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5 Tools That Often Get Misused
Tools are the items and objects we use to complete the tasks we desire to do. At one point in human history we likely only had three tools: a pointy rock, a sharp-edged rock, and a blunt heavy rock. With those three things an industry was born, and it’s one that is today closely linked to the automotive world. We need a lot more tools than those primitive three to get any project done these days, but sometimes we might have the right tool and still decide to use the wrong one. Here are five examples.
If Not Pry Bar, Why Pry Bar Shaped?
Screwdrivers can be precision instruments. They can also be the closest thing to your hand when you need to lever two pieces apart, and oh boy, is it tempting to take that flat-blade screwdriver and shove it in there, maybe even tapping the end of the handle with a hammer to help things along.
Sometimes that works fine, but why take the risk with your tools? Screwdrivers were designed for turning forces and thus it is surprisingly easy to bend the shank or fracture the tip once you start using them in a freestyle manner. If you’re unable to find a pry bar or lever of the appropriate size for your projects, designating one tool for that task is the next best option, though still only half a step short of tool abuse. I have an old damaged flat blade screwdriver that is only used wrong these days. But most screwdrivers do not have shanks that extend completely through the handle, so be advised that any attempts to use a screwdriver like a chisel are likely to break the handle.
Designed to Twirl, Forced to Fight
Sockets are great at removing hardware, but the location of said hardware often means putting those sockets on some type of extension. These simple straight bars have both male and female ends for attaching a ratchet or breaker bar on one end and the socket on the other. That shape also makes them a perfect general-use punch. The broad tip doesn’t focus force much and makes an extension just too perfectly suited for driving out large bolts like those found on suspension hardware. It’s a tool that was designed and born to spin like a ballerina, but often has to pull duty on the offensive line as well.
“The Claw”
At some point a hammer is a hammer, but using a claw hammer under the hood just feels so wrong. Ball-peen hammers are much better for working in the tighter confines of an engine compartment, compared to claw hammers that were designed for framing houses. Ball-peen and dead-blow hammers are likely the most popular for automotive use and come in a range of sizes that help persuade stuck parts and hardware, but that doesn’t stop many people from grabbing what is handy, and I guess we can’t blame them.
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OBD Scan Tools
How could you use an OBD scan tool wrong? Well, I use mine to clear the check engine light and not much more, which quite honestly is massive underutilization of the surprisingly powerful diagnostics abilities that come with a $12 scan tool. I simply don’t want to see the check engine light, because I know the “clogged catalyst” that trips the light isn’t actually being clogged. The problem is that I don’t drive long-enough trips in the winter, and the ECU is putting in additional fuel to try to help the engine warm up and run smoothly, thus the O2 sensors are seeing readings the computer doesn’t like. So I use my scan tool to remove the code and nothing else.
It’s a Lever off the Jack, Too!
Hydraulic floor jacks make lifting our project cars easier than ever. Once the car is up in the air, there is usually (always? without fail?) some large bolt or nut that needs removed, and of course it’s somehow stuck far tighter than the torque spec would suggest. So it’s time to get archaic. Even my two-foot breaker bar is not enough at times, and that’s when the jack donates its handle to create the lever long enough to move most anything. If you’re tempted to use this trick, be careful, the force can be enough to easily strip the teeth inside a ratchet, so it’s best to stick to using a breaker bar. And even then, be sure to have solid socket engagement and a clear path for the long lever to swing in without hitting something else.
Actually the most abused and damaging tool is vicegrips.
Many a nut and bolt has been destroyed because the correct wrench was not close by.
Grip your vices and hold them close, boys and girls! Now, mis-using vise grips is another thing altogether!
“Vice Grips” are what Crockett and Tubbs used to grab miscreants in their eponymous 90s TV show. “Miami Vise” is a company in South Florida that makes workbench tools.
A piece of pipe at least two feet long to use as a cheater bar or a “persuader” when you don’t have a long enough extension to break a rusty bolt.
