What are your favorite tools?

[Rusty Pipes]

1956 Quincy air compressor. 30 CFM @ 100 PSI. 60 gal tank.  A REAL 7HP single phase motor running 3 x  5/8" belts. Run stop or continous run with unloder. Bought it as a basket case for $300, 25 yrs ago. She'll run a 1/4" line wide open and still build pressure. Used a 350 Chevy air cleaner on the intake. Thing goes Woop, Woop, Woop, Woop, Woop.......

[Savago]

Forgot to mention the wheel chock (70 bucks):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008CE0R7W/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And the aluminum jack stands (used to be 15 bucks for a pair):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000760FX4/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Makes a few jobs much easier:

[Houdini]

Pick a drawer, any drawer.  My favorite tool is the one that I own and I need right now.



These are also fun tools to own.

[sixlow]

Dental Hygiene tool. 

 A must have for such things as getting the throttle cables hooked up at the carbs or bars, loading the spring on the enricher plate, various springs when pulling the carbs apart. popping up the splooge hole cover, assisting with sliding those dang squeeze clamps. lifting the chrome caps like the riser bolts have. Many more uses.   

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017OUL638/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A1TAB9STHMJYHV&psc=1

[Hook#3287]

After I put all my other favorite tools away, this is my favorite.

[Tfrank59]

my favorite tool, too often, is the one I DON'T own, can't borrow or purchase, but which I need to fix/maintain one of my motorcycles.  And Murphy's law states that if by chance you can borrow one, you'll break it, buy a replacement for the owner, and still not own one yourself.

[moreira72]

My paint cans   

Doood, get a couple jack stands.  They are a bit more stable than stacked paint cans. And we don't need multi ton rating ones for the bikes.  Under $40 all over.
 

Makes me nervous just looking at that pic. 

The can does say Multi-Purpose on it!

[..]

My paint cans   

Doood, get a couple jack stands.  They are a bit more stable than stacked paint cans. And we don't need multi ton rating ones for the bikes.  Under $40 all over.
 

Makes me nervous just looking at that pic. 

The can does say Multi-Purpose on it!

Winner winner. Chicken dinner!

[semo97]

a 10" forceps handy little tool

[Harryc]

After I put all my other favorite tools away, this is my favorite.

 

[Joss]

When the bike is on a good jack, a bit of stabilization out on the guards is not a big deal in terms of carrying any significant weight (all of which is on the jack).  It's more like they are there just to keep the bike from wiggling around when pulling on the wrenches (or just bumping the bike as you walk around).  I generally only use a single jack stand on one guard when the bike is on the jack for maintenance (and the bike is rock solid, once easing the jack down a few mm so that one jack stand is heavily captured by bike weight).

Still, one (or two) jack stands are so much easier to set up than having to finagle the right height with two cans and various blocks of wood.

It's certainly good for a laugh as good old redneck engineering or Yankee ingenuity, depending on what part of the country you are from.   

A few other examples.





























Sorry, got carried away.


Jess from VA-  took a break working on my Valk right now and saw your favorite tools "log."
I'm still laughing on the paint can trilogy .....but wait the outboard .....but wait the air bag but wait the ......
 Take care and definitely have more fun than you should........... Joss   
 

[Chrisj CMA]

This has become one of my favorites.  Just did another bike that was WAY out of sync.  Owner tried to sync by ear and he had two serious vacuum leaks.  Long story short, first we corrected the leaks then used the Twin Max.  Wow, what a difference.

Took the Cobra bike out with the wife for an RTE yesterday and she was smooth as glass at all speeds, When I think about it.  21 years and it took minimal adjustments to get it right.  That's a marvelous design. 

Moral of the story.  Be sure there are no air leaks before messing with the sync. 

[Farside]

This has become one of my favorites.  Just did another bike that was WAY out of sync.  Owner tried to sync by ear and he had two serious vacuum leaks.  Long story short, first we corrected the leaks then used the Twin Max.  Wow, what a difference.

Took the Cobra bike out with the wife for an RTE yesterday and she was smooth as glass at all speeds, When I think about it.  21 years and it took minimal adjustments to get it right.  That's a marvelous design.  

Moral of the story.  Be sure there are no air leaks before messing with the sync.  
quote

Farside:
Yes you fixed another Valks brothers bike!   And I might add The Cobra and the Wife looked great! Hmmm something doesn't sound right putting those two together.  

 

[Chrisj CMA]

This has become one of my favorites.  Just did another bike that was WAY out of sync.  Owner tried to sync by ear and he had two serious vacuum leaks.  Long story short, first we corrected the leaks then used the Twin Max.  Wow, what a difference.

Took the Cobra bike out with the wife for an RTE yesterday and she was smooth as glass at all speeds, When I think about it.  21 years and it took minimal adjustments to get it right.  That's a marvelous design.  

Moral of the story.  Be sure there are no air leaks before messing with the sync.  
quote

Farside:
Yes you fixed another Valks brothers bike!   And I might add The Cobra and the Wife looked great! Hmmm something doesn't sound right putting those two together.  

 

Thanks, they are both pretty good looking ladies for sure

[mello dude]

Lately I bought a Bosch 12v impact driver and its quickly becoming a dont start work without  it by the  hand.  Clip on the 3/8" adaptor and zip zip zip - bolts fly on and off quick. Work goes faster and the driver is easy and light to handle. I was conserned that I didnt get an 18v or better, but for bike work its perfect.
Bucks well spent. 

[Chrisj CMA]

Lately I bought a Bosch 12v impact driver and its quickly becoming a dont start work without  it by the  hand.  Clip on the 3/8" adaptor and zip zip zip - bolts fly on and off quick. Work goes faster and the driver is easy and light to handle. I was conserned that I didnt get an 18v or better, but for bike work its perfect.
Bucks well spent. 

I would rather feel the tightness with a box or rachet wrench.  Some bolts should not be "zip zip zip'd" they will too tight.

[houstone]

Extensions, in particular the Wobble ones.  HF has a set on sale for 9.99.  Don't need them too often, but well worth having when you do.
 

[Tfrank59]

Extensions, in particular the Wobble ones.  HF has a set on sale for 9.99.  Don't need them too often, but well worth having when you do.
 

That's right.  For example to tighten the hose clamp on the thermostat housing, you need a 1/4" drive, with a 3" ext. then a universal (the kind that's a little stiff), then a 6" ext. and a 6mm socket, and you can tighten that hose clamp from the left side.  And apart from taking the tank off that's about the only way to tighten that bugger, and it only works if on assy they exactly positioned the hose clamp for access.

[MarkT]

Been using an air impact driver forever.  Just ordered in a Milw. 1400 ft-lb 18v impact wrench #2767-22 at a fair price.  From the reviews I'm reading, I expect this will be a new favorite.  Plus there's a factory service center in Denver has come in handy several times to recondition my 4-1/2" angle grinders. Yep except for some DeWalt drills when I need quality power tools it's Milw thx to good quality and the factory service locally.

[mello dude]

Lately I bought a Bosch 12v impact driver and its quickly becoming a dont start work without  it by the  hand.  Clip on the 3/8" adaptor and zip zip zip - bolts fly on and off quick. Work goes faster and the driver is easy and light to handle. I was conserned that I didnt get an 18v or better, but for bike work its perfect.
Bucks well spent. 

I would rather feel the tightness with a box or rachet wrench.  Some bolts should not be "zip zip zip'd" they will too tight.

Agree...guess  I should add I use  a torque  wrench  or hand tight for final torque.  But to get off or on (before final torquing)  quickly the impact is nice...