A Simple Two-Tool Fix

[thedaddycat]

Ever had one of those times where nothing seemed to work getting stuck things apart? The Putt-Putt had a counterweight that just would not budge. Strap wrench, pipe wrench, hammers is ever larger sizes.... nothing seemed to do the trick. Well, the hammer turned out to be one of the two tools.... ......and about half an hour's worth of fire was the other. When the counterweight finally fell free the whole shank was cherry red. Now polishing the shank is no problem, but how would you clean up the inside of the rear lift? One of my long time tricks is to chuck a spring up in the drill and duck tape a strip of roll abrasive to the spring. When you run the drill the strip winds up in a coil and is more or less self centering in the hole. As the grit wears off, just tuck the worn part under and rewind it. This exposes new grit and keeps the diameter more or less constant. I have used this method to enlarge worn 7/16" hitch pins up to 1/2" without removing the rear tires since the spring will work around a bend. I've also used it to polish the intake manifold, but had to tear the strips lengthwise and space them apart on the spring to make the tight bends. Long flexible springs like for screen doors work well for snaking corners, stiffer ones for other aplications. Use your imagination and I'm sure it will come in handy some time.

[SmilinSam]

Heh ,Heh ,Heh, Been there before.... Makes a nice mushroom on the end of the weight don't it?.. At least you manged to save the rear lift, I ruined that one I was working on. After it go red it still wouldnt come off so I just cut it of to save time, seeing as I had lots of lifts on the shelf anyhow. Sam

[Roy]

I believe the technical term for that tool is the "fire wrench"

Roy