Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 51 total)
  • Best alternative tools thread – what do you use to bodge a job?
  • rob-jackson
    Free Member

    To start – I use a crud guard rear bracket to tap on a crown race instead of the specific tool.

    What do you use to bodge jobs?

    jam-bo
    Full Member

    I use an old seatpost to tap out headsets.

    cp
    Full Member

    screwdriver, hammer & vice – very little that combo can’t achieve.

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    rob-jackson
    Free Member

    lol

    wwaswas
    Full Member

    Not many jobs these aren’t the wrong tool for.

    The surgeon who removed the bolts from my hip even used them when he managed to round one of the heads off.

    LoCo
    Free Member

    ISIS cranks, 5p coil and machined shock spacer for crank tool to press against on axle to remove as had lost adaptor

    DrP
    Full Member

    Bench vice instead of normal bearing press.
    Home-made headset press to, er, press headsets (and pull bearings).
    Bit of metal tube broom handle to tap out headset cups!

    I’m sure the list goes on, but then the flip-side is that it’s also lovely to have the right tool for the job…..

    DrP

    enduroforever
    Free Member

    If it can’t be fixed with tie wraps and/or silicone spray then its not in need of repair in the first place

    joolsburger
    Free Member

    Old chain screwed to a piece of wood was a decent chain whip until I got one.

    Socket set and various threaded bars and nuts as bearing presses and extractors.

    mrmoofo
    Full Member

    I’m with the seatpost to bang out head sets.
    Just learned the length of waste pipe to seat lower fork ball races
    Alwyas bled brakes by using a synringe and plastic tube to suck fluid through. Could never be arsed to do the brake pumping thing – never failed me yet!
    Seat post shims, pah! – cut up coke can is your friend

    No chainwhip – it’s amazing what you can do with a couple of rags wrapped in different directions around the sprocket

    IA
    Full Member

    To start – I use a crud guard rear bracket to tap on a crown race instead of the specific tool.

    For the same job, B&Q do a metal table leg that’s the perfect size to slip over a steerer and **** a 1 1/8th crown race on.

    Mintman
    Free Member

    According to the manual the spring in the starter is too strong to compress at home – unless you’ve got some threaded bar and a spare drums that is…

    Shibboleth
    Free Member

    I use a T-handled Allan key to fit star nuts. Slide the star nut onto the smaller wrench on the handle, hold the long wrench bit, and tap the heel of the handle with a mallet.

    80% of the time, it works every time!

    mrmoofo
    Full Member

    Re star nuts …

    Breadboard in top of them and a large wallop with a hammer seats them nicely ….

    Shibboleth
    Free Member

    MrMoofo, my solution saves going to the kitchen to get the breadboard… Unless of course you fit forks in your kitchen, in which case, not a problem 😉

    DrP
    Full Member

    Oh, also, an empty tube of cadbury’s mini eggs is the perfect size to press in the lip seals on Rochshox forks….

    DrP

    ahwiles
    Free Member

    vacuum cleaner tube – for installing headset crown races.

    Drac
    Full Member

    banks
    Free Member

    costa coffee orange juice bottle – pro II seal tool

    unklehomered
    Free Member

    vacuum cleaner tube – for installing headset crown races

    +1

    I have small plastic soft drink bottle, witha tube, and a bit wire copied from the bike guy in Les Linderats to assist with bleeding shimano brakes.

    onandon
    Free Member

    Used this outside my house to remove a stuck layback seatpost.
    insert in grate and twist the whole frame 🙂

    puncture out on the trail? broken pump?.
    Fill with grass and go home

    meehaja
    Free Member

    a broken crank arm from 1995 (square taper rounded off) is my lever of choice for adding length to any allen keys that need a bit more encoragement.

    ransos
    Free Member

    Threaded bar, nuts and large washers for pressing in headsets. Two spark plug sockets for pressing in cartridge wheel bearings. Handle from a trolley jack for extra leverage on allen keys.

    zbonty
    Full Member

    Shimano rear quick release threaded through the hole on some cone spanners was effective for fitting a few headsets. Nice cam action. Gently, gently. Sorted.

    Infact, pressing in a headset is the job the average home mechanic is least likely to have the proper tool for, thus requiring bodgeness.

    gmex619
    Free Member

    Butter knife with a cut out of the end makes a great holder for the back screw insert for a chainring bolt.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    My most used bodging implement is a rear axle out of a Suzuki SV650- makes for a fantastic drift, with extra shapes and flanges and such to get to awkward places.

    zbonty – Member

    pressing in a headset is the job the average home mechanic is least likely to have the proper tool for

    But a rubber mallet IS the proper tool surely?

    rob-jackson
    Free Member

    Plant sprayer with wand removed (like This) as a compressor to seat tubeless tyres

    slowoldgit
    Free Member

    Two allen keys as a substitute pin spanner got me home once.

    thx1138
    Free Member

    If you have an electrical item which only has a European plug, no adapter and only a UK safety socket available, you can use a Yale-type key to push the earth safety bit in, which then opens the two other ports allowing you to jam the Euro plug in.

    Probably not ‘health and safety approved’ though.

    andysredmini
    Free Member

    I used old external bottom bracket cups, a piece of threaded rod and some nuts and washers to press in a new bb92 bottom bracket. The external face size was a perfect match to the new bb’s face.

    Andy

    Cheezpleez
    Full Member

    Inspired by Kaesae, I made a split collet extractor for the Horst link bearings on my Stumpy using an old V-brake boss and a random bolt. Worked like a dream on a bearing that hadn’t been touched for 7 years!

    I use the decorative end of a curtain rail + threaded rod to seat star nuts.

    Bit of plastic plumbing pipe to seat Pro 11 seals.

    Drinks bottle compressor to seat ghetto tubeless tyres.

    dknwhy
    Full Member

    As a teen, i ran an extension lead from the house to the street and used my mum’s electric carving knife to cut a hole in the plastic behind the front grill on my car so I could fit an induction kit. She still doesn’t know and was a bit confused about the black plastic welded to the blades when she went to carve the Sunday roast.

    doncorleoni
    Free Member

    craigxxl
    Free Member

    Drac, I like your thinking but different levels of persuasion are always needed

    richmtb
    Full Member

    Tyre lever makes an excellent tool for removing the plastic preload nut from Hollowtech II cranks

    Mallet and chopping board makes a pretty good headset press.

    I’ll let you know about a hairdryer as a good way of unseizing bolts

    honourablegeorge
    Full Member

    The tube from a paint roller for installing crown races.

    BenjiM
    Full Member

    I used a claw hammer to remove the outer wall of a bearing from my carbon frame the other night. The bearing had fallen apart and a bearing knocker-outerer-thing wouldn’t grip (integrated headset). Had to resort to the claw hammer and some gentle brute force to lever it out.

    emac65
    Free Member

    Mallet & plastic waste pipe for crown races..
    Mallet & block of wood for headset bearings
    Mallet & assorted sockets for sealed bearings
    Mallet & anything else for all other jobs…………
    30 years ago I was a trainee mechanic,you never lose the skill of making do with what’s to hand………….

    brakes
    Free Member

    for the combination of percussive maintenance, general removal and utter destruction a large set of plumbing pliers can’t be beat.
    I reckon I could demolish a house with a set of these.

    mrmoofo
    Full Member

    Keep ’em coming …

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 51 total)

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