Don’t do it! Using a length of pipe or a jack handle to add leverage to your wrench is likely to make matters worse, by breaking off the head of the bolt.
Instead, do what you can to loosen the bolt. For example, with a squirt of WD-40. If that doesn’t work, try heating the head of the bolt with a blowtorch (make sure it’s not near anything flammable, like plastic parts, wiring insulation or a gas line!) or heavy duty soldering iron.
If that doesn’t work, and it’s a nut, use a nut splitter and replace the nut. If it’s a bolt, drill a hole into the head of the bolt that is a smaller diameter than the bolt, and try to remove it with a screw extractor. If that works you may still be able to re-use the bolt, but at worst you’ve damaged only the bolt. Otherwise you may have to drill out what’s left of the bolt and re-tap the hole, which at best weakens the part you’re screwing the new bolt into, and at worst might compromise cooling or oil passages etc.
Never had an old VW with 36mm nuts holding the rear drums? Gotta have leverage if you don’t have an impact.
My girlfriends VW and being young…..No big sockets, (let alone metric) so a flea market 18″ crescent wrench and a pipe. Still have the wrench 50 yrs. later.
Everyone has their favorite multi-purpose spray like WD40. I prefer PB Blaster. A guy I know that’s smarter than me recommended SeaFoam Deep Creep. Said it is the best he’s ever used. He showed me a 3″x.5″ rusty bolt and stood it upright in a bowl with a small puddle of Creep. We watched the oil move up the threads in just a matter of 30 seconds. I personally haven’t tried it but I got a can.
Breakfree CLP and 6 point sockets are my go to. Chinese steel is pretty soft so don’t skimp on the sockets.
Then the screw extractor breaks and you have a lot more fun!
wd 40 is for water displacement, , , there are many much better products.
Lol i’ve been ratchet, handles by pudding pipes on them
Ummm. What?
Reading all of these sharp comments only reminds me of one thing; never put anything in your ear bigger than your elbow.
And don’t put anything in your ear smaller than your elbow.
(I think the original saying might have been “don’t put anything in your ear other than your elbow”, knowing that it’s impossible to put your elbow in your ear!!!)
LOL
Somehow I feel seen. By all of this… But in my defense, I learned poor in the ’60s. Screwdrivers make good punches as well. 😁
I have also removed many bolt heads rounded off by a 12 point wrench or socket by the proper use of vice grips. Really badly rusted brake lines that no wrench will even budge can also be removed by first only slightly mashing the head in all 3 positions if possible and several times before setting the sharp teeth in the center of the grips quite firmly across 2 flats on the nut. It it appears it will not turn the nut work around it a few more times and try again. I have removed MANY that way and been able to reuse the fitting and with a wrench no less. Even in using tool others say is the wrong one properly one can sometimes do a job that the right tool is incapable of doing. Oh another trick is the special break line wrenches often fit the head on the lose side. By placing vice gripe over the end it squeeze’s it a bit tighter and prevents it from spreading more often freeing an otherwise potential rounded off nut head.
Agreed-vice grips and Channel Lock pliers are notorious for damaging nut and bolts.
I always look at the codes first – then delete. If I keep seeing the same ones, it might be time to chase, but on a lot of my older vehicles, I get a lot of ‘glitch’ codes that pop in long enough to set the light, but aren’t really sustained problems
Most cars are smart enough to know when they are cold. If you keep getting the same code there is probably something amiss
It’s generally the poor tool on the business end of the pipe getting abused, not really the pipe itself
I didn’t even have to read the text closely – sorry, Kyle – just looked at the pictures. Guilty on the first three, don’t have an OBD scanner, and have a special 5-foot piece of 1-1/4″ black pipe in the corner for that extension job (although using the jack handle is a great idea that I’d never thought of).
I’ve used an old claw hammer forever to pry out recalcitrant bolts (like on suspension parts or bumpers, etc.) – saves on screwdrivers! 😜
Agree with DUB6 that claw hammers can have a place underhood. The claw part of the hammer makes an excellent prying tool for some applications. I’ll agree that for tapping on something, a ball peen, dead blow, or rubber mallet is a better solution that something intended to drive nails.
