Wade's Entry-Toolkit list
Every few months on the EX list, someone asks "What tools do I need to work on my EX?".....The answer of course is "Basically, one of everything from Sears" (grin).
It doesn't matter what you've got, you want more tools. I keep hoping that
this *next* tool will fill my craving for more.....it never does. Tools are like heroin that way.
Whatever you do, though, buy the nicest tools you can afford. A good
thingamajig that lasts for 15 or 30 years is MUCH better than a crappy
thingamajig you have to replace every two years, cause it broke in the
middle of a rush job.
The "lifetime guarantee" is only good if you can take them up on it--a
couple of local autoparts places have tools with such guarantees, but you
have to have the sales receipt and original package to get a new tool when
the old one breaks. Sears is real simple: They replace any broken handtool with the name CRAFTSMAN on it. No questions asked. If they don't make it anymore, they'll give you the next closest thing. Mac & Snap-on are EXCELLENT tools with IMPECCABLE credentials, but
they are expensive, and sometimes take some driving around to find a tool truck if you don't work at a shop.
Here's my first cut at a tool list, first promulgated in March of 98, updated in August 98. Feel free to make suggestions.
- Start with a set of box end wrenches, 8, 10, 12, 14, 17, 18mm will do most everything I think (I have two or three each of 10, 12, and 14mm and don't regret that at all)...Sears now has 6point box-wrenches. Very slick. I'll buy a set soon, for the same reason I have 6 point sockets: less tendency to round bolt heads. BUT, I'm going to keep the 12 point box wrenches, as sometimes you need all the flexibility you can get in tight places. I'm not inclined to bother with the new "quick-action" craftsman wrenches. If I'm using handtools (not air) I've pretty much settled on going slow.
- 3/8" drive tilt-head ratchets: A long-handled one for the home tool-box, and a stubby-handled one for the travel tool kit.
- 3/8"drive sockets in the same sizes as above, plus something big to fit the swingarm and steering head (I forget what size those are), shallow and deep-sockets each have their own place in the world, I have both.
- universal joints and swivel extensions (which have an undercut male end to allow about 15 degrees of flex in the socket) in several lengths.
- dykes
- A pair of regular length and a pair of LONG needle-nosed pliers. A whole set with angled tips if you're really flush, too, but the long straight ones in my box see the most use.
- A 3-size set of Vice-Grips locking pliers. For grabbing things, these can be great. (I once drove several hundred miles home using one of these as a shift lever after the splines inside my spiffy OEM aluminum shift lever stripped out....not my EX.)
- Allen key set, metric, with ball-ends. Personally I use the long/short L-type, not the ones in the little all-in-one thing which always fall apart on me allowing the most-used keys to escape.
- Allen key 3/8 drive sockets are nice for leverage on the bigger socket head capscrews
- A razor knife with retractable blade, and lots of new blades. (sounds obvious, but I'd hate to think how many times I wished I had a decent knife around).
- A good tire pressure gage. Not a $2 bargain bin unit. Buy a nice one.
- I use my $5 four-in-one screwdriver that stores two bits in the handle a lot. Magnetic screwdrivers are really slick, too if you're flush.
- a couple long skinny screwdrivers of various tip sizes flat and phillips
- impact driver for removing those never-been-removed-yet phillips head screws
- A mini-maglight with magnetic base. the EX-frame is steel-so you can stick it, and point it where you want, and have both hands free. Also good for finding things that roll under the car next to your bike. :)
- a hammer and a long punch (8-10 inches with a flat end) for adjusting your rear shock
- Two torque wrenches: 10-200in-lbs, and 20-200 ft-lbs (more or less) the click
types are more accurate than the older/cheaper beam-style
- A small digital multimeter- moderatly cheap is ok (nicer is better....but electronic things seem to die periodically no matter how much you pay for them). You need 0-14Volts DC, and 0-20 ampsDC, and resistance. Should run about $14 at radioshack. If you intend to troubleshoot any electrical problems, you'll need this.
- A plug-wrench that fits the bike (check carefully on the bike itself for this one)...a Craftsman 18mm Spark Plug socket (Sears Item Number: 43330) for $4 works great on EX's, according to TJ Tryon
- some of those thick padded emory boards for cleaning rusty caliper guide pins and such
- some fine sandpaper for cleaning up copper or aluminum sealing-washers (220 and 400 grit wet-or-dry from a body-shop works ok for me)
- feeler gages for valve setup
- electric tape
- crimp connectors, heat shrink tubing, and a good crimp tool if you're gonna do electric work, or a nice soldering iron (crummy irons suck)
- Two nice tiedowns to put your bike on the trailer if you ever want to. They are SO MUCH nicer than using rope that I can't believe I spent all those years putzing with flying dutchman knots instead of coughing up $15 for tiedowns.
