Not a tool kit you often need..but it helps

[RED-Z06 2,128]

A few years ago I had a customer mower, shaft driven deck...that had a gearbox with a female square pipe plug and it wasn't 1/4, 3/8, or 1/2"...the kit with male and female was cheap enough on ama zon, so i got it.  While removing my 702 hubs today i was adjusting my vice grips and thought Hey Wait...sure enough i had one that fit.

[8ntruck 6,399]

Probably much better than a 12 point socket.

[RED-Z06 2,128]

1 minute ago, 8ntruck said:

Probably much better than a 12 point socket.

Its a good positive fit, no chance of slippage even on these old bolts

[ebinmaine 63,270]

Niiiiice to have the right tools around when ya need em. 

 

When looking at "new to us" tools Trina and I consider whether we believe we'd use them again or whether we should pay a pro to do the work. 

 

[squonk 38,980]

8 point sockets. I have a complete set

 

[rjg854 10,760]

1 hour ago, squonk said:

8 point sockets. I have a complete set

 

That's nice to know, in case I'm in need   

[squonk 38,980]

23 minutes ago, rjg854 said:

That's nice to know, in case I'm in need   

Ya never know when you need to remove a 1" pipe plug and need a breaker bar with a pipe on the end of it! 

[Handy Don 10,656]

Yesterday I rescued my next door neighbor who’d gotten a stick tightly jammed between the impeller and its housing on his gigantic walk-behind snowblower. (Who needs an 16hp snowblower with headlights and heated handgrips for a 75’ driveway?)

 

Correct tools? A piece of heavy wire looped behind the stick and wrapped around a piece of thick dowel.

A couple of strong yanks and it came out. Took longer to set up than to do the removal.

 

Then I discovered he’d also broken his chute control lever. That’ll be today’s fix!

[ebinmaine 63,270]

37 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

(Who needs an 16hp snowblower with headlights and heated handgrips for a 75’ driveway?)

Gotta keep up with the Joneses. 

[Handy Don 10,656]

2 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Gotta keep up with the Joneses. 

In our neighborhood, they ARE the Joneses! Oh, the stories...

[Tonytoro416 952]

I have a few sets of 8 point and pipe plug sockets.  Need both internal and external though.  Work great 

[Lee1977 6,245]

5 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

In our neighborhood, they ARE the Joneses! Oh, the stories...

You mean you don't have a snowblower on a 520-H, C-195, or a D-200.

[Handy Don 10,656]

3 minutes ago, Lee1977 said:

You mean you don't have a snowblower on a 520-H, C-195, or a D-200.

Nope.

1973 Ariens 6hp, 24” walk behind. No lights. No heated handgrips. No dead-man clutch or augur release. No “power turning”.

One neighbor across the street has a tracked Honda!

[squonk 38,980]

1 hour ago, Handy Don said:

 

 

Correct tools? A piece of heavy wire looped behind the stick and wrapped around a piece of thick dowel.

A couple of strong yanks and it came out. Took longer to set up than to do the removal.

 

 

We had a heating valve fail for the CEO's office at work las Wednesday. I knew where a spare valve was. It was in a filing cabinet in a mechanical room. What I didn't know was someone had broken the lock mechanism on the cabinet and all the doors were locked. I was about to get the angle grinder and cut the cabinet apart to get it. Whilst it would have been more exciting to do that I looked into the lock and saw a rod with a tiny tole that looked like the rod I needed to activate the release. I took a welding rod and bent a tiny hook on it and engaged the rod and got the drawer open. The right tool for the job! 

Edited January 21 by squonk

[squonk 38,980]

45 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

In our neighborhood, they ARE the Joneses! Oh, the stories...

Sounds like my retired engineer neighbor. He has returned more vehicles, tools and equipment than I can count. He bought a top of the line Simplicty snowblower a couple of years ago. It went back to the shop at least 10 times. My wife and I would gawk out the window watching the shop truck coming and going. He had a decent older blower but had to have a new one. He finally made them buy it back. I asked him in the spring what the deal was and he says "i didn't like the way it backed up! "    

[Easton Rich 178]

25 minutes ago, squonk said:

Sounds like my retired engineer neighbor. He has returned more vehicles, tools and equipment than I can count. He bought a top of the line Simplicty snowblower a couple of years ago. It went back to the shop at least 10 times. My wife and I would gawk out the window watching the shop truck coming and going. He had a decent older blower but had to have a new one. He finally made them buy it back. I asked him in the spring what the deal was and he says "i didn't like the way it backed up! "    

Oh,….oh my

[Pullstart 59,821]

On 1/21/2024 at 9:20 AM, squonk said:

8 point sockets. I have a complete set

 

Yeah, I’ve had a set of those for quite some time.  I keep them with my ratchets and extensions, not my sockets.  Especially I don’t keep them near my 10mm sockets, I don’t want them cross breeding 8 point sockets with 10mm legs!

Edited January 22 by Pullstart

[8ntruck 6,399]

13 hours ago, squonk said:

8 point sockets. I have a complete set

 

Come to think of it, I've got a set of those in my socket drawer.

[Lagersolut 613]

10 hours ago, Handy Don said:

Yesterday I rescued my next door neighbor who’d gotten a stick tightly jammed between the impeller and its housing on his gigantic walk-behind snowblower. (Who needs an 16hp snowblower with headlights and heated handgrips for a 75’ driveway?)

 

Correct tools? A piece of heavy wire looped behind the stick and wrapped around a piece of thick dowel.

A couple of strong yanks and it came out. Took longer to set up than to do the removal.

 

Then I discovered he’d also broken his chute control lever. That’ll be today’s fix!

 

Once upon a time when I had a walk behind 11hp we found a 50ft garden hose somebody forgot to put away - must have caught the end almost  every foot wrapped around the auger ( almost like it belonged in there ) before it broke the shear pins  - push it in the garage fire up the heat - this isn't a quick fix    had a few choice words for myself .

[ebinmaine 63,270]

5 hours ago, Lagersolut said:

found a 50ft garden hose

I've done that with just a few feet of hose. Good times. 😅

[squonk 38,980]

Superstorm of 93. B-I-L are cleaning out a friends driveway as he was at work and couldn't get out. B-I-L is running a old walk beehind Ariens. I noticed one of the shear pins had broken. Wondering what broke it I found the remnants of our friends snow shovel in the pile of snow the Ariens had deposited. 

[lynnmor 6,802]

I was helping my SIL work on his off brand tractor and needed an eight point socket, he had none.  I thought it would be a nice Christmas gift for him if I bought him a set but after searching the crazy prices I decided that I didn't like him THAT much.  Those sockets are hard to come by but this thread had me searching the bay again and found a NOS Craftsman set for cheap and bought it, hopefully the set is better than the junk Craftsman tools I bought at Ace Hardware.

[Handy Don 10,656]

Loads of great snowblower tales. Remember the James Bond movie with the bad guy ending up in the snowblower? For me it was the newspaper. My wife happened to be watching at the time and she cracked up laughing.

[pfrederi 17,164]

If you are caught short remember that 12 pt sockets will work on the square heads.  for example the 3/8 square head on hub set screws can use a 7/16 12 pt socket.

[Wayne0 299]

On 1/22/2024 at 4:24 AM, ebinmaine said:

I've done that with just a few feet of hose. Good times. 😅

And the dog's run with the mower deck!