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

19 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.

Have anything to add? Comment below!

Comments

Don’t have a funnel for oil? Do you have an old soft drink bottle laying around and a pair of scissors? Cut the bottom off the bottle, lower the neck into the oil cap hole and pour away. I like to use a 2 litre bottle so you have more funnel and a wider area to pour the oil in. Best of all, they’re re-usable, or if it gets dirty, just find another