Using tools the WRONG WAY

[DRanger024]

I know we all do it... Flat blade screw drivers as pry bars, wrenches as hammers, hammers as every other tool. So what have you used tools the wrong way for?

I recently used a Dana inner seal driver as a spreading device where a bottle jack wouldn't work. While technically not wrong for the intent of the tool, it was never meant for fabricating.

 

[racsan]

Engine hoist to remove a truck bed.

 

[sgtsandman]

I've done the bed with an engine hoist trick as well. I've also used the engine hoist to lift the fiberglass bed cap.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Uh, I don’t usually talk about my misuse of tools…

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I used my big crescent wrench as a prybar the other day.

 

[scotts90ranger]

What do you mean, I use the adjustable hammers and prychiseldrivers just as anyone else would... one of the best ways to bend things is to tighten an adjustable wrench onto the piece then grabbing the head of that wrench with another... and when I bought my 24" adjustable wrench I bought it to bend back my leaf spring shackle hangers on the '90 Ranger by putting it on the leaf spring and using a floor jack and a piece of firewood to contact the handle...

 

[rusty ol ranger]

What do you mean, I use the adjustable hammers and prychiseldrivers just as anyone else would... one of the best ways to bend things is to tighten an adjustable wrench onto the piece then grabbing the head of that wrench with another... and when I bought my 24" adjustable wrench I bought it to bend back my leaf spring shackle hangers on the '90 Ranger by putting it on the leaf spring and using a floor jack and a piece of firewood to contact the handle...

Ive got this massive flathead screwdriver i bought at big lots probably 25 years ago.

I literally dont think ive ever used it as a screwdriver. Now the tip is so mushroomed i dont think you could.

Its been a prybar, chisel, punch, can opener trunk opening tool, survived a car fire (actually made it better by melting the black tape i had to hold the handle togther into a nice piece of charcol).

Truely a universal tool.

 

[sgtsandman]

I used my big crescent wrench as a prybar the other day.

They’re great at grabbing something made of sheet metal like a parking brake actuator arm in order to get more leverage to rotate it and get the cable off.

Not to mention the classic use as a hammer.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

They’re great at grabbing something made of sheet metal like a parking brake actuator arm in order to get more leverage to rotate it and get the cable off.

Not to mention the classic use as a hammer.

Yeah ive used them in that manner a few times.

As a wrench though? I find they usually are just a precursor to vice grips or pipe wrench

 

[superj]

i had to use a long 70 degree spark plug boot plier to reach down between stuff to turn a bolt i couldn't get my fingers on and the wrench and socket couldn't turn anymore

 

[Chapap]

This is my record. A shot bearing was holding the rotor on tight.

 

[Curious Hound]

This is my record. A shot bearing was holding the rotor on tight.
View attachment 100352

That might be wrong. But it’s ingenious. I need to remember that one.

 

[fastpakr]

Engine hoist for the bed is incredibly convenient when you're working by yourself. That was a lifesaver for me a couple of years ago.

 

[19Walt93]

I think we have a regional language barrier, in New England alternative tool uses would be considered Yankee ingenuity.

 

[Curious Hound]

I think we have a regional language barrier, in New England alternative tool uses would be considered Yankee ingenuity.

That’s just a cover story