Tools Round-Up: Post Unusual/Home made/Interesting/Useful Tool Solutions Here

[A4SoftWalker]

For over 5 years now I've been working on my b6.

Many of us here like to do our own work too. It helps:
>> save money,
>>make sure you get the job done right, and
>>for personal satisfaction of being hands on with car maintenance and improvement mods.

Often I find myself, like many of us, in the middle of a quickie job that can be made A LOT easier with either custom, snagged, or specialized tools.

This often leaves me wondering, "Why the heck no one ever mentioned something?"

This thread seeks to help everyone by serving as a repository for learning about tools and smart solutions that are OUTSIDE the usual wrench, socket, screwdriver, and pliers.

I will start us off with 3 of my own:

#1 Removing axle 10mm triple-square bolts BY YOURSELF without assistant to step on the brake pedal AND car on jackstands:

Normally this requires an assistant to either step on the brake pedal to prevent the axle from rotating or that the opposite axle of the car be on the ground to serve the same purpose. Then the axle is rotated to position each bolt so that it can be loosened/tightened.

My Solution: Some long bolts either from previous suspension job parts as shown here or if they are long enough just screw your current wheel-bolts all the way through till they contact the wheel-bearing housing. Both sides of car up on jackstands to allow convenient movement from one side to another.

Pics showing workaround for removing axle bolts:







#2 Inserting control arms into the suspension uprights/wheel bearing housing:

Let's face it sometimes the damn upper control arms and tie-rods are a pain in the ass to swap out/reinstall.
The correct Audi/VW tool to press them in costs hundreds of $$$.
For less than 50 bucks I purchased this little gem. A bar clamp/spreader:



Usage is a little tricky and it doesn't work seamlessly but when u have access to 600-800lbs of squeezing pressure NOW THATS A TOOL !!!
It sure did bring a smile to my face as the ball joint ends slid into place after my basketball grabbers failed to generate the force to push them home.

Pics showing Irwin QuickGrip XP600 in action:









#3 Fender rolling tool:

Easily my most expensive tool to date; this one pretty much speaks for itself and it sure beats using a baseball bat, lowering the car on the tire, or other imprecise method.
Without trying too hard I was able to get an extra 1/2-inch of wheel well space by using this device and a heat gun.
You can rent all you need from PureMS but I decided to purchase mine and I sure am glad I did.

Bolted up to hub and ready to go tool comes with bolts for VW and Audi hubs - yes there is a difference.



Pics showing fender roller measurements and tool in action:



Measuring point used for front fender shown here. For the rear fender I used the strut body:



Before and after fender measurements:





Thanks in advance for sharing.
Hoping this helps everyone - enjoy!!!

[Peacob]

God damn i want that fender roller

[pape]

here is one I like to share:



a 3 leg puller can be used to press in and out the hub into the wheel bearing.

and you don't need no special tools to do your inner tie rods

[Snooter]

Subscribed! This is going to be an awesome thread, I'll add to it at some point.

[bondar1989]

That fender roller works magic.

[Dan[FN]6262]

you'd be surprised at what all you can use a 3ft extention for.

instead of using your method for #1, a 3ft extention will reach the axle bolts. then you just grab the air ratchet and go to town. only takes about 5 mins to do both sides

[A4SoftWalker]

Excellent Pape for sourcing the 3-arm pitman puller method for doing the expensive wheel bearing job. I have always wondered if this would do the trick for our cars.
Another great find here for Pape with the basic plumber's/monkey wrench for the inner-tie rod job. I paid BIG money $384 (burned into my memory) to get this done at a shop I hate going to. There is an Harbor Fright Inner Tie-rod tool for $50 - shown below. I would use the monkey wrench any day over this... (I've also read that good solid tie-wraps work well to hold the rubber/plastic boot on after removing the metal single use ones.)



Also those of us that grew up using tie-straps in the military can use these in place of the Irving rod clamp I wrote about earlier to help get the ctrl arms into their positions in the wheel bearing uprights (Just apply tension - careful not to bend your ctrl arms using these):



Dan[Fn]5857 - for those of us with power/air tools the 3ft extension rod for use to get at the triple-square axle bolts is good to know. I only combine my extensions to give me 18-inch or so length. Manual wrenching is different with turning forces in this area.

PS: Another use for the Irwin rod clamp is to push in the pistons for those of us with aftermarket BBKs when doing brake pad swaps (non-twisting piston retraction).

