Well this was a fun video to make but difficult because I had SO MANY ideas on what tools could make this list! To pick just 10 was a challenge. I definitely have more list ideas in mind so to let me know you want to see more like this be sure to like this comment as well as the video!
I'm a big fan of the magnetized bowls that Harbor Freight used to throw in as a gift when you bought other things. Not only do they hold on to all the bolts/screws/fasters you put in them but they also can stick to metal surfaces where you're working.
I could name so many more oddball ones! Guitar strings for cleaning jets and carb passages. Tea infusers/steeping baskets for ultrasonic cleaner. Always gallons of vinegar on hand for tanks. Random piece of hose for removing spark plugs out of deep well. It just goes on and on
Another household item that's quite handy is muffin baking tins, they're especially handy when pulling things like carbs apart since you can use them as a sorting type organizer
I think your tool list is pretty good and I am going to add a carbide scraper to my kit. I use the plastic razor blades quite a bit. They actually come in different hardness and thickness of edge . I like to use them for removing stickers and tape etc.
I use paracord to pull off kickstand springs, hang up brake calipers, etc. and a ratchet strap to hold stubborn carbs in place while trying to install them and help press them into place. Turkey baster for sucking/squirting fluids, q tips for cleaning
Here are a few Harbor Freight goodies that come in handy: Detail Brush Set, 6 Piece set, Nylon Cable Ties of various sizes, Tweezers, clamping pliers (hemostat) of various sizes. I setup an overhead Unistrut track and trolley system with a small chain hoist. Works great for lifting and maneuvering heavy motors, tweaking the position front/back of bikes.
Great great great! The Easy-Off/steel wool hack is terrific. Thanks for this vid...and, well, thanks for your channel. I enjoy watching -- and learning -- from you.
I use plastic food containers from Costco (Canadian side so I don't know what's on the US side). They're rectangular and about 8 inches by 5.5 inches and 3 inches tall (domed and stackable lid) and perfect for small and medium sized bits. They've been indispensable when doing full restorations as I can keep areas segregated in the containers. Nice thing is you buy a stack of them so they're always clean and handy.
Best thing I have found is Gallon Ziplock bags for ultrasonic cleaner. Fill the cleaner with water, fill the bag with whatever your solution is and parts. Keeps the cleaner clean, and saves solution overall.
I've been a technician for 45 year & thought l had it all, but those needle tip applicators would have made my life a lot easier. Unfortunately, I don't think my wife has any that I can pilfer 😄
My scraper is made of bronze. Much safer as it will not bite into cases. Sharpening is a bit more frequently required and basically done on the mill. Dental picks are a great idea.
Yep, I use the Lean Cuisine Lasagna trays for small tool organization in my tool box, aluminum foil for transfer case gear oil changes on my Yamaha Stratoliner, one thing you didn't mention is the turkey baster for removing brake fluid from master cylinders on brake fluid drain/flush/bleed procedures as well as the hydraulic clutch. Great video though, Thanks!
Well I had syringes I was thinking of adding as thats what I use instead of a turkey baster. It was tough to make this video because there are so many ideas!
Good stuff there. I use spray bottles when cleaning parts or spray degreaser on the engine and frame before power washing. Sour cream containers are good for drips, soaking small parts, storing small parts, etc.
I'm UK based and my favorite is the Asda coleslaw container. Comes with a lid is see through and its petrol resistant so it doesn't matter if you put something in covered in fuel it won't melt like some others .. been using the oven trays for years . Tooth brushes are great and cheap as . Better than the plastic wire brush kits ..
Clipboard on the wall, with pen for writing down measurements; weights etc. Vitron gloves and a roll of towels. Shop vac, and small rubbish recepticle.
The JIS standard was discontinued in 2008 so Vessel do not stamp it on new production anymore. Good news is that the new standards that replaced it, ISO 8764 and DIN 5260, were influenced by JIS and are backwards compatible so they work just the same without camming out like old American household Phillips drivers would.
