New tools!

[BNielsen]

I've found a rope or strap around the center of the tread to force the bead out makes re-seating those tires much easier. Even had luck using a 12v compressor on occasion.

I got lucky enough I was able to squeeze the tire and get it reseated, I had a can of ether on standby if I couldn't get it by hand.

Noted. In such cases I've always been near a Cheetah.

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I'm hoping once I build my garage I can acquire some tire machines, this is one of the tools that's up there on the list.

 

[Erik the Awful]

I prefer one with a pneumatic dump valve.
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08H1MY3MS/

 

[LTC_]

I have been wanting an air compressor for a while, and since I had some Home Depot and other gift cards laying around for quite some time, picked this guy up. Grand "out of pocket" total was $21.xx

 

[Supercharged111]

Not a car tool, but still a useful thing.

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Now I'm foaming at the mouth to use the thing. Luckily there's a small forest waiting for me back in MI on my property. I want to clear at least a driveway and a spot to turn around and park the truck camper. That means I'll also have to rent a mini excavator and maybe a skid steer. Playing with giant Tonka trucks? Sucks to be me.

 

[Erik the Awful]

I just bought a cordless 1/2" drive impact. Whamalart has it $25 cheaper than Azamon. Worked like a champ for getting a bumper from Pull-A-Part.
www.walmart.com/ip/Makita-XWT15Z-18V-1-2-LXT-Cordless-Impact-Wrench-Kit-w-Detent-Anvil-Bare-Tool/677875384

 

[someotherguy]

Ordered a brake fluid tester off amazon. Spent a couple extra bucks (a whole $22) to get one with the graph readout instead of just LED's. Right out of the package it's dead, no signs of life at all. Ordered a replacement and got an empty, unsealed shipping bag. Jumped through some hoops with amazon customer service and they're refunding me, and said don't worry about sending the bad one back.

Cool.. so I cracked it open to find out what was wrong. Batteries (brand new) tested good individually but no power at the solder points to the circuit board. A little gentle prying and one of the contacts just popped right off. No solder connection to the board, it had a big blob of it on top, but nothing holding it to the board except flux.

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Cleaned up, soldered on firmly...

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Working fine

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About 2~2.5% water content on the old fluid I pulled out of my wife's Silverado SS. Not enough to panic about, but I'm glad I basted the reservoir empty and added fresh fluid. Nice to know what the numbers are instead of guessing. Too bad it's not fixing the brake issues though...

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Richard

 

[454cid]

Glad you were able to get it working. I had no idea such a tool existed until you mentioned it in your other thread. Maybe I'll check them out on Amazon. I'd love to be able to test the brake fluid.

 

[someotherguy]

Glad you were able to get it working. I had no idea such a tool existed until you mentioned it in your other thread. Maybe I'll check them out on Amazon. I'd love to be able to test the brake fluid.

This one was only $23; you can spend about half that and get simple pen-shaped ones with LED indicators that do pretty much the same job.

In reality, if you question your brake fluid it's probably time to flush it. But I wanted to get a reading on how much water might be in this particular truck's fluid as I'm chasing down perplexing issues with the brakes.

Richard

 

[JDGMC]

Ordered a brake fluid tester off amazon. Spent a couple extra bucks (a whole $22) to get one with the graph readout instead of just LED's. Right out of the package it's dead, no signs of life at all. Ordered a replacement and got an empty, unsealed shipping bag. Jumped through some hoops with amazon customer service and they're refunding me, and said don't worry about sending the bad one back.

Cool.. so I cracked it open to find out what was wrong. Batteries (brand new) tested good individually but no power at the solder points to the circuit board. A little gentle prying and one of the contacts just popped right off. No solder connection to the board, it had a big blob of it on top, but nothing holding it to the board except flux.

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Cleaned up, soldered on firmly...

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Working fine

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About 2~2.5% water content on the old fluid I pulled out of my wife's Silverado SS. Not enough to panic about, but I'm glad I basted the reservoir empty and added fresh fluid. Nice to know what the numbers are instead of guessing. Too bad it's not fixing the brake issues though...

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Richard

Neat tool and you just reminded me to check my trucks - thanks. I believe the water absorption is something like 1.5%/year leading to vapor lock with increasing water Unfortunately, the digital probes available are usually not very accurate. The good news is if you are lucky enough to get one that at least provides somewhat repeatable values you can use a correction factor to get a more accurate number. Just prepare a 1, 2, and 3 % standard solution of water and brake fluid (New container of brake fluid) and take triplicate readings and use the average to correct the values. Take a reading from the vehicle in question and correct up or down depending on the range of the value. Why go through all this trouble? 3% appears to be the wet limit and the range of the digital probes is narrow (1-3??) .
Detecting water in any type of matrix is difficult. With brake fluid, a KF procedure is used which basically purges the the water from the fluid and measures the amount directly. There’s always the colorimetric option - strips made by Phoenix Systems that test brake fluid and coolant. What do they recommend for cleaning in between readings?

 

[95burban]

Not a car tool, but still a useful thing.

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Now I'm foaming at the mouth to use the thing. Luckily there's a small forest waiting for me back in MI on my property. I want to clear at least a driveway and a spot to turn around and park the truck camper. That means I'll also have to rent a mini excavator and maybe a skid steer. Playing with giant Tonka trucks? Sucks to be me.

I love my stihl products. A lot of people don’t know but if you buy stihl fuel at time of purchase you get an extended warranty.