Automobile Tools

Motorcycle Lift

When using a motorcycle lift there are a few things you want to know before you lift the bike.

Lift Capacity – Make sure the jack can handle the weight of the chopper. If you can’t find the lift capacity engraved of the lift, you could probably find it by looking up the product name online.

Clearance – The jack needs to fit under the bike in order to elevate it. This is more important when purchasing, as you don’t have the jack right there to see if there is enough clearance.

Lift Mechanism – This feature is just for convince. A hydraulic jack will be much easier to raise and lower. A crank operated jack will need to be cranked manually.

The price range for motorcycle lifts can vary depending on the features. If you’re looking for a bike lift that is built for use everyday, the OTC 1545 Motorcycle Lift is a great product. It’s on the expensive end, but you get what you pay for.

Below you will find the best reviewed motorcycle lifts from Amazon with a review of the product.

	I own a 2007 Night Rod Special, this bike has a lower ground clearance than all other H-D bikes, most lifts have a minimum clearance of 5″ making it possible to lift even standard height bikes from one side only while having to to balance the bike at the same time. This lift is low enough to easily get under either side of my bike and raise the bike without trying to balance it as it comes off the ground. Lift also has four automatic locking positions so that it is not soley relying on hydraulic jack to keep the bike up while servicing or cleaning. (piece of mind) Easy 5 minute assembly, box intact with all hardware,which was only a couple of pieces. Overall 100% satisfied, I would highly recommend this lift to anyone, especially if you are worried about height clearance.
	Least expensive but works as the more expensive ones. I use it all day every day and it is rock solid.
	Would definitely recommend this for most motorcycles. It operates easily and lifts the bike without much effort. It is heavy, but that is necessary for the size bikes it can left. Indeed I have a heavy Yamaha V-Star 1100, and it lifts it like a champ.
	This lift works ok, price is reasonable and quality fair. It easily lifts the 900+ pound Goldwing and supports it well enough for general cleaning and simple inspection/maintenance. I would not recommend it for any major repair work, it is simply too unstable. Unfortunately ATD is having this item made in China and quality suffers as a result. Had I known it was Chinese I would have bought the OTC brand instead.

Hydraulic Jack

A hydraulic jack is a must have tool for anyone who works on a car. Even if you don’t work on a car, it’s a good idea to carry one around in your trunk, assuming you have space. These jacks are larger than the emergency car jacks that come with spare tires in the trunk, but they are significantly easier to use.

I have 2 hydraulic jacks which allows me to rotate tires on my automobiles in less than 30 minutes. When you are using a jack that isn’t not designed for your specific vehicle, you need to ensure that the jacking point connects securely. Sometimes you’ll need to take a 2×4 and cut some slits in it that will meet any strange patterns from the bottom of your car.

Below you will find the best reviewed hydraulic jacks from Amazon with one of the review comments.

I bought this jack for my son for working on his truck after I saw him jury rigging a smaller jack. He started using the jack as soon as he got home. It lifts the truck up high enough to get the big tires he has off the ground. Now all his friends come over so they can use the jack. It lifts the truck with no problem at all. Last weekend he replaced the rear passenger strut on my Impala. It jacked the car up high enough so that it was no problem getting at the strut. I would highly recommend this jack for anyone with a truck.

In my opinion, the Torin 3 ton low profile service jack provides a great bang for the buck ($95 at my local Walmart – but not all Walmarts have this jack). The Torin sold at Walmart, is black in color, and is called a “black jack”, but Amazon, and others, have this same Torin jack in red color, and simply call it a: Torin 3 ton “professional” – low profile service jack.

So, for $30, I wasn’t expecting the jack to end all jacks. This one is actually pretty good. It goes up quick, has a nice little rotatable thing on the jack point that lets you encapsulate those little jack points on your car perfectly, and it definitely gets the car off the ground for several hours just fine.