Old toothbrushes are the best free tools ever! I also recommend Indian stainless steel sauce bowls, which I buy from charity shops here in the UK - these are cheap, indestructible, stacking sets of little steel bowls, which are great for sorting small parts, nuts and bolts etc.
I have a few surgical forceps in my box. They have a ratchet that will lock them which is handy (or cut that part off if it's a nuisance). They are great as long-reach snap-ring pliers if you grind the tips round and slightly angled. Super handy for snap rings which are sort of deep such as on fork tubes and master cylinders (my CBXs are difficult to get to) that you have to reach into. They're very tough and have lots of leverage.
Another good tool that has many uses is the "Suzuki" clutch spring puller for removing the pins in a lot of TS models. I used it a LOT for taking out the shift shaft seal on MANY motorcycles without pulling the cases apart! Best flat rate cutter I ever used. Most of the time they got about 1.5 hours for those and with the puller you could do it in 5 minutes! Just work your way around the seal from the inside without a ton a pressure and it usually pops right out. Of course it doesn't work on many larger street bikes but, for the money it was worth it. I'd usually break 2 or 3 of them a year. I still have a broken one in my top box that I have in my bedroom. (I'm old and live in an apartment) Thanks for the suggestions..... I wasn't aware of 3 of them..... nice job and great vid!
Good stuff. I've ordered a few of these things after seeing you use them in other videos. I would add 12 inch Alligator Ear Serrated Forceps to the list. They're on Amazon. The best 20 bucks I ever spent. I use mine way more than I thought I would mainly to grab stuff from tight spots that fingers can't get to. You could probably poke them into a spark plug hole and grab something that fell into a cylinder if you had to. (I haven't had to do that yet, but the way they're designed you can reach way down into a tight space and open and close the jaws.)
After watching your vids I bought the Depstech wireless endoscope - got it used off eBay for £20 (around $25). Used it several times on the bike (and had a look up my nose, obvs).
Thank you for some good ideas! I bought some used perforated metal panels which used for stores and some universal hooks and mounted them behind each of the workbenches in my shop. Then I made tool holders for files, screwdrivers, wrenches and mounted it onto these hooks. This way I can move toolholders from one workbench to another if nesessary.
Zeer handig/very handy tips, hail to the great Milly we're not worthy. My tip: keep two small locking/grip pliers in your riding tool roll, if you drop your bike and your clutch lever or gear shifter breaks off you can make a temporary one.
Great video, I also have a set of vessel JIS drivers , they look they same as yours, mine rotate CCW when struck with a hammer just the same as an impact driver does. Wondering if yours also do but you perhaps not noticed? Keep up the good work!
Something about the fitment of those metric Japanese screws that even Snap-on tools don’t quite fit right on the ends. I really love those impact driver style screwdrivers. I have one of those old style get a bigger hammer kits from my automotive years but it’s like trying to crack an egg with a 3lb sledge, overkill. Might have to pick up a set. Thanks BJ! 😁👋🏻
Out here in Africa we get some types of food products in tins that are different sizes, but the same diameter and they are good because you have a standard plastic lid that fits them all. I looked up the dental picks thinking they would be way out expensive, not so ! Affordable and a great idea
I use industrial (not food proof) plastic wrap, approx 25% of the cost and more durable Dental tools are also for radio / TV technicians Ultrasound cleaner is a must Magnetic bowl for sure and mesh baskets Steel wool and Scotch Brite Perfect tips U're sharing
GREAT VIDEO, I LAFFED OUT LOOUD AT MYSELF FOR NOT THINKING ABOUT THE COOKIE SHEETS,LOL. I KEEP PICKS IN MY BAG ALSO, BUT I GET THE HARBOR FREIGHT CHEAPOS. KEEP THE VIDEOS COMING, ENJOY EVERYONE OF THEM. LOVE THESE SOHC FOURS
Love your videos mate, and yes please, more like this are super appreciated. I had never heard of that carbide scraper, for example. I have found fluid syringes to be quite helpful, to add or subtract small quantities via accidental over filling, or just to top up- kinda similar to the needle tip oiler bottles, but different enough to maybe be worth a mention.
