The right tools saves the day. :)

[K-Dog]

Putting a hood and a coupla' hinges on a Benz today. The fenders are fine, they are staying on.
The problem is, the 12mm bolts on the front if the hinge are partially under the fender. ( the bolt in the rear of the photo)

Too funkey to get a wrench in there. A standard shallow socket is still too tall.
Then I remembered my Snap-On "extra shallow" socket set.

This set has proved its worth more than a few times already and today was no different.

Right tool, problem solved. !!

 

[Colin Len]

Ooh, that looks like a neat tool, I've never seen a socket like that before.

 

[K-Dog]

FOUND IT !!!!!!!!!!!

https://store.snapon.com/Low-Profil...-Profile-12-Point-12-pc-5-13-mm--P739773.aspx

 

[General Geoff]

The right tool makes all the difference in the world.

 

[redmondjp]

Goshdarnit, now there are even MORE tools that I didn't know that I needed!

So, answering the question posed in another thread of late: YES! Reading this forum causes me to buy more tools.

 

[wrenchr]

Goshdarnit, now there are even MORE tools that I didn't know that I needed!

So, answering the question posed in another thread of late: YES! Reading this forum causes me to buy more tools.

Yup.

 

[mbshop]

Worked on mbs for over 35 years. They never ceased to amaze me in their ability to mess simple things up. This caused me to buy but mostly make my own special tools. I still have ground up and bent wrenches and screwdrivers and nut drivers. Would have been nice to have a set like that way back.

 

[redmondjp]

Worked on mbs for over 35 years. They never ceased to amaze me in their ability to mess simple things up. This caused me to buy but mostly make my own special tools. I still have ground up and bent wrenches and screwdrivers and nut drivers. Would have been nice to have a set like that way back.

My friend was a technician at a MB dealership in the early 1990s. He brought training videocassettes home that showed how to R&R the dashboards, that we watched together. Virtually the entire thing is held together by hidden plastic tabs that must be unlatched by first using a wedge to open up a gap, and then inserting a long spatula-type tool to release the tab. I was dumbfounded!

If you don't know the secret locations of the tabs and where to insert the wedges, you're going to be breaking a lot of really expensive parts trying to take anything apart.

 

[walkerbait]

That is awesome!! I had looked at that socket set previously and thought -- nah, I wouldn't need something like that. I was thinking of using the low profile ratchet with it and figured I would always be able to get a wrench into an area where I could get the ratchet + low profile socket. But now I understand it's value! Thanks for sharing.

 

[454ragtop]

Couldn't one use a wrench? Is the hinge slotted, or does the bolt have to come all the way out? Typical Euro car PIA engineering.

 

[ChaseDE]

My friend was a technician at a MB dealership in the early 1990s. He brought training videocassettes home that showed how to R&R the dashboards, that we watched together. Virtually the entire thing is held together by hidden plastic tabs that must be unlatched by first using a wedge to open up a gap, and then inserting a long spatula-type tool to release the tab. I was dumbfounded!

If you don't know the secret locations of the tabs and where to insert the wedges, you're going to be breaking a lot of really expensive parts trying to take anything apart.

Things I guess changed between then and the late 90's. My 1999 C230K had a fairly standard dash pull other then the steel roll cage behind it.

I have done heater cores before, so I wanted to do this one and started. Got the dash half out and saw this massive steel cage bolted to the firewall under it, wires running all through it, I was very discouraged at that point and powered through though.

 

[rlitman]

Couldn't one use a wrench? Is the hinge slotted, or does the bolt have to come all the way out? Typical Euro car PIA engineering.

Looks to me like a flex head ratcheting wrench would have worked as well. A regular wrench, not so much.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Damn, another tool that I didn't know I needed.

 

[Pipe]

Nice! My problem is all too often I'll have a special tool but forget.

 

[Tenex]

DBE wrench with a deep offset. Problem solved.

 

[bcradio]

DBE wrench with a deep offset. Problem solved.

I probably would have had to use this as well since I don't have a socket like that.

 

[Tonellin]

ratcheting wrench?

 

[rlitman]

Crowsfoot would fit it too. You could put an extension on the crowsfoot and then put on a breaker bar or handle.

 

[aka Larry]

My friend was a technician at a MB dealership in the early 1990s. He brought training videocassettes home that showed how to R&R the dashboards, that we watched together. Virtually the entire thing is held together by hidden plastic tabs that must be unlatched by first using a wedge to open up a gap, and then inserting a long spatula-type tool to release the tab. I was dumbfounded!

If you don't know the secret locations of the tabs and where to insert the wedges, you're going to be breaking a lot of really expensive parts trying to take anything apart.

A German engineer making something simple complicated just for fun? Say it ain't so!

 

[66354dream]

A German engineer making something simple complicated just for fun? Say it ain't so!

They are evil I tell ya !!!

 

[Ign]

Nice! My problem is all too often I'll have a special tool but forget.

This.

 

[Know Wosad]

They are evil I tell ya !!!

Depends. Need a book binding-cover ?

 

[Perroflojo]

You can make your own shallow socket by grinding or cutting a regular socket in half.

 

[redmondjp]

You can make your own shallow socket by grinding or cutting a regular socket in half.

Assuming that the socket has a full-depth profile - there are some sockets out there which don't.

 

[K-Dog]

Couldn't one use a wrench? Is the hinge slotted, or does the bolt have to come all the way out? Typical Euro car PIA engineering.

No slots. Square holes. The bolt does have to come all the way out and the gap is not much bigger than the bolt itself.

Looks to me like a flex head ratcheting wrench would have worked as well. A regular wrench, not so much.

No way a regular wrench would have worked. The hinge has a tall vertical part that would make a regular wrench impossible. A flex head ( that I do not own, yet ) MIGHT have worked but it would of had to of been damn near close to 90*

Crowsfoot would fit it too. You could put an extension on the crowsfoot and then put on a breaker bar or handle.

Yes crows feet absolutely would have worked. But I do not own them either.

 

[rlitman]

...

No way a regular wrench would have worked. The hinge has a tall vertical part that would make a regular wrench impossible. A flex head ( that I do not own, yet ) MIGHT have worked but it would of had to of been damn near close to 90*



Yes crows feet absolutely would have worked. But I do not own them either.

You know what you have to do now.
Binge tool buying time!

 

[619DioFan]

Thanks a lot K-Dog. now I have to buy extra shallow sockets to accompany my shallow , mid length , deep sockets. it just never , ever , ever ends.

 

[K-Dog]

Thanks a lot K-Dog. now I have to buy extra shallow sockets to accompany my shallow , mid length , deep sockets. it just never , ever , ever ends.

I am not sorry

It happens to all of us.
If not this site would not exist.