Making a custom bolt for a transmission drain plug.

The manual transmission's drain plug on a JK is situated right above the exhaust. It is impossible to get a tool in there. Need a custom 17mm nut thing too. I think this is because the transmission is german.

Found a nut, it's 3/4 inches, bigger than the 11/16 inches or so that 17 mm translates too.

Maybe I can just grind off some off the extra width. Going to use a fat grinder disk.

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On this angle grinder, to get off the old disk, you have press the button and spin the disk until it locks in place.

Then use the provided tool to loosen the nut that holds it on.

Using the handle is important, things can get real dangerous without it.

After grinding the nut fits and is usable, but I don't like it. Feel like eventually I might strip the drain plug.

Time for another solution. Tightening a 11/16 inch bolt + nut together.

Cutting off the extra thread with a hacksaw.

Here it is. One end is used to tighten the plug, the other end to loosen.

Trying to fix a swifter

Swifter thing broke. I had taped it before and that held for some time, but now it's really broke. I like this swifter, it's light and agile. Time to fix.

 

So this is the stuff in it. Kind of complicated for just a swifter mop. The two plastic pieces snapped off.

The last time I fixed it I just put some paper inside and then taped it on the outside. I don't want to have it break again. I'll try using this metal clamp. I have a lot of these laying around because I take them off cars and replace them with the stock spring hose clamps.  Like these:


The ones with the bolts don't allow the rubber hoses to expand the way those spring ones do.

Clamp didn't work as well as I wanted it too. I imagined that it'd compress the aluminum shaft and clamp the handle on, but it wasn't strong enough. Option B. Old bike inner tube. Here I was going to test if I could melt the rubber over a candle light. Thought that would give me a tighter seal.

Made a mess. Guess that bike tire had some tire sealant in it. It wasn't me that put it into it. I hate tire sealant. It never works and just makes it more dangerous to drive (going to pop at the worst time!). Plus it can screw over the electronics inside new rims, like pressure sensors and such. That's more of on cars though. Sweet army radio box or something there on the side. I keep rubbery hoses and inner tire tubes in it.

Cut a piece of the tire and squeezed it in. Looks like it's holding good.

I already have the handle out. I'm going to try to melt that rubber in there.

Cut off the extra rubber hanging outside and I'm done. This feels solid, better than original! If it breaks again, I'm throwing it away.

Broke a piece of a ratchet extension in a ratchet extension. Tried to get it out.

The end of a 3/8 extension broke inside this 3/8 extension and it won't come out! Been there for a while.

Trying to make a lubricant to help it out. 50% automatic transmission fluid and 50% acetone.

It's really tough resisting the urge to drink this!

I don't really have a good plan to get it out, maybe I'll pry it with some vice grips and bang it against concrete.

Now I have a plan. Going to drill a hole in the broken off piece and then pull it out with a screw.

Perfect. Can see the spring loaded ball mechanism in there too.

Pulling it out.

Fixing a broken hammer.

I was planning for a while to fix this cheap little hammer. 'Made in taiwan' tools are never any good. My intent here is to use "J-B weld" to 'glue' the head back on. I got out a mixing stick (pencil) and a brush to clean off the surface that I'll be gluing.

Got out some random cleaner to clean up the hammer shaft, it looked gross.

As I was cleaning it I noticed there were rust spots. Hate rust. Might as well paint this shaft really quick.

Got to sand it first to make the paint stick on good.

Used some acetone to clean the dust/paint off after sanding it. Honestly, I just love the smell of acetone and use any excuse to bring it out.

This is the paint I'll be using. No real reason to use this specific one other than that it is for metal. I also like rust-oleum paints.

Painted it, waiting for it to dry.

Maybe I'll clean and spice up the handle while the paint is drying.

The J-B weld glued itself shut. I had to put some pliers around it to get it to open.

Poked a hole so that stuff would come out.

Mixing the j-b weld in equal parts.

Think I used too much. Also, I cleaned off the paint from the very edge. J-B weld sticks better to metal than to paint.

Definitely too much. Using a knife to get rid of the extra stuff squeezing out.

I want the handle to stick better so I used some electrical tape. The paint + electrical tape should be thick enough to give the handle some good grip.

Had some concerns about moisture getting into the handle so i put some RTV in there to close the gap between handle and shaft.

In 24 hours, after the J-B weld cures, this hammer will be as good as new.