One of the problems is the release mechanism is too touchy – I’ve accidentally turned it too fast at least 3 times now, and the car has basically fallen to the ground. You have to be extremely slow and methodical when releasing this jack. Another issue that’s not too big of a deal is the noise it makes when you get a bunch of weight on it – right before I get a wheel off the ground on my car, the handle gets hard to pump and eventually the jack makes a chirping sound and continues as it was. This is weird, and makes it feel a little unsafe, but it’s probably fine. The third con is that it doesn’t go high enough. Definitely take a look at the listed height before buying and make sure 13 inches is high enough for you.

Grease Gun

A grease gun is a specific tool that has one purpose — to apply grease to a precise spot. There isn’t much more to know about them.

The main difference is how the grease is pushed out of the tool. One gets forced out by your own muscles. The other is powered by compressed air.

The compressed air grease guns are easier to manipulate but this product tends to have a higher price tag. The following grease guns have received the best reviews from Amazon.com

Pneumatic

Manual

Jump Starter

is a good alternative to the typical jump start a car routine. These devices are typically easier to use and the first time jumper will appreciate the simplicity of a jump starter as opposed to jumper cables.

The process is simple. Attach the positive cable to the positive terminal on the battery. Attach the negative cable to the negative terminal on the battery. Each unit might have a slight variation to this method. For example, some jump starters have a button you can push to verify there is enough juice to jump the battery. Other models have a dial that you need to set to “charge”. In order to use your specific model, we recommend that you read the directions included with your device.

When shopping around, here are a few things to consider before making the final purchase.

Some battery jumping devices will warn you if you hook the jumper cables up incorrectly.

Some models will cut the power until the cables are properly attached.

Some battery jumpers will have a feature to prevent you from over charging.

Some models contain LED lights to display amount of charge left.

These battery chargers are heavy. Make sure you see how much they are charging you for shipping.

As with most products, the manufactures advertise how awesome their product is. Here are some reality checks.

These devices aren’t as powerful as you think. Don’t expect them to power your phone, laptop, or TV. A fully charged unit could vary from 1 to 4 hours of run time on a portable DVD player.

Most models are designed for 4 and 6 cylinder engines. If you have a V8, make sure you buy a high end jumper.

Some models come with air compressors. Manufacturers claim they can inflate your car tires. Don’t believe them. At best they can inflate soccer balls, footballs, and bicycle tires. If you need to inflate car tires, go to the gas station and use a real air compressor.

The battery will slowly lose its charge overtime. Expect 10-20% loss per month in ideal conditions.

After using the jumpstarter you should recharge it as soon as possible.

Just like your car battery, these will last approximately 5 years. After the time has eclipsed, you’ll need to purchase a new one.

Here are 2 jump starters that come highly recommended and have great reviews. One is a lower end unit with 900 peak amps and the other is a heavy duty jump starter that has a higher price tag because it’s a 1700 peak amp unit.

	The Jump-N-Carry is the 700 Amp jump starter. The lower price tag doesn’t indicate a terrible product. In fact, this specific model is one of the best reviewed jump starters on Amazon. This has enough power to turn a V6 and is what we recommend for your average car owner.
	The Clore jump starter is for heavy duty use. It’s not made for the average person with little knowledge of using and maintaining batteries. These are for the mechanic or car dealer, or for the informed customer looking for a heavy duty jump starter without all the other features like an air compressor.

Jumper Cables

A dead battery can cause major frustration so you should always be prepared and know how to jump start a car. Jumper cables are an essential tool you should always carry with you in your automobile. When purchasing a set of booster cables, there are a couple facts to watch for.

Cable Gauge – The gauge of your

jumper cables

will determine how much juice you can transfer from one battery to the other. The lower the gauge number, the more power the cables can handle. Here is a general guide to gauges.

10 gauge is for compact cars

8 gauge is for midsize sedans

6 gauge is for full sized/4 door sedans

4 gauge is for SUVs and Trucks.

The clamps can be made from a couple different materials. High quality clamps are made of solid copper while the cheaper clamps have copper-plated steel.

Lots of manufacturers will call their jumper cables “heavy duty”. Ignore that, check the gauge of the cables and the quality of the connectors. Those are the most important factors.

Long jumper cables are a life saver when a car dies in a parking garage where you can’t maneuver a good car’s engine close by so the cables reach from the post of the good battery all the way to the dead car’s battery. So don’t be stingy and buy the 10 foot cables to save a few dollars.

