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Tight Fit Tools - Your Must Haves

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skelrad

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As I finish up my FWF work, I am realizing just how tight the space between the engine and firewall get! I've primarily used crowfoot wrenches and have chopped down my fair share of cheap pawn shop wrenches to try to fit in various spaces. I'm just curious what your go-to tools are to make life a little easier in terms of future engine maintenance. I think I'll be buying a stubby ratchet for one - my smallest ratchet is a 9" and doesn't have much room to swing without hitting stuff around the engine/firewall. A flex head ratchet might be useful as well. Also on the list is to find a set of super thin wall sockets - even my "thin wall" are too thick in some cases (like getting at that lower/inside nut on the backup alternator that sits against the spacer for the 90 degree oil filter adapter - I had to do a million, two finger only 1 mm turns using a chopped off wrench that was about 2" long).

What do you use when doing maintenance on the plane to keep the cussing to a minimum?
 
I have stubby teardrop ratchets with flex heads in 1/4 and 3/8. Invaluable for tight quarters. This is a spot to buy decent quality off the bat - you want a fine tooth ratchet. Nothing worse than finally getting on the nut to find you can't get a cheap ratchet to 'click'.
 
Assuming you own the usual tools.
Lots of modified pawn shop tools. Sockets get ground to thin wall. Some ground to minimum depth.
Stubby ratchet is a must. Harbor Fright is fine. Most of my airplane tools are 1/4" drive colored sets. The torque is so low. They work just fine. SAE & Metric. A set of wobble extensions and a set of standard extensions.
I do keep a 3/8 drive ratchet set just in case.
A Gimbal Ratchet is really handy.
This Klein hex rachet gets used a lot. I have quite a few Torx screws, but it really helps with Phillips too.
This Dewalt gets a ton of use too.
Everything David Howe makes. EZ-tools.
Ratchet screwdriver.
Knipex smooth jaw plier set
This sounds crazy, 22" Channel Lock pliers. Lycoming has a gorilla installing oil filters. I used three different filter tools. The plier was #4 and removed the oil filter with minimal effort.
 
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I often use a ratcheting screwdriver handle with the flexible shaft to get to most any screw on the back side of the engine and some on the firewall. It'll bend more than ninety degrees in a short distance. I got mine at Lowe's, but you can get them pretty much anywhere that has tools.
 
Great suggestions! According to my overloaded shop, you would think I had already amassed every tool known to mankind over the last 3 or 4 decades. But no, there's always more! :p
 
Since I happen to be out in the shop, here is an assortment from the tool box. One of them is always bound to work…..

(The red box in the upper left was from a friend. the box says “Super Deluxe Mini-Rachet”, which sounds like something really cheap from someplace cheap. Its not, and its not….extermetly high quality, and priced accordingly! The box on the right was a door-prize from Petit -Jean many years ago - and it is also very high quality and used a lot!)

IMG_9376.jpeg
 
skelrad said:
What do you use when doing maintenance on the plane to keep the cussing to a minimum?
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When I came out of A&P school and started working in the field it didn’t take long for me to come to this realization: “The problem with being an aircraft mechanic is you can’t see it, you can’t reach it and you’re always under equipped.” The best tool in the box (and you’ll never have enough of them!) is a mindset….the project gets done when it gets done. There is no sense in agonizing and getting frustrated over the process, try to enjoy yourself instead.
 
rmarshall234 said:
When I came out of A&P school and started working in the field it didn’t take long for me to come to this realization: “The problem with being an aircraft mechanic is you can’t see it, you can’t reach it and you’re always under equipped.” The best tool in the box (and you’ll never have enough of them!) is a mindset….the project gets done when it gets done. There is no sense in agonizing and getting frustrated over the process, try to enjoy yourself instead.
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That's great advice. I definitely used to get frustrated when fixing stuff that just didn't want to be fixed, mostly because I thought it was taking "too long." Building the plane has really helped me change that mindset and not worry so much about getting something done on a schedule.
 
skelrad said:
Building the plane has really helped me change that mindset and not worry so much about getting something done on a schedule.
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Absolutely 👍
If we get angry we have already lost the battle and best to just knock off for the day. The second part of my “The problem with being an aircraft mechanic” speech is “And if you can deal with the frustration of all of that for $20/hr you’ll love being a mechanic”😅. As aircraft builders, we do it for free!😁
 
rockyfatcat said:
I bought a set of these almost 15 years ago and have never used them once.

25+ years A&P
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I bought one not long ago and have used it several times on the -7. So, (y) for me. Just the 1/4", 3/8" is too big.
Problem is, I have to REMEMBER I HAVE this tool when I run into a needed task.
 
I have one of these in each of my three shops/hangars, and one in the airplane.
They are cheaper than some other similar tools, small and light, and work fine. It fits in tighter places than some designs that have a big loop on the other end.

 
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