Prying with a screwdriver isn’t always a crime. Just don’t overdo the amount of force you apply. Now, using a screwdriver as a chisel is another matter (I had expected that one to top the list!).
You can never have too many hammers, I have 5 ball peens in steel and 2 that are brass. Another 7 that are rubber,leather, nylon, plastic, dead blow, slide, They all are necessary sooner or later and it’s nice to have them on the wall or near by
Using a putty knife like a chisel and hitting it with a hammer.
Cool
Using just about anything with a point as a chisel and hitting it with a hammer
My favorite one, which my dad is notorious for misusing, is the box cutter. The sticker needs to be removed? Box cutter blade. Need to modify a gasket but you really don’t you just think you do? Box cutter. My favorite is when he uses it to trim something on a machined surface with the machined surface still under it. Fine if you have a stock Cast-iron-everything engine, but almost every engine we own has an or a pair of aluminum head or heads. Or, when he uses an impact of everything that isn’t an engine or diff. YOU DON’T NEED YOUR LUGNUTS TO BE FORCED DOWN TO 300 FT/LBS ON A DRAG CAR!!!!
you need a good vocabulary of curse words to cover most jobs.I have a few neighbors from various parts of the globe.
Best of luck
As my former boss used to say, “I opened the book of Cuss, and I read therefrom.”
We used to call it shop talk.
I would agree with the statement about using discretion when using an impact – A local tire shop tightened the lug nuts so tight on my truck I could barely loosen them using a 1/2 inch drive breaker bar with a short extension pipe. If I would have had a flat tire somewhere while on the road, it would have been impossible to remove the wheel with the tire change equipment that comes with the vehicle.
When people complain about a pulsating brake pedal I ask them if they just got new tires. Over torquing lug nuts can warp rotors. Cracks me up to watch the locals over torquing lug nuts with clicker torque wrenches. Click means stop but they keep leaning on it.
In a similar vein, I must vent about guys who think they need to literally hang from the wrench they use to tighten oil sump plugs. Jeez, the thing is only a plug, it’s purpose to stopper fluid; it’s not a fastener.
I had a friend who constantly over tightened fasteners on machinery. We used to comment that he tightened until it broke then backed off a half turn.
I have a number of hammers as you apparently do as well. I have been in situations where the only hammer available is someones claw. Nice when you can find grandpa’s old wooden handle that they never use. When a light tapping into place is required that wooden end makes a fine mallet.
I have over twenty hammers. Three are claw hammers. One is my BFH.
🤣, me too! I call it bruiser
ole saying around the shop, “if it won’t move, get a bigger hammer.”
I’d never considered it but I have to agree: all this amazing industry that we take for granted had to start with those three rocks.
Using a torque wrench as a beaker bar is the most cringe provoking thing I can think of!
It is a precision tool used for exact specifications, not a lever to break lug nuts loose.
How could I forget that one?! Good mention!
Sockets on extensions make great bushing/bearing and seal drivers. And tools are never treated fairly, I have never seen a pry bar that has been clearly marked “do not use as a screwdriver”
But I will bet you will have found many tools from California that warn that the product may cause cancer!
Actually it is a great place to live, which is why we put up with a few nuisances. But if you can’t cut it or afford to live here, you are welcome to visit !
I do it a lot, and it works quite well. So far (!), I have seen no degradation in the exactness of the torque wrench’s real function.
I did do that not long ago! BUT, it was a 1/4-20 bolt, BADLY rusted in place. I put my acetone/ATF mixture on it, set the torque to 60, and was able to get the bolt to turn without hitting the 60 mark. I used it so I would not break the bolt. I know, 60 is close to the shear point of a 1/4 bolt, but I knew it was a grade 8.
How about using a 1/2 drive extension bar to knock out wheel bearing races
Or a 3/4″ socket to pound freeze plugs into engine blocks?
