Tailshaft bolts are notoriously hard to undo. That’s where
the old spanner-on-spanner trick comes into play! First give
it a good hit with some penetrating spray and let it soak in
for 20min or so. Grab the right-sized spanner – in this case a
14mm – and one that’s a little larger but only by a few mils.
On hard-to-crack bolts, always use the ring end of a spanner
and ideally use a six-sided spanner to prevent it slipping. Fit
the spanner onto the nut, then use the other spanner’s ring
end to slide over the open end of the fi rst spanner and use
as extra leverage. It’ll dramatically increase the amount of
force you apply to the spanner and let you crack the nut free.
If the nut has started to round, try cracking it in the opposite
direction. There may be just enough material left on the nut
to crack it free of the rust that is holding the threads tight,
and then you can undo it relatively easilyGotta feed some wiring through a grommet in the fi rewall but
can’t fi gure out how to get it down into the footwell? Grab a
wire coathanger and some electrical tape, and tape the wiring
to the end of it tightly. Wind the tape about two inches down
the coathanger and wiring, and make sure it’s wound on under
pressure. Give it a little squirt of penetrating spray to prevent
it snagging on anything, and now you’ve got the perfect tool
to drive the wiring down through the fi rewall grommet and
into the footwell. Also great for running wiring into canopies,
up behind dashes or up under the centre console
Okay, so this is one we’ve learnt the hard way, time and time
again. If you ever think you can save time by not removing
something that’s in your way and instead just work around it,
you’re guaranteed to waste time. It’s always, always better
to spend a bit of extra time in the beginning removing parts
like air fi lter housings, batteries and the like to give you better
access to whatever you’re working on. It might seem like
you’re pulling apart half the engine bay to replace that oil
pressure sender but trust us – it’ll end up taking half the time
doing it this way than it would with the other option, which is
swearing, carrying on and trying to squeeze your hands and
tools down into spaces that just don’t have the &$($^! room
FOOLPROOF TRICKS FOR EASIER DIYSFEATURE
CAPE YORK
SAFARIS
4WD TAGALONG
PH: 07 4057 4096
http://www.tagalongtours.com.auCAPE YORK (18 Days)
SIMPSON DESERT (12 Days)
TRANSCONTINENTAL (29 Days)
GULF SAVANNAH (10 Days)4WD254-25