[A4SoftWalker]

2-jaw puller can function as a windshield wiper puller.
Cheap workaround for those of us struggling in the snow states to get the wiper arms off the car for aesthetic areo-wiper mods and engine overhauls by the book. Has other uses too such as removing flywheels or pulleys.
$15 or less.



For a little more moola u can get this nice piece from E-Bay. Plus it serves 2 purposes - wipers/battery terminals (Made in the US of A too !!!):

[A4SoftWalker]

Here is something Dan[FN]5857 came up with to get the valve springs out.
A donated valve spring compressor modified with a deep socket. I'll let him explain in his own words:

My friend actually gave it to me. I have no idea where to get one. It's old and has built quite a few heads haha.

I had to make a bit out of a deep well 7/8in socket for it to work with the 20V head though.


here is what it looks like.





Here is the bit that I "made" for it.

Keep the "wonder-tools" coming guys

[alpinestar180]

THis thread is Awesome. I have done so many of these!.

[old guy]

A word of caution on pape's suggestion to use a wheel puller to remove the wheel bearing from the hub. I just changed out two hubs. One of them probably could have been accomplished with a wheel puller. The other one took every bit of my 20 ton press along with a little heat from a Propane torch to get it apart. If you are doing a wheel bearing replacement be sure you have an alternative to the puller available if necessary.

[dougyfresh]

I have my own (1.8T) engine crankshaft holder I made of a some bar stock. I prop it up against the frame rail and then can tighten the crank pulley bolt to the proper torque.

I also have an assortment of allen / 1/4" drive sockets / wrenches and such that I modified for those hard to reach locations like the 6spd shifter assembly.

You can do a lot on these cars with basic hand tools.

[A4SoftWalker]

A word of caution on pape's suggestion to use a wheel puller to remove the wheel bearing from the hub. I just changed out two hubs. One of them probably could have been accomplished with a wheel puller. The other one took every bit of my 20 ton press along with a little heat from a Propane torch to get it apart. If you are doing a wheel bearing replacement be sure you have an alternative to the puller available if necessary.

Good note there old guy. The corroded or stuborn bearing uprights will require more muscle or a change of strategy

Here is another alternative for wheel bearing removal available from Harbor Freight or ECS Tuning - Enjoy:



OR

[old guy]

I went with option #2 ;-)

[MikTip]

Ding!

[MikTip]

My favorite tools! Me lift and gearbox jack!

[MikTip]

Oh!

[MikTip]

The plastic cooler tool!

[Kittrell]

You think you're so cool with your fancy pants lift!

[MikTip]

Hub in!

[old guy]

The plastic cooler tool!

Hey!! I've used that one! 'Cept mine was an Igloo instead of a Coleman.

[MikTip]

Springs....no problem!

[MikTip]

You think you're so cool with your fancy pants lift!

No...just makes life much nicer than lying on the cardboard and concrete driveway! BTDT!

[old guy]

No...just makes life much nicer than lying on the cardboard and concrete driveway! BTDT!

I'm sure! I changed out my clutch (twice) with a set of jack stands and a floor jack. Sucked big time. I will gladly pay $500-$600 to a competent tech before I do another one like that again.

[poneman]

Here's my homemade crank holder like Doug mentioned above...

[A4SoftWalker]

To Mik Tip for showing the following:
(I guess I have some catching up to do on getting some more McGuyver stuff posted up here - hahaha.)

1>>Wheel bearing splitter in action - always wondered how that deal worked
2>>Gearbox jack with tranny strapped down - Do I see a spec clutch housing pressure plate? I'm lovin my stg 3+. Funny how after looking at my 5-spd tranny last week I instantly knew that was a 6-spd would not have known the difference before.
3>>Wheel bearing puller - We would have liked an action shot it was lying on the ground in the shot with the shop lamp? Assuming it works similar to pape's 3-arm puller?
4>>Ice box holder for front lock carrier - Hahaa good little workout if the cold beer was in there. I used my folding creeper that doubles as a shop chair; perfect height.
5>>A-frame hydraulic press in action - noticed a 6-ton got the job done here; oldguy mentioned a 20-ton. I"m thinking both are fine enough for the job?
6>>The much $$$ but Bentley recommended Schwaben spring compressor in action - Excellent for our tight quarters rear springs to avoid messing with the subframe bolts OR struggling with 2 sets of spring compressors like I did.

