Guide To Tools
Some time ago I was considering whether or not I had the credentials and requisite knowledge to pass along salient tidbits of motorcycle repair and maintenance. Judging by the deluge of all three requests for further informative missives I have put together herein my Guide to Tools. I know some may be dubious as to whether this will be a useful compendium for their tool box and I feel compelled to express that the following guide is based on my use of tools to perform routine tasks of the most mundane types. And while it is my intent to enlighten and inform, it is also my hope that those that have expressed a fear of “do-it-yourself” will re-evaluate those feelings and dive in to the joys that are motorcycle maintenance. Robert Persig was indeed "in the zone" when he penned “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.” He was also later committed.
First let’s consider the “tool box.” A tool box is for holding tools (pretty obvious by the name), but is also useful in our rural setting for spider webs, mouse nests, and yellow jacket paper machete. Since I moved out to the country (Kansas) I have found these and many other interesting things in my tool box other than the few tools I store there, some are even useful.
For example I pitched an amorphous blob of cat hair out of my tool box that was then utilized by my dog Snickers to practice choking, gagging and wheezing. I would have bet even money she didn’t need the practice but she knows her wants and needs better than I. A tool box is also handy if your tool storage is limited, (like if you’re keeping all your tools in a Glad Sandwich bag (or bags)). You’ll find the average tool box, whether plastic or metal has better resiliency to holding 40 pounds of tools than the average sandwich bag. I started with a standard tool box about 2 feet long and 8 inches high and wide. Made of sheet metal it would hold 20 pounds of tools no problem. It wasn’t until I put about 95 pounds into it during my XS1100 project that the handle quit handling, the latches gave out and the hinges got sprung. That resulted in two effects. First was the 95 pounds of tools landing on the floor (no damage as my feet cushioned the impact nicely) and second was my need to add new invectives to my vocabulary. The latter was woefully inadequate to the responses my feet were sending me. It also had the unique side effect of making me purchase a larger more robust tool box.
That would be the kind of tool box that has wheels, and drawers and cubbies galore, and can be found in actual tool stores like Sears or Harbor Freight. That first tool box cost me about $12.00. The second cost about the same as a late model Chevy Malibu. But now I had storage room for more than just 95 pounds of tools, much more in fact. And as luck would have it each maintenance or repair opportunity allowed me to add to my store of tools and invectives. So for the beginner consider the number of tools you currently have and the likelihood of needing more tools (eventually) and buy the appropriate sized tool box by simply squaring the total number of cubic feet of a standard steamer trunk and you won’t have too much tool box.
For anyone with a motorcycle not stamped Harley-Davidson you’ll need a set of metric wrenches. When you go to a reputable tool store like Sears, Harbor Freight, Snap-On, or MAC you can purchase top shelf tools that will last a lifetime. If you do that you’ll be missing out on the rich tapestry that is exploding, bending, detonating, breaking and disintegrating tools that you can buy at Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and Piggly-Wiggly. You simply have no excuse as to why you need a new shiny set of box end wrenches if they don’t come apart like over cooked pasta. Imagine the joy as you bear down on a 12mm bolt head and watch your 12mm combination wrench jaws open up to 16mm. Better yet it may round the bolt head so it can only be removed with vice-grips or chisel.
Another key aspect for proper tools is wrench shaft length. Most wrenches are designed by engineers that never touch wrenches because they can afford to hire that done. So the shaft length is calculated to apply the maximum torque an average wimpy engineer man can apply. I go for the wrenches that have really long handle shafts because I’m not average (and in rare cases even adequate). I want to be able to triple any bozo’s puny attempts to torque on nuts and bolts. If you can’t twist a case hardened titanium nitride bolt in two with moderate foot pressure you simply aren’t trying. A really good wrench will not break under these circumstances. A really good wrench will take all the abuse you can dish out and come back for more. A really good wrench won’t slip and break your knuckles along with your will to live simultaneously. They are also kind of expensive so I don’t own any.
That’s why I like those 36 point box end wrenches and sockets. They’ll give up the ghost if you sneeze loud or fart in their general direction. You so much as apply it to a nut or bolt and it’ll sound like a ratchet on overdrive. This may sound inefficient but on the contrary, it adds spice to your quest of repair and maintenance. It also adds time, sweat, consternation and new invectives into your vocabulary, all useful things for any DIY mechanic.
Wrenches can be had in various kits from 4 to 444 wrenches. Metric wrenches are purchased in denominations of 1. Starting at about 5, they go up 1 millimeter at a time to something near infinity. The standard kit has about 12 wrenches. The wrenches you don’t get in the standard kit are those you need most often. Bike makers usually supply each new bike with a tool kit for emergencies and a few routine maintenance tasks. If you have a motorcycle made in Great Britain you will have a tool kit that is supplied by the manufacturer (like I do). These tools are of the highest quality and workmanship if you are fixing a Radio Flyer wagon. Unfortunately the Radio Flyer uses SAE tools and so your kit is entirely worthless. Well not entirely.
They are an excellent source of what size wrenches you don’t need, because you have no nuts or bolts they actually fit. For example: I used the shock adjusting tool in my Triumph Rocket kit to adjust the shock on my friends late 90’s 1500 Vulcan one click. Unfortunately the Vulcan has two shocks and I wanted to adjust both more than one click but the tool broke in half before the second click was complete on the first shock. Handy enough, I needed that space left empty in my kit to lighten weight. The spark plug socket supplied is also pretty useful if you like using dental mirrors and 90 degree needle nose pliers to fish. You drop that baby into a spark plug recess and the only way you’ll ever fish it out is with said mirror and pliers (hemostats can be used in a pinch). They were also thinking ahead when they neglected to send an Allen key that fit it so you could actually use it.
The open end wrenches supplied by bike makers are of the self-adjusting type. Use the supplied 12mm open end wrench on a 12mm nut and it will self adjust to 14mm. Use it on a 14mm next and it will recalibrate to 18mm. One more time and it can be donated to the scrap metal dealer.
The greatest use I have found so far with a supplied kit from the manufacturer is for rust dating the cycle in question. Similar to carbon 14 dating, if tools in a kit are totally rusted beyond recognition, it’s a vintage 70’s Japanese bike. It’s kind of like tree ring dating, only more accurate. If the tools supplied have no known identifiable use, it’s a pre-unit Triumph twin. Next we’ll explore types of shop tools that every shop should have.
To be continued.........
