I love tools. Whenever I am dragooned into a shopping expedition by
SHMBO, I head for the tool section as soon as it can be managed gracefully.
There is something right, proper -- even harmonious about using the proper
tool for the job and seeing a tough job rendered easy by just that proper
tool.
This weekend, I was enjoying employing a new tool purchased just last
week to remove the harmonic balancer on my 235 when I ran under a cloud on
an otherwise sunny day. The second bolt refused to thread correctly and even
threatened to cross thread. Ah Hades, a snag!
This could have been an ugly situation, but for my favorite tool of
the day -- the old tap & die set. Many of you will know the value of such a
set, and you will find nothing new here. But I'll bet that many of us have
been befuddled by the dreaded Stripped Thread Syndrome and may not be aware
of just how helpful this tool can be.
In this situation, a 3/8 - 16 tap quickly straightened the threads in
the damper and the equivalent tap polished the threads on the extractor
bolts. The bolts now hand threaded into the damper and my new $14 puller
worked as advertised!
One of my favorite jobs for this favorite of tools is to chase
threads on any mechanical assembly before screwing the parts back together.
Nice clean lubricated threads allow an accurate torque setting, and things
just seem to fall together without struggle. Ask me on another day and I will
have another favorite tool, but for this day -- Kudos to the honorable tap &
die set!
Paul O'Neil, Hudson29@aol.com
1951 Chevrolet 3600 Pickup Project, See it at:
The Poor Man's Advanced Design Tech Tips Page
http://home.earthlink.net/~conntest47/
Fullerton, California USA
AEROMARK - Need Rubber Stamps or Signs? See:
http://hometown.aol.com/hudson29/myhomepage/index.html
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