A voltmeter can be useful to ensure that the jumper cables are transferring power. If a jump didn’t work, you can verify that the cables are hooked up properly by using a voltmeter to see if there is any power in those cables.

	These are good quality jumper cables at a competitive price. Be sure to select the size you want from the drop down box if you are purchasing via Amazon.com.
	Here is another well reviewed set of jumper cables. 4 Gauge is always good to have because you can use it with compact cars and SUVs. Where as an 8 gauge will be able to handle compact cars but not SUVs.

How To Jump Start A Car

How To Jump Start A Car!

It’s bound to happen one day if you drive a car. You get in and try and start the car, but it won’t start. Here’s a simple guide that will safely walk you through the steps to jump start a car.

To make the situation easier on yourself, position both cars so that the batteries are close together. This will allow you to manipulate the jumper cables with ease.

Now it’s time to connect the jumper cables. The car that is giving you a jump can be running or turned off — either way works.

Clamp the red/positive cable to the positive pole of the dead battery.

Connect the other end of the red/positive cable to the positive pole of the charged battery.

Connect the black/negative cable to the negative pole of the charged battery.

Connect the black/negative cable to a metal surface around the engine. Make sure there is no paint on the metal.

If the car with the live battery isn’t on, go ahead and start the car. Assuming all the cables are hooked up properly, the car’s battery is being charged. Wait a couple minute and try and start your car.

Now that both cars are running, it’s time to disconnect the jumper cables. Remove the cables in the reverse order.

Disconnect the black/negative cable from the metal surface around the engine.

Disconnect the black/negative cable from the negative pole of the donor car’s battery that you used to jump the dead one.

Disconnect the red/positive cable from the positive pole of the donor car’s charged battery.

Disconnect the red/positive cable from the positive pole of the previously-dead battery.

A few months ago when I was jumping a car, I noticed the lady would back away from the cars while I attached the cables. She was probably worried I would blow something up. We don’t want batteries blowing up so here are some additional tips for when you have to jump a car.

The “explosion” problem can occur when the cables/terminals emit a spark. When you are hooking up the jumper cables, the last connection is the one that has a chance of making sparks. Usually you won’t see sparks flying, but in the off chance it happens you will be fine because you are connecting the last cable to a metal part away from the car battery. When you take off the jumper cables, the spark would come when you disconnect the first cable. This is why you detach the cable that is connected to the metal around your engine first.

Sometimes the car giving the jump will drain enough of the battery that it won’t be able to start. In order to avoid this predicament the donor car should be driven for a few minutes.

It’s a good idea to clean the battery terminals. IF you don’t clean them, a lot of corrosion will build up which makes the connection between a battery and the jumpers weaker.

You should also drive the car that was jumped to give the battery time to recover as well.

If a 2nd car isn’t available, you can still get juice flowing to the battery with a jump starter

Battery Chargers

Battery chargers are very similar to jump starters. The key difference is that a jump starter is a device that you can use to recharge batteries without being hooked up to a power source. Jump starters are usually used for heavy duty batteries like car batteries, boat batteries, and so on. A battery charger connects to your typical outlet to provide power to your car battery.

When charging batteries you need to be careful to not leave the charger on the battery for too long. A few minutes isn’t a big deal. The battery can be weakened – meaning the amount of power it can hold will be less, or the battery could lose the ability to hold a charge.

A lot of battery chargers have features to prevent such scenarios from occurring. Newer chargers have are able to determine if the battery is full and then it will stop charging. Some also have a trickle mode where you can leave the charger on and it will keep the battery topped off without damaging it.

Here are a few battery chargers that are highly reviewed from Amazon. If you’re looking to purchase one, these would be the ones to examine first.

