Home Mechanic Tips and Tricks

For most people, the motivation behind being a home mechanic tends to lie somewhere between the desire to work on your ride and the inability to pay for a professional for the work. No matter your motivation, it always helps to have some insight on tricks of the trade.

Jake Orr

Updated: 20 Aug 2016

Here are some tricks you may or may not have already known:

The Double Wrench

This trick is a simple yet effective way to get some more leverage in a tight space. With a simple pair of spanners, you can effectively latch the closed end of the second wrench to the crescent of the first, giving you more twisting force on stubborn nuts and bolts. While this can get you out of tricky situations, be mindful of keeping the leverage straight on the direction you want to turn. Anything off-center will almost surely result in some bloody knuckles and cursing.

The Rubber Band Aid

Stripped-out screws have a strong tendency to pop up at the worst possible moments (and locations). There’s nothing worse than totally boring a screw out beyond feasible use, so if you do come across one that you think won’t survive another round, give this trick a shot. Simply stretch a rubber band across the top of the screw, then use the screwdriver as you normally would. The rubber band helps take up some of the play in the screw, and will hopefully give you the extra edge to get it out for replacement.

The Mechanic’s Field Dressing

It’s inevitable. At some point, you’re going to slip up and make your finger bleed. Obviously, having access to real bandages/first aid supplies is optimal, but in the likely scenario that you don’t have these things, one of the best approaches is the infamous mechanic’s field dressing. All you really need is a shop towel and some tape (preferably electric tape). Simply cover your battle wound with the paper towel, and tape the living daylights out of it so you’re good to fight on.

The Magnet Vacuum

What’s a home car project without an enormous mess at the end? One of the tricker things to clean up if you’ve been doing a lot of grinding or metal work is all the metal shavings that end up literally everywhere. For this one, simply put a strong magnet in a plastic bowl or container, and skim it along the floor to pick up the shavings. Once you’ve picked up all you can, move it over the trash can and pull up on the magnet, letting the shavings drop into the trash.

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Comments

Get a car

[DELETED]

2.Try to fix it.

3.a . You will finish to fix it. 3.b You will fail, and broke sth.
4.a. You feel like you’re the best mechanic. 4.b Go to a service and have it fixed.
5.b Congratulations, at least you’ve just learnt sth.

Organisation is key
If you keep all your bolts/screws/wrenches/… properly organised you make it so much easier for yourself.

Clear bags and write-on tape helps

But but but, HAMMERS!

Red colour is known to have the highest intensity amongst other colours. Tie a red coloured thread on to the 10mm socket and tie to the tool box… and it’ll guarantee that you’ll never have to look around the house for it. 😅

Or just put your tool away were they’re meant to be.

If a screw refuses to move it’s possible to heat it up.
(as long as you don’t set your car on fire)

If you have multiple bolts holding something in place - ie a wheel, and one bolt is seized solid tighten the other bolts a bit to relive pressure on that one and it will make it a lot easier to get off,

Too cheap to buy an oil pan? Next time you refill it, take the old tub and cut out on of the sides, low profile enough to slide under, and usually the exact right volume for your old oil.

Too cheap to buy a funnel? Take another old oil tub and chop off the top half and turn it upside down.

Don’t go cheap on your tools! Plenty of brands even offer lifetime warranties on theirs now too if you’re willing to spend the cash - buy cheap and you’ll buy twice. In this case, splurge and buy once!