- A selection of cotter pins to fit your axle nut-ALWAYS put new cotter pins on when you reinstall an axle.
- Goop, or similar waterless hand cleaner-so you don't mess up the bathroom sink too bad. Grease can be a real pain to clean off white porcelain.
- A magnetic parts tray ($5 at pep-boys) to hold screws, etc...
- I put silver-antisieze on almost every screw I pull out, 'cause I might have to pull it out again someday. $3 for a small tube at the car-stuff store.
- "Tune-up" dielectric grease-makes it easier for electrons to get from point a to point b across a connection, eg inside spark plug wires, at battery terminals, etc....A small improvement, but so cheap and quick...
- Axle grease, for when you have to repack wheel bearings, etc.
- A dremel tool...price them at the local hardware store, then visit the local pawn shops, there's always a few at the ones near me, much cheaper, and really just as good for most mortal humans. IMO.
- Mechanics rags- available in lots of places. Mucho better than torn up tee-shirts.
- a set of pry bars-buy good ones so when you break them you get new ones for free. Don't ask how I know this.
- And one more word for you: Zip-ties.
Steve Clark made these good suggestions:
- 19, 22, and 24mm Wrenches and Sockets
- 94+ needs a 12mm Hex for front wheel [which Sears DOES sell, despite rumors to the contrary. -Wade]
- Picks [several different end configs are good to have, a set runs about $8 I think -Wade]
- Rubber Mallet
- Plastic Surgical Gloves
- Hemostats - (Not for that!) [uh, you mean to close off hoses, right? -Wade]
- Cordless/Batt/Rechargeable Drill w/ Socket Adapter [esp. for track use -Wade]
Art Ferdinand suggested these essentials:
- Magnetic pickup tool (the longer the handle the better)
- 24-inch "claw" type pickup tool (you never have to worry about dropping
the cam chain, etc)
- single sided razor blades, for gasket scraping [I use pry bars for this job. -Wade]
and these non-essentials:
- 3/8" speed wrench
- 1/2" drive rachet (the long handle proves useful in breaking things like
head bolts) [I have one of these, too, but have also used a length of iron pipe over the handle of my 3/8 ratchet. If I break it (and I have) Sears replaces it. They used to give you a new set of guts for it, and you needed the next item to fix it, but now they give you a new wrench. -Wade]
- snap-ring pliers (if you're REALLY getting into it) [I consider these essential, when you need one, absolutely nothing else will do. I have a modest set with replaceable tips-Wade]
Gary Estes suggested:
- carb sticks if your bike has more than one carb. [The mercury ones are fairly cheap, and work fine. But don't chop the throttle too hard, and don't tip them over. D-oh! There is a cheap method of using a latex membrane (balloon) stretched between two cups with each cup connected to one carb which works ok for dual-carb bikes. The membrane will move towards the low-pressure side. It's a slow but really inexpensive method.-Wade]
This is an addendum (admittedly tongue-in-cheek) from the internet, but attributed by some to Road&Track's Peter Egan.
- HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate 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 boxes containing seats and motorcycle jackets.
- ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning steel Pop rivets in their holes until you die of old age, but it also works great for drilling mounting holes in mudguards just above the brake line that goes to the rear wheel.
- PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads.
- MOLE-GRIPS: Used to 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.
- OXYACETELENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in your garage on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside a brake drum you're trying to get 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.
- 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 painted part you were drying. (or snatches the piece you're drilling and drives it some distance into your hand. -Wade)
- WIRE WHEEL: Cleans rust off old bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench at the speed of light. Also removes fingerprint whorls and hard-earned guitar callouses in about the time it takes you to say, "Ouc...."
- SNAP-ON GASKET SCRAPER: Theoretically useful as a sandwich tool for spreading mayonnaise; used mainly for getting dog-doo off your boot.
- E-Z OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR: A tool that snaps off in bolt holes and is ten times harder than any known drill bit.
- TIMING LIGHT: A stroboscopic instrument for illuminating grease buildup.
- BATTERY ELECTROLYTE TESTER: A handy tool for transferring sulphuric acid from a battery to the inside of your toolbox after determining that your battery is dead as a doornail, just as you thought.
- PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the lids of old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splash oil on your shirt; can also be used, as the name implies, to round off 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 Pneumatic impact wrench that grips rusty bolts last tightened 60 years ago by someone in Coventry, and rounds them off.
- HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to cut hoses 1/2 inch too short.
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Last modified on 16FEB99