	It can charge both 6V and 12V batteries, with different amp selection. Different from some of the older style charger, this one will automatically shutoff when charge is full. So you can plugin, clamp on, turn on and walk away doing other things. Never worry about overcharge the battery. It is light weight and great tool to have, if you have a lot of batteries around. We use it to charge and check the batteries for the large UPS power supplies in our office. Properly maintained battery can extend its life so much, worth many times the cost of this charger.
	This unit is a workhorse for the money. I use it on my Corvette in the winter and in the summer I have my snowblower attached to the battery tender. This product is compact in size and simple to use. It came with different adapters that enabled use with different battery charging requirements. I recently gifted a unit to my father in-law who leaves 2 cars in Florida year round. A must have for anyone who has a vechicle or seasonal piece of equipment.
	Battery chargers and I have never gotten along. I actually once sold, what turned out to be, a perfectly good old snow plow truck because I thought something serious was wrong with the engine. The charger showed the battery was good, so I figured it had to be the engine and it was too old and rusty to put more money into it. The guy came to pick it up, gave me $200…stuck a new battery in it, and drove it away. It was a bad charger not a bad battery. Recently, using what I thought was a more reliable charger, I couldn’t get my batteries to fully charge. Rather than blaming the batteries this time, I purchased the Schumacher. I read good things about the brand on the web and took the plunge. I couldn’t be happier. This is a hi-tech charger with all the bells and whistles. It is “stupid proof” as well, and lets you know what is going on as it charges. I love it! I am now able to fully charge all my batteries, and the other charger went into the trash. I highly recommend this automatic speed charger.
	I am very happy with this charger. It will constantly display either the charge percentage or current battery voltage. I tried to charge an old jet ski battery with it and it was able to tell me the battery was bad. I have three diesels and they have large batteries. This is capable of putting a good charge on them when dead in only a few hours. The cords are long enough to set the charger outside the car, so you can close the hood when charging. My only complaint would be that the clamp jaws don’t open wide enough to grab a large battery terminal clamp.

These are the top reviewed battery chargers.

Oil Extractor

The oil extractor is my new favorite tool for the time being. I am the person in charge of maintaining the family cars which means I have to make sure the cars get their oil changed on a regular basis.

It use to be a big hassle to change oil. Now that I have an oil extractor, the job has been simplified. I have the Mityvac 7400 7.3 Liter Fluid Evacuator and it has saved me many hours of changing oil.

Here’s what you do. Place the oil sucking tubes where the dipstick goes and give a few pumps on the machine. This will start the process of sucking out the engine oil. After that you can leave the car unattended or be amazed as you watch the oil defy gravity and get sucked out of the engine. One very convenient part of this is that your hands won’t be dirty so you can be at your computer, answer a phone, or work with other tools that you don’t want to use with oil soaked hands.

After a few minutes have gone by, go ahead and pump the extractor a few more times to get as much oil as possible. I like to pump a couple times before removing the tube out of the dipstick so that any oil still in the tube won’t come out from gravity.

Changing your oil is as simple as that. I do want to share a few tips that I have learned in my experience.

Change the oil after the car has been running. This will warm the oil up allowing you to suck out more oil faster.
Keep the tubes clean. After I finish changing the oil I wipe down the tubes and store them with a paper rag covering both ends of the tubes.
Once a year I use the old fashioned method of emptying the oil by the oil pan. I do this after I have sucked out the oil to see if this particular engine will need further annual oil pan cleanings. Some engines will not give up all the old oil with an oil extractor, while other engines will work just great with an extractor every single time!

Some people have reported problems with oil leaking out of the unit. Apparently synthetic oil can bypass the o rings that are suppose to prohibit any leaking. I have yet to encounter any such problem and I pump out synthetic oil. I’ve used the Mityvac 7400 7.3 Liter Fluid Evacuator over 35 times and it has worked great each time.

	This is the oil extractor that I have. It’s worked great — I haven’t had a single problem with at least 35 separate oil changes.
	Normally I wouldn’t put 2 Oil Extractors from the same manufacturer, but Mityvac makes a solid oil changer product. There’s no better way to remove fluids than with an oil changer. This model has a bigger container.

Motorcycle Lift

Motorcycle Lift

Hydraulic Jack

Hydraulic Jack

Grease Gun

Grease Gun

Jump Starter

Jump Starter

Jumper Cables

Jumper Cables

jumper cables

How To Jump Start A Car

How To Jump Start A Car!

Battery Chargers

Battery Chargers

Oil Extractor

Oil Extractor

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