Chopped! The GJ User Modified Tools Thread

[Oldtuleguy]

Water pump sprocket holder for gm ecotec engines I made before a tool was available. Turned an 8 hour job into a 2 1/2 hour job.

 

[damon18]

Great job tool guy!

50 years from now when someone finds that it's going to be a good guessing game topic about what is it?

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[damon18]

Indestro fans please avert your eyes while I present...

Home made flare nut wrench!

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[Oldtuleguy]

I sold about 20 of them on ebay before the tool came out. The ones I sold were painted and came with the bolts and instructions for use. Must have worked ok as I got no complaints. Also sold a bunch of daewoo water pump wrenches for awhile.

 

[RubiconJK]

Here is a link to a post on the Plomb thread for a recent find that is possibly worth of sharing here also. This is a very well, user made flare nut or fuel line socket. It started off life as a run of the mill 5212 Plomb 3/8 drive, 3/8 12 pt socket until a skilled craftsman welded an extension (or something similar) into the working end and then part of a 13/16" 12 pt socket to the opposite end before finishing it off very nicely. Based on the comparison of the inside broaching of the 13/16 end I don't believe that end is Plomb.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=8503709&postcount=8632

 

[dubdoc]

I have a 1981 VW Rabbit Pickup that I love. I built a super hot mechanical injection pump turbodiesel for it. After about 3 years of use, starting got more difficult, so I knew I needed glow plugs. Here is where the fun starts. All wrenches are too short to reach from the top, and it is just about impossible from under the pump. I bought 2 ratcheting 12mm wrenches, cut and welded to make the green handled monster seen here. Works like a charm.

 

[Kev442]

Many moons ago I bought the small and large sets of HF's cheapest thinking I would be hacking them up left and right. No usa wrenches were going to meet their maker on my watch!
It's happened twice in 25 years. Here's one of them. Changing a water pump and didn't have the right size metric. Decided against driving around to buy one when the HFs were sitting there.

 

[Outlawmws]

One I did about a year or so ago. I needed a wrench that was neither a std SAE or an even metric, and I had this stamped out Hazat that was too big; so add spacers, right? -only then it was too small, so I filed it out by hand and silver soldered the brass spaces in, then dressed it down and it fits great.

Its for a special 1 gallon (obsolete) aircraft fire extinguisher that I converted into a wash station for camping. This is something I can bring with the tank as the only other wrench I had that could be made to fit was a 15 or 16" adjustable! WAY to much weight, and awkward as well!

 

[Targa68]

One I did about a year or so ago. I needed a wrench that was neither a std SAE or an even metric, and I had this stamped out Hazat that was too big; so add spacers, right? -only then it was too small, so I filed it out by hand and silver soldered the brass spaces in, then dressed it down and it fits great.

Its for a special 1 gallon (obsolete) aircraft fire extinguisher that I converted into a wash station for camping. This is something I can bring with the tank as the only other wrench I had that could be made to fit was a 15 or 16" adjustable! WAY to much weight, and awkward as well!

This is originally a Hazet special wrench made for working on BMW's in the late 50's and early 60's
From the 1963 catalog.

 

[d42jeep]

I’m surprised that Lugz knew about Carll wrenches. I found this one at an estate sale on Friday. The jaw is reversible so it can be an adjustable alligator wrench. Not really modified though but unusual.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I’m surprised that Lugz knew about Carll wrenches.

Not sure why you're surprised (you've seen my Oddfellows thread, right?), but that's a nice find! I think I've seen a version that rotates into an offset position, which is what davewo's Craftsman creation reminded me of on page 3, post #55, but I can't remember where.

 

[d42jeep]

Not sure why you're surprised (you've seen my Oddfellows thread, right?), but that's a nice find! I think I've seen a version that rotates into an offset position, which is what davewo's Craftsman creation reminded me of on page 3, post #55, but I can't remember where.

