Making/improvising Special Tools

The tray on my Harbor Junk transmission jack was about as sturdy as a pie tin, so I made this cradle to attach to my tranny jack to fit my JC gear box and keep it level. Much less impressive than the other tools on this thread (especially PeteL’s!) but if it works, it will earn a nice coat of primer! I will probably put on some gasket material and stuff in small sand bags as needed.

 

Drawings???
I actually eyeballed it, but if it works, I will take some measurements with better pictures.

 

That's pretty nice. You could even zap on some hooks so you can ratchet strap the trans down to the cradle if needed.

 

I think you must be confusing me with someone else.

Very jealous. My transmission work gets done on the dirt driveway, or in the snow.

 

I seem to remember something about a bridge...

 

No pics but....I was having trouble squeezing Bufords' new u bolts together enough to fit them into the spring plates. Tried a few different things to help me but nothing was working and I was getting.....perturbed we'll say. This after having to redo the passenger side plate and grind on the 44 a bit more than I wanted to. Sooo, looking about the garage, my eyes fell on an old 6" C-clamp that got bent years ago and was no longer in use. It's Taiwanese anyway and therefore sacrificial. I managed to bent it back to mostly straight with the help of the bench vise and my big pipe wrench. That's a start. Then I found some 1/2" EMT conduit left over from the garage build and a piece of tiny light weight C channel type material. I sliced the EMT lengthwise for about 1 1/2 inches and then cut that much off making 2 halves. Tacked that into the similarly sized C channel stuff. Then I welded one those pieces onto the threaded part of the C clamp....onto the wobbly part. I wasn't sure what kind of angle the C clamp might be in while in use so I left the other EMT piece loose and just held it up against the U bolt as I tightened the c clamp. Worked pretty well. A bit of a 3 handed affair but it worked. I might try to weld the other piece to the fixed end of the c clamp. I think it would be fine in most applications.

I really wasn't up for wasting time making a tool but it had to happen. Something else to toss in the bottom drawer for my kids to find one day and wonder "what the he!! is this for?"

 

When my wife and I are gone, I think about our son trying to figure out what to do with all the stuff in my shop. He will be amazed at all the tools and spare parts.

Dave

 

Every so often a ton of that stuff shows up at our dump, and I think, "someone's grandpa died..."

Same thing will happen to my collection, I'm sure. No one else will understand why I kept the things that I do. "A broken jeep windshield? Toss it!"

 

3/8" nutzert / Riv-nut on left


Takes a 1/2" hole


Make sure you ate your Wheaties for breakfast.


I really did not want to pull the winch off just to slide in that one bolt on the fairlead.

 

In my pole head are a bunch of trailers: Son 2 has two campers, Son 1 has an ATV trailer, brother-in-law has a seed tender (for hauling seed and filling the planter), and we have a 24’ enclosed trailer.

The tractor sits in front of the door, so is the first thing that has to move to get anything else out, so…



I built a three-point receiver hitch for said tractor. I can use any of my drawbars, which have different hitch balls on them. Just back under the trailer hitch, pick it up, and pull it away. That beats having to get the truck out to move stuff.

And, yes, that’s a Jeep hitch angle iron off my ‘72.

Edit to add: I forgot about the fish house trailer…

Jon B.