Tips and Tricks

One thing I know is that the members here have all kinds of restoration tricks and tips that are shared all the time. My idea to start this thread, seeing we have so many enthusiastic, and eager new members, is a thread to share some of the tips and tricks that some of us have learned. I will start it out with some simple painting mechanisms I have created . The first is so you can paint bolts, washers, etc. without having to flip them on paper or cardboard. Its a bend insulation hanger, with lighter wire bent and taped to it . Then the old faithful piece of cardboard for screws and bolts. Thus begins the thread of Tips and Tricks....I can't wait to see the response here.

If you have a small blast cabinet, you can clean up your screws and bolts by punching holes in a old tire inner tube and inserting the items in the holes. Blast one side and then filp over and do the other. The nuts and washers can be strung on a piece of wire and also done as a single item.  Have a scraper close by and if you are blasting and run into a run or thick paint, scrape it quick and off it comes. Also keep the item in contact with the lower screen to ground it. If you don't, static charge builds up and you get stimulated once in a while . John

Those are some good ones! C'mon guys give it up......

Sharpies, ziplock baggies, coffee cans , a notebook, and your digital camera set to close up are your friends when taking any project apart. They become your best buds when reassembly time comes around. Especially if it is months or years later.

If you need to do an oil seal on the T case and don't want to remove the shaft from the middle ( output shafts). My truck caps for the rear axle. I think they are roughly the same size as the jeep ones. ( the cap that goes over the axle on the hub) take that and it is the perfect tool to hit with a hammer to install new oil seals. It is the perfect size to fit inside the lip and its wide enough to get a good solid surface area for the seal and not bend it.

Bad breath is better than no breath at all!  To patch a small hole roll brazing rod like a snail the size of the hole then place it on duck tape to hold from the backside, tack it in 2 places then fill in by brazing over it then grind it down.  Or you can cut a round piece of a coffee can duck tape it on the backside of the whole and solder in the hole then sand it down for primer.

I used coat hangers  to fill in all the holes in my jeep.  They weld in very nice and you do not have to get it as hot.

Welding stores have bare steel welding rods that are better than coathangers.

Edited by PhillipM - 23 Dec. 2012 at 5:59am