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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.
How about using a socket and an extension as a bearing driver or seal installer? Sometimes that stuck bearing race comes right out when you give that 1/2″ drive socket extension with the right sized socket on the end a few good whacks!
Another good one I missed!
Actually I have a 4′ piece of 1″ black pipe in my shop (bought at Home Depot for ~$20) that I use for situations that require more leverage. I call it “The Persuader” and has saved a lot of time and frustration with stuck lug nuts and brake caliper bolts. Slips right over the ratchet or the breaker bar and works great. Never thought of using my jack handle and I don’t think I would.
A cheater pipe over a ratchet? The shrapnel from an exploding ratchet is extremely dangerous. I admit that I know this firsthand, lesson learned.
Want to have fun? This one brings back all the French I learned in high school. Nut hard to bust? Just put a air tool socket with a 8″ extension on the end of your 18″ breaker bar, spray said nut with penetrating oil, add 4′ 11/2″ black pipe to mix. Apply counter clockwise torque. BOOM! The contraption falls off the nut and dings that new chrome wheel. The first French words. Try again. This time wife to hold extension straight. Good amount of torque. Boom! Swivel on end of of breaker bar snaps and ruined breaker bar falls to floor. Much more French! Wife goes back into house, thank God. Try to remove socket from nut. No go. Socket stripped onto nut head. A whole lot more French. Time for the hammer and chisel. Oh well a whole lot more French!
I have learned French is the wrong tool try German it makes things move better. Spent many years doing tool and die work where they brought all the bolts they had tried all the methods they knew to get off and had the heads totally destroyed. often would place old large nut that the hole was larger than the head. used stick welder to welt it there making sure to get it glowing hot. By heating the bolt but not the part it would swell the bolt more than the hole it was in. Once cooled they often are easy to remove while using the hex of that nut to turn it. (heating the object the bolt is in as most do seldom works that well)
Very enjoyable read and, even more enjoyable comments. Thanks to all! And yes, I’m guilty of a few of those also. 🤣🤣
Have you guys ever used the box end of a combination wrench hooked to the open end of the wrench on the nut as a torque multiplier? Or of course you could go get the Johnson bar….
Another screwdriver application: Jumping the starter solenoid ! My Sunbeam Alpine was pretty much a piece of junk. I came out of the lab late one night (and my eyes beheld an eerie sight). The Alpine was a non-starter. What the heck? I “borrowed” a sturdy screwdriver from the lab. Bridged the solenoid contact. Voilà, engine motivation ! On the other hand, the shaft of the screwdriver pretty much vaporized.
Not recommended.
Wait, that reminds me how hard it was to get the oil filter off. Jam that screwdriver all the way through and apply considerable torque, enough so I remember worrying that the metal filter case would rip before removal. Ah, those were the days.
Jumped many a sednoid on the electric motors on the hydraulic pumps for truck lift gates also used plyers or even a wrench. Got the gate up so it could travel and then fixed problem in shop after deliveries were finished. the secret to not destroying tools is to make solid contact not letting it arc.
Jumping a starter solenoid that’s mounted on your inner wheel-well, Oh’ yeah’ the basic pliers works perfect for that and of course you now have a good identification ownership mark on your pliers where you made contact forever.
Do not let then arch. actually one can usually jump from hot to the small start terminal and the solenoid will operate the starter. If it does not but going from one side to the other starts it then you know the solenoid itself is the problem. Jumping to the small terminal is a low amperage draw and most often will not even spark at all if done quickly on and off. Also done several across the solenoid including having to use 2 wrenches and have yet to ruin any tools. Go slow and you get big sparks and ruin the bolts on the solenoid and the tool.
For a number of years I was service manager for a large heavy equipment dealer. As such I became acquainted with what I called the “3 hammer mechanic”. Generally I kept an eye on him. If something didn’t move easily he applied #1 hammer with a few taps. If he didn’t get any action out came #2 hammer with more muscle. When #3 hammer came out, run for cover!!. Hopefully I got there before #3 ruined everything. Screwdrivers, punches, socket extensions and bolts. All were part of the #3 approach.
Have used a 1/2 rachet as a hammer while under a car,too lazy to crawl out.
Needless to say eff upped the recent.
But it was a Craftsman,no questions asked for a replacement.
As a kid a remember than you could do a bunch of work on all sorts of things with just a hammer and a screwdriver.
I used a 6 inch 3/8 drive extension and a 9/16 deep socket as a shifter handle on a Subaru XT Turbo coupe for about a year after I snapped the original one attempting to speed shift it. Worked great, and as an added bonus for theft prevention I could just slip it off and take it with me!
I can’t believe that no one has ever used their 1/2 inch impact gun as a hammer, besides me that is.
Guilty of all the above crimes—but whatever works-works-and can be replaced.
Knees are the most abused tool and the older you get the more you abuse any tool that’s in reach and looks like it will work.
How ’bout using compressed air to spin dry wheel bearings of excess gas uh uh I mean solvent after cleaning? Sounds just like a siren till the real siren shows up. One can use jack handles along with touching steel bumpers for a q & d battery jump. But my most dangerous tool is my 60″ High Lift jack. Those have been known to inflict serious carnage to operators, vehicles and observers.
A tool is anything at hand that will get the job done when you need to.
When it comes to tools, you do what you have to do to get the job done. Just yesterday my wife thought it a good idea to back into the garage door and bent the roller hinge. I have all the pry bars a man could want, but none would work where I needed it to work. What do I have that will fit in that hinge hole. AH HA! a big phillips screwdriver. Mission accomplished. I also have a very long flat blade screwdriver where I ground the tip like a chisel. Something always comes up where I need it. As a lifelong machinist, I learned you had to do what you had to do to get the job done, and that’s not wrong.