[A4SoftWalker]

to dougyfresh and to poneman for clarifying the crankshaft holder that I could not make heads-or-tails of in Doug's description. This is a terrific idea. Seems like this can be made to work in/outside the engine bay to help tighten the crank pulley to specifications.

Doug VERY interested to see pics of the modified sockets/wrenches to give folks a head's up as to what can be done.

I have my own (1.8T) engine crankshaft holder I made of a some bar stock. I prop it up against the frame rail and then can tighten the crank pulley bolt to the proper torque.

I also have an assortment of allen / 1/4" drive sockets / wrenches and such that I modified for those hard to reach locations like the 6spd shifter assembly.

You can do a lot on these cars with basic hand tools.

Here's my homemade crank holder like Doug mentioned above...

[A4SoftWalker]

What I've been busy working with today.

Engine Crane and load balancer in their element...(Car is a totalled parts car).

The Ultimate DIY tools in action for engine rebuilders. Hoping this is great inspiration for the weekend wrenchers.

Engine Crane set at 1/2 ton


Load Balancer doing its job to help tilt engine/tranny to clear front subframe


How I secured chain to block for lifting motor/tranny. I used an old suspension pinch bolt and nut.

To prevent the chain from riding to either end and swinging off the nut/bolt ends I used two shorter nut/bolt combinations on top+below the lifting bolt.
This served to keep the lifting force balanced evenly on the bolt and strapped the chain around a narrow portion of the bolt instead of spreading out as u can see... I lifted slowly and smoothly avoiding rapid sudden jerks and jolts.

Disclaimer::: This is my own solution and I have no knowledge of the strength of the bolts I used. I made sure to be careful and not venture anywhere under the lifting mechanism/load. If u are in doubt of the load capacity of ur chain attachment to the engine block use store-bought rated parts to do this job.../Disclaimer


Rear Engine Hook


Front Engine Hook

[A4SoftWalker]

to old guy for an idea I've used since I was in high school.
He posted this up in another thread.
I only just this year got a pipe from my local exhaust shop that I carry around to do this with after all these years.
Sorry old guy I couldn't send u a PM to ask your permission... Here it is in his own words:

Go to Lowes and pick up a section of 3/4" x 36" pipe. Makes a great breaker bar. I used mine last week to remove my front axle bolt. Clicky click

[A4SoftWalker]

Got eggs???





Here is an easy way to organize ur parts when working on ur car or anything u are taking apart - enjoy:

[rollerton]

I posted this in the not long back:
Not b6 or Audi specific, but shit, saves so much time on trans services. I've tried a dozen different hand pumps etc over the years..they all make a mess and take forever, especially with thick GL4/5 trans fluid and worse with the 7qts of ATF for the tiptronic that you have to lay under the car while its running and pump in. Lame.
Another use for this is for flushing heater cores. Blow out the heater core, then grab your bucket of "CLR" /solvent, run BOTH inlet and outlet into the bucket, and let it run for an hour or two. $5 drill pump from home any hardware store.
Anyway, my contribution for a while:

[A4SoftWalker]

^^^I like this attachment there could have more than one use for our vehicle fluids but running a drill for ONE HOUR seems like one outstanding feat.
Either way to rollerton for bringing this very useful device to our attention.

[Turbavanttro]

Good stuff. This is the best AZ B6 thread in a looooong time. Wish I had more to add but you've already covered the things I've done.

Thanks guys, this info is so valuable to all the DIYers. Sticky?

[heateris]

I also used the drill pump to flush my heater core. I also used compressed air to help push everything out.

I posted this in the not long back:
Not b6 or Audi specific, but shit, saves so much time on trans services. I've tried a dozen different hand pumps etc over the years..they all make a mess and take forever, especially with thick GL4/5 trans fluid and worse with the 7qts of ATF for the tiptronic that you have to lay under the car while its running and pump in. Lame.
Another use for this is for flushing heater cores. Blow out the heater core, then grab your bucket of "CLR" /solvent, run BOTH inlet and outlet into the bucket, and let it run for an hour or two. $5 drill pump from home any hardware store.
Anyway, my contribution for a while:

[A4SoftWalker]

Two useful boxes for engine re-builders:



Piston Ring Filer:





Valve Spring Compressor: