the stud very easily this time.

Machinist's Workshop Magazine did a test sometime back in 2007, and these were their results.
( Copying their article )

They arranged a subjective test of all the popular penetrants with the control being the torque required to remove the nut from a "scientifically rusted" environment.

*Penetrating oil ..... Average load*
None ..................... 516 pounds
WD-40 .................. 238 pounds
PB Blaster ............. 214 pounds
Liquid Wrench ..... 127 pounds
Kano Kroil ............ 106 pounds
ATF-Acetone mix....53 pounds

Anyhow, I tried it and put it in a spray bottle, it only cost me $10 to make 2 quarts of it. I heard of some people putting it in an oilier bottle as well.

Spark Plug Thread Chaser

If you're ever an idiot like me, and cross thread a spark plug, ( or two ) and have an aluminum head, this is your solution. I picked one put at O'reilys and and I chased the threads and used the ATF / Acetone penetrant as a lubricant as well in the hole. Cleaned it up, and saved me a helicoil install.

I think I spent $6... and it is better to have one before you need one.

A Good Charger

We use the Genius series chargers at work all the time.

http://www.amazon.com/NOCO-G1100-Ul...F8&qid=1425880605&sr=8-1&keywords=genius+1100

G1100 is probably all you need, but you set up a couple leads to your battery, and plug it in when you get home / for the winter / long breaks... and you shouldn't have a problem again. It will give you every last ounce of life out of your battery that you can get.



Anyway, if anyone else has any more they'd like to add feel free.

 

I have a nice little 3/8 impact does wonders on rusty studs and bolts without snapping the stud. Always use it on exhaust and have never broke a stud yet

 

Metric taps and dies for cleaning threads..

 

But not too much of either.

 

sometimes you have to

 

All of them!

 

Light, lots of it.
Room to work, and keep it clean
Hand impact driver
1/4" Ratchet and a complete set of SAE & metric sockets, both deep and shallow, both 6 and 12 point
1/2" Ratchet with appropriately sized sockets for axle nuts, caliper bolts, etc.
Complete set of Allen wrenches, SAE & metric, every conceivable configuration possible (some for use with a ratchet, some plain 90° bent ones, some T-handle ones, some ball-ends)
Big rubber mallet
Some oak dowels for holding against metal surfaces while hitting with the big rubber mallet
Light, some more if possible
Complete screwdriver set, flat & Phillips, these are for disassembly only since I replace every screw with Allen heads. In fact, the right faces of all my screwdrivers look brand new as they've never been used to tighten anything...
Plastic wedges to separate stuck gasketed surfaces

 

MUST have a service manual:

 

Similar idea .. but not exact for our bikes.

 

Best tool in my box is my patience.

 

I have to say a set of JIS screwdrivers has been one of my most used and favorite tools. I can't tell you how many bikes I've had where the screws were mangled from PO attempts with a regular Phillips. I know I've stripped a few out myself. The impact ones are great for stubborn screws.

 

OK, dumb-guy question: What's a JIS screwdriver, and how does it differ from standard Phillips?

 

And the difference is ....... The JIS has straight lines for better grip

 

And YES it (the JIS)'make a huge difference between having fasteners that have good heads and can be re-used versus a bunch of scrap screws with yodeled out heads.

* do not let this appear to be a recommendation to re-use fasteners . . . in some applications a fastener should only be torqued once.

 

Now I gotta check out the screwdriver set... what are the odds it's the good ones?

 

i change any phillips/jis screws i can to allen head because basically phillips/jis screws suck

 

Or change to outlaw screws...

18 points of contact for a strip-proof grip. Granted, these are meant for deck screws.

 

Yeppers.


Also, you may find it next-to-impossible to properly remove the original screws without using the proper JIS-style screwdriver. Typical "phillips-drive" style screwdrivers do not have the proper tip design to engage the slots on JIS-specifications screws (which all screws on Japanese bikes are) and tend to very easily strip out the screw heads. We offer complete sets of various sized JIS screwdrivers, but those people wanting only the correct size screwdriver for these throttle shaft screws should order the HCP5901 (size #2) screwdriver:


JIS Screwdrivers:

mt1) Almost every screw on these bikes are "JIS" design screws, JIS standing for Japanese Industrial Standards, and both the depth and design on the phillips-head "slot" is different than typical US slots. In a nutshell, JIS screws (which can be easily identified by the small punched single "dot" on the screw head, in-between two of the screw slots) have both deeper and "squarer" slots and thus can hold more torque than their rest-of-the-world counterparts. They also require a JIS screwdriver to take full advantage of, and to prevent rounding out the slots as typical phillips screwdrivers will do. The more "rounded" edges of a standard phillips-drive screwdriver cannot exert as much torque on the screw head (by design, actually) and will "cam-out" of the slots, taking some of the slot material with it.....and then you have what is affectionately known as a !!#&$!?**#! stripped out screw head!

BTW, phillips-slot screws and their drivers were designed to "cam out" on purpose, being an anti-over-torque constraint for production-line (assembly line) workers.......

 

Another question, this one more Canadian than dumb-guy. Do you get Robertson screwdrivers in the States? They're a square head. My brother claims that we have them here and you don't because they were a Canadian invention. They are the bomb! Really solid contacts that don't strip cause they hardly ever slip, unless the screw is rusted already.
PS Those outlaw screws look insane!

 

You're right Matti, robertsons are Canadian as far as I know. At the bottle water plant I used to do building maintenance for we would use them as much as possible. What I like about them over Phillips or standard is that you can basically hold the fastener on the end of the screwdriver at any angle except straight down and it won't fall off the driver. I don't think I've seen them on any bikes tho

 

you see a lot of square drive fasteners in construction, but torx or "star" drive are quickly becoming the norm. they don't "cam out" as easily as square drive fasteners which makes them far superior ( you can drive longer screws into harder substrates) and they're very reusable.

FU

 

Up here we also get machine screws and bolts with the square head. As Beekman pointed out, the solid contact is really useful for holding the screw on the tip without hands. I assume Torx would work similarly. I don't have a Torx set, so I hope they don't get too common!

 

They seem to be common for electronics these days. I have a "pen" with a few differently sized heads housed in the body.
Much like this:

 

Ooooh. Thats pretty! Looks like it has the JIS tips mentioned earlier, too! Funny. When I search the web page, they sell a red one and a blue one, and the blue one costs 30 cents more. What's up with that?

 

Racists.

 

well automotive fasteners are mostly torx internal (driver bit) and external (socket) these days, so plan on buying some new tools soon. I would love to replace all the fasteners on my bikes with torx fasteners, but sourcing them would likely prove difficult and expensive. I can settle for hex drive fasteners for my bikes, they are easy to find.

FU

 

possibly the blue pigment is more costly to produce.

FU

 

I wish I could "like" this one twice! Like! Like! Hilarious!

 

I have my moments.

 

Cylinder Leakage Tester

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0030EVL60/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It is from the brand OTC. From reviews it looks as if the same person who makes the matco version makes this one too.




Valve Shim Tool

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OO2Q90/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I'll take one of each!
Do they come in blue?

 

I'm going to add my own short list of things I've bought or borrowed just for the bike that hasn't been mentioned yet.

1. Bike stand, to at least take the weight off the rear tire over Winter.
2. C-clamps, to make compressing the brake cylinder humanly possible.
3. A decent set of drill bits meant for drilling metal.
4. Garage sale drill press! Cause drilling straight matters.
5. Assorted metal files; flat, round, half-round, and in various sizes.
6. Sandpaper sponges.
7. Wire cutters/strippers.
8. Soldering iron.
9. Pop-rivet tool and the subsequent pop-rivets.
10. Inch-pound torque wrench.
11. Giant crescent wrench, mostly for taking the wheels off.
12. Dremel rotary tool.
13. Ball-pein hammer and a small bit of railroad track to act as an anvil. A nice big log to bolt the track/anvil to helps.
14. Bandsaw with a metal-cutting blade.
15. Large center-punch, mostly for taking the axles out.
16. Small spring-loaded center-punch, for marking where to drill.
17. ANTI-SEIZE COMPOUND!
18. 3M Edge Lock blue tape. Cleanest straight lines I've ever had when painting.
19. Feeler gauges.
20. Bench grinder and buffing wheel.

 

http://www.go2socket.com/

If all fails on a fastener...

 

that rebar twisting vid is something else.

FU

 

Dammit. If we keep it up on this thread I'm gonna blow the whole budget on kule tools! How long 'til Xmas?

 

Oh, almost forgot about this. (Sorry Matti)

 

Haha. I just bought an El-Cheapo Valve spring compressor.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-Sizes-Val...orcycle-Automotive-Tool-/361252377896?vxp=mtr

Works wonderfully. Great purchase. I might opt for a rubber stopper on one end to make sure it doesn't hurt the valve... but I just tested it and it does it's job great.

 

I took out a valve tonight and wanted to see if this would affect or hurt the face of the valve since it puts more direct pressure in an area of a dime, than the full face of the valve...

Results are...

It is fine.. It didn't really affect anything even without the rubber stopper. It will cut through the carbon on the valve, but doesn't scratch or dent the valve itself.

I like it because it is threaded instead of spring loaded, which tend to explode back at you and can fling keepers that haven't properly set. Even though it is cheap, the steel feels sturdy and I expect it to last for quite awhile.

 

Robertson screws and the drivers are available at most large home centers (Lowes, Home Depot) in the U.S.. Roberston screws are commonly used in manufactured homes. I have only rarely seen them used in other applicatons though.

 

this looks like it could be handy for rebuilding the forks, if you don't have a spark plug socket that works.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hex-Axle-To...c20ecaf&pid=100034&rk=1&rkt=8&sd=351346971184

FU

 

Robertson is a great canadian invention
U.S. company tried to buy out Robertson but bid failed and they where not adopted south of the border

 

This might be the right place for an only-slightly off topic question. What's in your toolbox to prevent rust on the steel screws etc.? I'm talking about stuff like carb racks and the enrichment-lever rod and that kind of stuff...

 

It's called Stainless Steel!!!
Out on the west coast where I live have salt water on three sides so everything rusts Due to mild temp. And I mean fast.So anytime I head into town I stop at Pacific Fasteners (1st Ave east of Boundary Road) and get more they carry massive selection of metric screws washers and nut and nylock nuts also cap nuts from 3-14mm