I forgot about that thread. I should have posted the Carll wrench there. He did patent a wrench with a rotating head later on.
-Don

 

[bonneyman]

I needed a lockring removal tool for an old bicycle freewheel, and fashioned one out of an appropriate-sized pipe fitting and ground and filed the right profile..

 

[Mintgrun]

3/8" U-Tee

 

[MR.X]

So I'm putting this here even though I don't think it's been modified. It just looks like a mod. 41-W-3336-300 WW2 Ford tank engine spark plug tool. Has a cut out on one end I assume for the plug wire terminal?

 

[2oolhound]

I had a bad scare a few weeks back. We have a few big fasteners on some equipment at work that require 3/4" drive but no 3/4" stuff other than specific sockets there to deal with them. So, they always ask me to bring in a drive tool. I have S-o, Hazet ratchets and an antique Hazet which is part of an old antique set in a fitted metal case. That's the one I loaned them last time then 3 weeks later I'd realized I never got it back. It was like losing your 1st child. I thought that's how we lose tools, loan them out and forget about them then can't remember where you loaned them.

I made this drive adapter so I don't have to bring my good 3/4" drive tools to work any more. I works great with a 3/4" ratcheting wrench on the end for the stuff we do at work.

I just welded a 3/4" nut onto a 1" section of 3/4" bar stock. (I plug welded it first through the hole and also beveled the bar stock and tacked all sides of the nut). I also drilled for the 1/4" ball bearing and tapped the hole so I could add a spring and grub screw on the back side to hold it on the socket. It got me out in the home shop for a while at least.

 

[d42jeep]

Here is a short combination wrench that has kind of a Plomb look about it. I found it at a sale and kind of liked it.
-Don

 

[gayler]

Not sure if I should post this or not because it wasn’t a tool to begin with but here it is. It is for breaking into vehicles with lift up door handles and vertical door lock rods. It started life an antenna on someone’s car.

 

[ChefRex]

I have a few I have modified though the years,






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[Bigblockyeti]

I had a bad scare a few weeks back. We have a few big fasteners on some equipment at work that require 3/4" drive but no 3/4" stuff other than specific sockets there to deal with them. So, they always ask me to bring in a drive tool.

Who is your employer?

 

[Arne73]

Used this a few weeks ago to ream 3/4 rigid conduit.
It looks to have been forge welded to fit a brace. The "SRX" marking is the only one I could find.
It was in a box of old tools from my grandfather/great grandfather. GGF was a blacksmith & steam hammer operator at the Pullman factory in the 1890s to 1915.

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[d42jeep]

This wrench came recently in an eBay lot. I decided that it would be more useful if I straightened it out. A little work with a vise and a small sledge got it back into reasonable shape.
-Don

 

[nadogail]

In Japan '72 on the way to Vietnam, at the Yokosuka Naval base, a rigger came aboard to remove a pedestal for a large radar antenna. He carried a 12" Crescent wrench with a hammer head welded on.

To date I have yet to see another Crescent Hammer like that one.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Found a couple of interesting homemade jobbies in a vintage toolbox this morning at the flea.

The first (see Pics 1, 2, & 3) is a 1/2-inch drive screwdriver bit. Although it's clearly brazed from two disparate original parts, it has a commercial marking of sorts on it. Lightly and crudely stamped.

Verbatim: SE-3201 T.H.C. SC. DR. / SELF-LOCKING SC. / H.M.CO. U-S.A.

The first line appears to be a model number and name. Not sure about the T.H.C., but SCrew DRiver. The second appears to be the intended application. And the third is a company name.

The second (see Pic 4 & 5) are routine Slip-Joint Pliers with an Extra Long reach.

 

[d42jeep]

Here is a nice Thorsen wrench that has been subjected to heat torture and a couple of modifications have been done to this pair of Channellock lineman’s pliers. I’m not sure why.
-Don

 

[Outlawmws]

I always figured those finger hooks were to help keep them from falling out of a guys hands at rest. Maybe for when wearing gloves? Be a pain to drop them while up on a ladder... Possibly a bigger pain for those below!

