Tools you wish you'd bought sooner...

[V12GT]

Mars said:

After lots of hammering and the use of another rattle gun, it came off - completely knackered - but it left me with no confidence in them, so I've binned all the locking wheel nuts in favour of normal ones. Do people still steal wheels?

I took the locking wheel nuts off my cars years ago, as each time the tyres were changed it seemed I needed a new set of locking nuts - they seemed to be made of cheese, even using slightly lower than normal torque settings. Not had any wheels stolen (yet)...

[RizzoTheRat]

I replaced all mine with standard bolts after I broke the second locking wheel nut key. Luckily the local dealer were happy to lend me thier key when I bought 4 new bolts and changed them in thier carpark

[loudlashadjuster]

Mars said:

After lots of hammering and the use of another rattle gun, it came off - completely knackered - but it left me with no confidence in them, so I've binned all the locking wheel nuts in favour of normal ones. Do people still steal wheels?

With replacement wheels for my car costing a frankly ridiculous £1600 each I'm sticking with locking nuts!

[benp1]

My locking wheel bolts were made of cheese, have replaced them with normal bolts now

For anyone that hasn't done this in a while, try taking your wheels off. My wheel was corroded to the hub and took me ages to get off (heat, wood+mallet), absolutely no chance I would have done that by the side of the road.

[Carbon Sasquatch]

benp1 said:

My locking wheel bolts were made of cheese, have replaced them with normal bolts now

For anyone that hasn't done this in a while, try taking your wheels off. My wheel was corroded to the hub and took me ages to get off (heat, wood+mallet), absolutely no chance I would have done that by the side of the road.

Did you put some copper grease on before re-fitting them ? Between the hub & wheel, not the nuts/bolts.

One advantage of switching to winter wheels is that mine are off every 6 months.

[RicksAlfas]

benp1 said:

For anyone that hasn't done this in a while, try taking your wheels off. My wheel was corroded to the hub and took me ages to get off (heat, wood+mallet), absolutely no chance I would have done that by the side of the road.

This is because main dealers "service" your car by videoing the underneath of it while Chantelle in Service Advisement tries to insist you buy an air con refreshment for only £69.99.

[Mars]

RicksAlfas said:

This is because main dealers "service" your car by videoing the underneath of it while Chantelle in Service Advisement tries to insist you buy an air con refreshment for only £69.99.

So much truth in this.

[Arnold Cunningham]

R56Cooper said:

That looks like a really neat job. May I ask what it cost in materials?

Posted on the shed thread actually. I think 480 + screws and nails.
I bought the bulk of the timber from the timber group, which came in at a good price and had it delivered.

However, I also bought the featherdge & 22x47 battens for the floor from Wickes - which was expensive. I was impatient and only Wickes had what I wanted on Sunday.

So I think if you designed it and ordered it from a proper timber merchant all in one go, you'd be able to save a bit - perhaps as much as another £100 off that. You could also save some money by doing less featheredge - I have a little bit more to go on to finish off the front face as per the LHS. But ends up being almost another 50 quid. If I'd just done the sides, that'd have saved some money.

It's also all 4x2 C24 treated wood and a 19mm roof - sturdy. If you wanted to downsize the wood, you could save a bit again I guess. But I wanted sturdy.

Edited by Arnold Cunningham on Wednesday 22 June 17:47

[R56Cooper]

Arnold Cunningham said:

R56Cooper said:

That looks like a really neat job. May I ask what it cost in materials?

Posted on the shed thread actually. I think 480 + screws and nails.
I bought the bulk of the timber from the timber group, which came in at a good price and had it delivered.

However, I also bought the featherdge & 22x47 battens for the floor from Wickes - which was expensive. I was impatient and only Wickes had what I wanted on Sunday.

So I think if you designed it and ordered it from a proper timber merchant all in one go, you'd be able to save a bit - perhaps as much as another £100 off that. You could also save some money by doing less featheredge - I have a little bit more to go on to finish off the front face as per the LHS. But ends up being almost another 50 quid. If I'd just done the sides, that'd have saved some money.