Not a tool, but the thing I use most when working on my bike is a table top I made for putting on top of an upside-down 5 gallon bucket. I don't have the luxury of a bike lift, so I'm always on my rolling stool when I work on my bike, so that table is the perfect place to set my tools, and when I'm done with it, it slides in next to my tool box.
Don't forget round brushes. Nylon, brass and stainless. A trick I was taught to do with clingwrap is if you have polished bolt that can't have the finish scratched, put a couple of small wraps of clingwrap around the bolt head. It gives the bolt just enough protection. What do you use for circlip pliers? I can't seem to buy good ones.
Great tips! I am currently trying to get a rotor off a cx500 and have broken 2 strap wrenches and bashed my hand in the process. If I remember correctly you built a tool to keep the flywheel from moving. I am not a welder but can fabricate small things. Do you have any tips for holding that thing still? I am hesitant to try the washer in the gears trick that motofaction suggests as I don't want to damage anything. Also, when is the xs400 engine teardown happening? I know you're busy but I am on the edge of my seat lol!
Do you have the removal tool? That is a must. I show it in my starter clutch rebuild video pretty quickly. The xs400 engine is torn down as of today buy you won't see a video for a while longer. People were begging me for xs400 videos and then as soon as I posted them it seemed like they tanked in views and people were unsubscribing unfortunately. Due to this I am working on optimizing the xs400 content
Cautions: Be SUPER careful with carbide scrapers, you can mess up machined surfaces in an instant. ALWAYS use gloves (nitrile) when using the Easy-Off thing. Easy-Off is caustic and it'll eat your skin.
Big Lots has a set of 3 sizes of steel mesh bowl-shaped drain traps that are for tub & sink drains made of fine mesh for jets & other tiny parts in the ultra... -Dollar stores have catering-sized lightweight aluminum, like chafing pans with lids, that beat the steel baking sheets & loaf pans for being cheap & useful. -I use a bottle with a capped spout that gear oil came in which I gave a twine handle at the base to hang it upside down from, to use as a temporary fuel source when the tanks are off the bikes- hose fits nicely onto the little spout (like your ketchup bottle). -Kitchen baster, both the bulb on a tube-type and the giant-syringe type are very useful, too. -Add a number of hemostats to your dental pick set. -Rolls of non-slip (used under small rugs or as drawer liners) covering a work surface keep small parts & fasteners from vanishing. -I use egg carton bottoms to put small parts in order for easy retrieval.
JIS screwdrivers are amazing. Phillips screws are literally designed to ‘cam out’ aka strip when they hit a certain torque value. JIS don’t strip out, and the screw will stay on the tool.
JIS or Japanese Industrial Standard. It took me 20 years of beating on Japanese bikes and Euro bikes with Japanese components (nissin brakes) and stripping bazillions of what I thought were Phillips or Pozidrive screws to learn that Japan makes screwdrivers for their screws. I also destroyed every brand of Philips screwdriver know to man. Then I got my JIS set and was absolutely dumbfounded. They transformed how I work on bikes.
Do not use Easy Off on aluminum. Bike engines have a coating on them. EO will eat right through it and make it ugly. Use Walmart degreaser. It works good and won't mess up your motor.
There are parts on my Bullet 500 I wouldn't be able to remove without these very narrow, long-throw wrenches: H6PCTWS There always in my tool bag, whatever bike I'm on.... I'm in St. Louis - I hope to stop by on a bike night soon.
Don't know if it's available in the USA Harpic toilet cleaner is brilliant on stainless steel parts, brush it on leave it for a minute wash off with water, stuff comes up like new, fantastic on stainless steel exhausts.
I really enjoyed this. But i keep thinking, there will be a fair few of your viewers who will in consequence very soon have there ears scorched by whoever is mistress/master of the kitchen. "I can't believe we're out of tin foil again. Where is the seran? I had this great baking sheet, the turkey is ready to go on the oven but there's nothing to put it on... " That's where you could find another good use for alu foil ... protective hat. Would eliminate all concerns the other half might have about missing kitchen equipment. 🤪
