• This topic has 18 replies, 15 voices, and was last updated 10 years ago by DezB.
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  • The wrong tool for the job
  • shedfull
    Free Member

    I once used a van as a headset press.

    It was my first bike build, a 456 Summer Season, and I had no specialist tools. But I did have a Mercedes Vito with a big towbar beam at the back and a trolley jack. I jacked up the rear axle, put a block of wood on the ground, the headtube vertically on the wood block, the headset cup on the tube and another block of wood under the towbar beam. Then I very carefully let down the jack. The cup went in slightly out of alignment but quickly stopped arguing with two tons of van and dropped into position. The other cup went in even more easily as the first cup kept the tube more upright.

    What wrong tool for the job are you prepared to ‘fess up to?

    ads678
    Full Member

    Last week i installed a headset with a lump of wood and a hammer. Went in perfectly straight, van and trolly jack seems like a lot of fuss.

    tomhoward
    Full Member

    I once used a rear QR to open a locked door when I had locked my keys inside.

    Was impressed with myself at the time, then worried how easy it was for an amateur to break in to my house…..

    mav12
    Free Member

    i once used a lenth of nylon rope to replace the valve stem oil seals on a seirra cvh work that one out

    porter_jamie
    Full Member

    mav12 – Member
    i once used a lenth of nylon rope to replace the valve stem oil seals on a seirra cvh work that one out

    Posted 2 minutes ago # Report-Post

    who hasnt

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    saves taking the head off dunnit.

    brakes
    Free Member

    anything that isn’t a hammer is the wrong tool for the job.

    D0NK
    Full Member

    Waste pipe for knocking headset races on and supporting hubs on when drifting out the bearings.
    Wedge a spd bearing collar remover in a door if you don’t have a spanner big enough (open door insert spd tool into gap between hinge/door frame try to close door, twist pedal) *may damage paint/wood work*
    IME an old straight handle bar (cheap/heavy duty don’t use carbon fibre xc racer bars) is easier to drift out headset cups than a screwdriver or other narrow drift.

    Mole grips! wrong tool for every job.

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    good quality tapered molegrips are grand for removing flare nuts – where flarenut spanners have failed….

    ton
    Full Member

    fork truck to install a headset.

    alexpalacefan
    Full Member

    Michael Gove for Dept. of Education.
    APF

    porter_jamie
    Full Member

    i used a drainpipe wall clamp as a piston ring compressor on an fz750 as it was exactly the right size.

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    cut up icecream tub and a jubalee clip as a piston ring compressor on a rotax 122

    takisawa2
    Full Member

    My Dad once compressed a transit coil spring in a doorway, with a bottle jack. As it compressed he bound the coils together with steel wire. Once in place he snipped the wire & the spring…sprang. (Somewhat noisily).

    5thElefant
    Free Member

    Last week i installed a headset with a lump of wood and a hammer.

    But those are the correct tools for the job.

    ndg
    Free Member

    My Dad once compressed a transit coil spring in a doorway, with a bottle jack. As it compressed he bound the coils together with steel wire. Once in place he snipped the wire & the spring…sprang. (Somewhat noisily).

    😯

    ir_bandito
    Free Member

    10ft length of scaffold pole to remove a Rohloff sprocket

    Tiger6791
    Full Member

    Headset press

    Crownrace setter (32mm Waster pipe)

    Steerer cutter (Pipe cutter)

    DezB
    Free Member

    Not a tool, but the wrong bolts for the job – bought some new SHIMANO disc rotors, put them on my new wheels.
    Wanted to transfer the old front wheel to another bike – so used the bolts that came with the Shimano rotors.
    Silly me for not realising these bolts were TOO LONG to be used as disc rotor bolts and one of them split the flange on the CROSSMAX hub.
    Had those wheels for 7 years. 7 years of riding and a stupid bloody bolt fudges it up 🙁
    Only positive is I didn’t use them on the new wheels.

Viewing 19 posts - 1 through 19 (of 19 total)

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