 

[Old Radar]

I thought Don was talking about the cylindrical mod on the other handle.

 

[d42jeep]

I thought Don was talking about the cylindrical mod on the other handle.

I was. The hooked handle may be original.
-Don

 

[Outlawmws]

That I have no clue on. Solid?

 

[harley jim]

Found this jewel on fb

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[Outlawmws]

Holy crud; looks like something put together to win a bet!

 

[Provincial]

The hook handle on the pliers is for tying wire to hold rebar when pouring reinforced concrete. They are marketed as "Iron Workers Pliers."

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Found this jewel on fb

Holy crud; looks like something put together to win a bet!

Believe it or not, I've seen similar antiques. I don't own one, but I've seen something similar once. Back in the first all-in-one era. The guy wanted a Ben Franklin for it and wouldn't budge, so I passed. I'll see if I can find a photo or ad.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I've shown these before in their own threads, but this (see Pic 1) is the type of thing I mean, especially the one at top, which is THAYER'S PATENT July 24, 1862. Hammer, claw, nail puller, 6-inch rule, and screwdriver on the other end. (It's missing a wooden handle.) Combination tools were very popular with rovers, tinkers and farmers. Nearly all of them had a hammer, screwdriver, and wrench. See Pics 2 & 3 for Garrick and Ulrich examples.

I never did chase down the OEM for the wrench, saw, tap handle jobbie I have, which is a completely different kind of all-in-one animal.

Anyway, that's where my mind goes looking at the contraption harley jim found.

Something about the antiques make them seem less gimmicky.

 

[Ton ton]

I come from another way of thinking. Tools are a starting point for making something that will get the job done, whether faster, easier, or just being able to do it. If I'm in a situation where a machine is down and the correct tool to get it going is not variable then modifying an existing tool is what needs to be done. Sacrificing a wrench to get a tractor moving through harvest again or a production line moving that is costing $15/second in downtime than a wrench becomes very cheap in comparison. I have no compunction in 'ruining' a tool to get the job done. I ask forgiveness of the future collectors of something that is common today that I have modified.

Here is a ratchet I modified. It is one of my goto tools.

lg
no neat sig line

Cute ratchet.

 

[Modern Garage]

Found this jewel on fb

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I looked at this and thought "Hmm, I wonder why the builder settled on a phillips screwdriver?" when I realized it may be a cut-off 4-in-1 screwdriver shank and tip so now you have a 1/4 or 5/16 socket and a variety of possible screwdrivers. Genius!
And who hasn't used the trick of tapping on the screwdriver handle with a hammer while trying to loosen a stubborn screw - it's all right there...
Oh, wait a minute...

Joe

 

[Provincial]

I made a tool to remove the choke cable/mechanism from a Mikuni carburetor on an ATV. It has to reach into a recess and engage a hex head on the mechanism, and slip over the actuating cable while doing this.

I made it by cutting a slot in a 1/4" drive metric socket to clear the cable, making a handle from flat bar, then MIG welding it together.

This makes a difficult job easy, and unless some part of the machine is in the way, it can accomplish the task with the carb installed. Before I made it, on one machine I had to remove the gas tank in order to work on the carb. Now I can remove the carb by only removing the seat and air cleaner housing.

 

[SuperCat]

Saw this DIY adjustable pin wrench made from an adjustable wrench on Google while looking for something else, looks pretty straightforward to make. (Website has a ton of DIY tools):
https://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-adjustable-pin-wrench

 

[SuperCat]

DIY custom tools from internet - looks like something I might do in the future on day one with a brand new welder (lol):

 

[RTM]

Dang, now that is a good usable idea. Not like there aren’t spare wrenches laying around, just not the Diamalloy........