It's also all 4x2 C24 treated wood and a 19mm roof - sturdy. If you wanted to downsize the wood, you could save a bit again I guess. But I wanted sturdy.

Edited by Arnold Cunningham on Wednesday 22 June 17:47

Sweet, thanks for that.

Recently bought two 2ft x 6ft sheets of 9mm ply, some battens and a couple of architraves and skirting to do a boxing in job and Wickes robbed me of £120, nearly fell over!

[Arnold Cunningham]

Yes, 3 packs of 22x47 treated came in at 118 quid!!!
But to get the timber group to deliver it, I'd have had to wait at least 3 days and you pay for delivery - so only worth doing as part of a bigger order.
Wickes Price : £2.17/metre
Timber Group Price : £1.37/m

Ouch. But it is what it is.

[Slow]

4Q said:

Slow said:

Not a Range Rover is it? Try a mercedes sprinter bottle jack as thats the go to upgrade due to the air suspension making it needed to be jacked into space.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/354114333478?hash=item5...

Lower the car down first and lock it into place then you don’t have to lift it so high.

It doesnt really lock into place, the car wont fight it but as you take weight off the wheel the bag natural grows in length due to needing less psi. Even if you have a completely burst bag with no air when you jack it up the wheel will go to max droop. The only cure I found was jacking off the hubs/arms.

The trick to lock the suspension from self leveling is to just leave a door open and the suspension wont try to do anything.

[Teddy Lop]

Anyone got any experience of an auto hammer? Essentially a popular in America (but like hen's teeth here) lightweight alternative to a palm nailer, low entry head and battery powered. Wondering if its something I could use to fire cable clips in on tight access spaces or it'd just go full demolish on me.

https://ffx.co.uk/product/Get/Hikoki-Nh18Dsl-W4Z-5...

[bennno]

Teddy Lop said:

Anyone got any experience of an auto hammer? Essentially a popular in America (but like hen's teeth here) lightweight alternative to a palm nailer, low entry head and battery powered. Wondering if its something I could use to fire cable clips in on tight access spaces or it'd just go full demolish on me.

https://ffx.co.uk/product/Get/Hikoki-Nh18Dsl-W4Z-5...

Seen these and came to conclusion they look a waste of time, first or second fix nail gun way better, or a conventional hammer if its the odd nail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMNp2y_QLoU

[Arnold Cunningham]

Yeah, I have a Clarke CFN34 nail gun and it's brilliant. 100's, even 1000's of nails in a session is easy.

[Teddy Lop]

Magazine loading nail guns are of no use and hammers difficult for the reasons stated.

[bennno]

Teddy Lop said:

Magazine loading nail guns are of no use and hammers difficult for the reasons stated.

You just need to match that video link to be clear that it won't help you affix cable clips.

[Arnold Cunningham]

Apologies - I glossed over the cable clip bit.

When I used to help my father on a job (long time ago now), he had gun similar to a staple gun that did cable clips instead of staples.
I don't recall how big it could go - but it certainly was good. Have you looked at them? Not sure what size cables they can go up to though.

[ShampooEfficient]

Chaps. Chapettes. And all points in between.

I have a few wheels in dire need of refurbing.

I'm willing to do them myself (because then I can blame myself if it isn't 100pc) - would a palm sander be a good tool to use or are there any better that will save my fingertips?

I do have a grinder and flap discs but I like the wheels to be... Not made of dust...

[Slow]

ShampooEfficient said:

Chaps. Chapettes. And all points in between.

I have a few wheels in dire need of refurbing.

I'm willing to do them myself (because then I can blame myself if it isn't 100pc) - would a palm sander be a good tool to use or are there any better that will save my fingertips?

I do have a grinder and flap discs but I like the wheels to be... Not made of dust...

Paint stripper is probably the best bet to get in the spokes? Or one of those sand blasting kits you can buy.

[Simpo Two]

Slow said:

Not a Range Rover is it? Try a mercedes sprinter bottle jack as thats the go to upgrade due to the air suspension making it needed to be jacked into space.

What? You need a jack to jack up the jack? If that's an 'upgrade' what is happening to the world?!