That’s why I have a $12 torque wrench just for lug nuts
Needle-nosed pliers work great for removing staples.
How about using them for removing snap rings (well, at least TRYING to remove them)?
I have ground the tips of needle nose pliers for just that purpose.
How ’bout snap rings?
I learned many years ago the term for using tools for incorrect applications. It was from a British automotive tabloid ( humorously). The term is called ‘BLITHWAFFING’! The first one on the list was using a flat screwdriver as a chisel! I am (as all mechancal people are) guilty of many infractions and it is usually due to inconvenience at the time of usage. At this time of life, ( 70’s) I now have virtually every tool I need ( and more). The list of infractions is far more than I care to list here even down to the simplest infraction. I am also a carpenter/remodeler and the list could include that trade also. Sometimes on any job, you have to be resourceful and I look at BLITHWAFFING sometimes as a resource!!
I learned many years ago in the Army motor pool these things you speak of are categorized as “Field Expedience”. Maybe that was to make the guilt lesser!
Using a crescent wrench backwards
I thought that was the hammer end?
EXACTLY!! And fun fact, turn a 1/2” ratchet 90degrees and poof! hammer! It’s like magic. I love multi use tools.
In addition to Automotive I also work with wood. A 6in Bar Clamp makes a great hammer as well.
I see that all the time and it’s mostly on TV shows, even on those weekend automotive TV shows that have re-run for years.
Referring to the “crescent wrench” I see that all the time and it’s mostly on TV shows, even on those weekend automotive TV shows that have re-run for years.
Not many even know that there’s a right way.
One of the best two tools used in my Millwright days, the 12” crescent wrench and 12” Channel lock pliers. Ground down the top of the wrench for the hammer and ground in another groove to make the jaws open up to fit hydraulic hose line couplings. The channel lock SLM handle would grind the handle to create the pry bar and grind the top jaw to make it flat for impact from the crescent hammer.
Still in use in a pinch at home
And to add…….” Necessity is the mother of invention!”
Agree! Most of us must problem-solve with what we have at hand. The first hammer was probably a stone.
When I was a young dirt biker, sometimes a “repair” in the woods involved the use of a rock/stone. In New England, that was not an issue, the inventory was generous. However, when stationed in southern Alabama, I discovered that rural stones were VERY difficult to find!
More likely a fist
Every tool has a hammer-face.
And “The Mothers of Invention” were a necessity at any Southern college frat party in the late ‘60s – early ‘70s … “ (Couldn’t resist, Joe!)
Trouble Every Day…
Here is one that I use to this day. I have grinded down a a needle nosed pliers to fit in a tight area and used it as a circle-clip remover! A snap-ring pliers could not work!!
Using your hand as a hammer…….and you wonder why you can’t grip anything 10 years later.
I was warned about that one 50 years ago, but did I listen?
Ditto. And yes, I also was warned many, many times
Haines, Alaska has a hammer museum. I admit that I actually own a couple of hammers that they don’t have. I should will those to them upon my demise. . . .
Back in the day of hub caps, I would contend the hammer was the wrong tool for installation, and the hand the correct one: way more satisfying too. Never dented any of the thousands I installed with my hand, but did a couple with a rubber hammer. While Al would probably frown upon it, I’m sure Tool Time Tim, would give it two big UUHHAAHH’s. Perhaps they should be called the Binford 2000LH, and Binford 2000RH and acknowledged as the most versatile tools in the garage. Caution: Misuse use may result in busted knuckles
IE: Meat Hammer.
How true.
Guilty on the screwdriver for sure. Not only for prying, but a chisel and even a trim remover. I learned a long, long time ago that the right tool for the job makes everything so much easier (and has less collateral damage).
Someone told me once about using the right tool–if it’s hard, then you’re doing it wrong. That wasn’t always true for me, but we have to learn (the hard way) from practice, reps, and using the “right now” tool instead of the right tool. Just wear eye protection!!!
Surprised I didn’t see anything about using a screwdriver to jump the terminals on the starter solenoid .
I usta do that all the time . . . .