shortcuts I have learned by accident or from old pros

Don't mean to sound like Heloise but thought I would pass along a couple of tips I picked up by dumb luck or by accident and also one hint I picked up from an old time mechanic in our area. I spend a lot of time in my shop fixing stuff or trying to make something -- and also to keep out from underfoot of the real boss of the place -- and I'm always trying to find a logical but shorter or easier way to do something. The first the thing I discovered by accident is to use Windex or cheap Walmart glass cleaner as a quick hand cleaner. I keep a bottle of it on my workbench to clean my glasses which seem to get smudges on them easily from a combination of either sweat or nose grease. Just spray a couple of shots on each hand and wipe off with a hand towel. Your hands won't be clean enough to eat with but say you want to write a note to yourself or maybe change the radio station in your shop -- this will clean off most all dirt and even grease for a fairly clean job. Another use I have found for glass cleaner is to use it to clean certain plastic parts in addition to glass such as on a gauge on the tractors. The glass cleaner won't leave a film or residue and cleans the plastic better than carburetor cleaner which sometimes eats plastic. Another tip is to use a Swiffer sheet to clean your dashboard. It's been pretty dusty here in Western Indiana the past several weeks and vehicle dashes, arm rests, steering column, etc. get pretty dusty if you leave the windows down. If you can swipe one of these sheets from your wife, it will do a much better job than using water as it won't turn the dust into mud and leave streaks. I use it on my truck and the wife's machine and it works like a charm. Also is cheaper than Armor All. The last tip for now I picked up from an old time mechanic in our area. If you are going to replace rubber gas line on a small engine such as on a lawn mower, use a hammer to actually make the hose easier to slip onto the metal lines. After cutting the hose to length, take a hammer and hit both ends of the hose with several sharp blows all around the outer circumference of the tubing on a solid surface such as an anvil. This tends to loosen the outer rubber casing and does not damage the hose, but does make it easier to push onto the metal lines. This is better than to use oil or grease (or even spray silicone) because these tend to deteriorate the rubber fairly quickly. That's all for today, but if anyone out there has any other tips for us shade tree mechanics, please pass them on. Thanks.

Pat

A useful trick I have found to be helpful--When using a spray can such as wd40, you can make a longer spray tube by joining two or more by simply cutting a 1/4 section from a ballpoint pen ink cartridge. The section will fit the O.D. of the spray tube perfectly. Another trick to check the grinding angle of a drill bit, if you don't have a gauge, is to hold two hex nuts with flats together and use the flats below for the gauge. Close but not perfect. Another is a method of determining what drill bit to use for a tap. You can simply insert the closest drill bit you have into the same size nut.

John Deere guy up to road said not to eat the yellow snow said he tried 3 times and it made him sick each time.(LOL)

Here is another tip that might work for you--
Use auto windshield washer solution instead of window cleaner. About the same product although some now have a wax type product to make water bead up.

Back in the 1960s when I was drafted and in the Army they would not provide glass cleaner for the barracks windows which were always covered with smoke film.

I wound up making my own from water, ammonia, and a few drops of dish detergent. I would wash windows with bed sheets that were headed to the laundry so no paper towels, newspapers, rags, or towels were needed. Spray a couple of panes and with a sheet draped round my neck to keep it handy, use both hands to clean two panes at once.

1) old engines require these little things called shims

2) everything is sevral times more expensive then previously thought

3) dont count on being able to find work. ever.

4) do what you can with what you have, and make it kinda sorta work in a very aggrivating way.

An old timer put me on to using clean motor oil, to clean grease and dirt off my hands. A teaspoon size amount goes a long way and does not dry out hands the way other stuff might.

Facing some very local opposition, I mounted a second plastic towel rack in the kitchen and use blue shop towels in it. They are tougher than the white paper and may be dryed and reused.

Turn your underwear inside out and they are good for another day.

Wear disposable Blue Nitrile gloves when working with oil and grease. You can pick up a box at your local auto parts store. Keeps your hands clean.

backwards and they are good for yet another day!!

Here is the best shortcut I have come up with in a while.

One day last spring I was try'n to do several chores in one day with the same tractor. Alot of hooking and unhooking. I always got hydrolic hoses backwards and had to change'm round or just remember that up was down and down was up. Got agrivated and found a white rattle can. Put it on the tractor and every time I hooked up to something I painted the right hose white. Left the can on there till I got every thing I own marked. Just put white to the right and I'm good to go.

Saves alot of time by the end of the year.

Dave

After making a weld repair on equipment, I let it cool for a few minutes and then spray several coats of paint on it from a rattle can. The paint dries instantly, so you can put several coats on and it's dry before you hit the field.

Learn by accident.. give them to the wife to wash.

I did that on my new Deere, but for the equipment lines I use colored plastic wire ties works for me.

Olive oil cleans greasy hands then soap and water to clean off the olive oil.

I do the same thing with silver paint on my right hydraulic hoses. Works great. I also put a trailer jack on my pull-type bushhog and a heavy wood cart I built for my son. Thinking about putting one on my big disc as well. Big R stores around here and Tractor Supply carry them. Another thing I have done is to put blinker lights on my sickle mower and bushhog when I use them to mow roadsides. I just use an outdoor junction box which I mount on the mower and a big taillight from BR or TS and put a regular car turn signal blinker in line between the power source and the light and put that in the junction box. Then I wire the tractor with a permanent plug in type connector and off we go. I know I could buy a portable blinker light but am so bullheaded that I want to make my own. I also put an extension rod on the hydraulic control on my Super M and also made an eccentric crank to put the PTO in gear which I can reach from the seat without having to reach behind me and pull the lever up as the old tractors were set up with. I also put my starter button and ignition switch on the headlignt bar and installed truck rear view mirrors on each side of the same bar. It isn't pure Farmall but it works for me. Another thing I discovered is that carburetor cleaner softens old paint, then I either blow it off with the air compressor gun or just scrape it off with a putty knife. Carburetor also takes paint off your hands when nothing else will and also takes Sharpie ink off immediately. I use a Sharpie to mark cut lines and drilling holes because I can see them better, then use carburetor cleaner which takes the ink off instantly.

IH 2444 Third day go Rambo style.

Don"t weld while seated without wearing a leather apron. As a kid I learned both how dance and bad words from my Uncle.

the corallary to this...lace up your boots when welding or cutting.

pat,
One I learned by accident: I usually use a short section of pipe I have just for the purpose when I need to get more leverage on a socket wrench breaker bar. One day, I had a tough nut that I could only get to with an open end wrench. Pipe was too small to fit over the other open end. I glanced over at a 1" box wrench and slipped the box end over one of the sides of the open end. voila, instant leverage. Probably not new to most wrench hands, but it was to me and I've used it more than once now.

and the cuffs go OUTSIDE the boots.

I watched my german mechanic friend use diesel fuel to clean his hands and wipe them with newspapers. Then we went to a restaurant and ate piles of shrimp with our hands. "Yeah, Good Shrimps, Huh?"

I use WD40 to clean my hands. Hydraulic line ends need to be switched, have a male and female on your vehicle so you can't ever hook them up wrong. If you're trying to get carbon off a pistons for rebuild, stick them all in coffee cans or a bucket of oil overnite, then wipe clean.

"stick them all in coffee cans or a bucket of oil overnite"
let them soak in a bucket or coffee cans full of oil. That's better.

Never run a string trimmer near fresh cow manure with your mouth open.