Snowmobile Service Tools and Their Uses

We got this list of tool uses in an e-mail. While not all of these tools are used in routine service for sleds, they are common tools used around sled-owning households.

DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted A-arms that you set carefully in the corner where nothing could damage them.

ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning pop rivets in their holes.

SKILL SAW: A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.


PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.

BELT SANDER: Commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing projects.

HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools that transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion. The more a person attempts to influence its course, the worse the cut line.

VISE-GRIPS: Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects on fire in your shop. It’s also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub when removing bearing races.

HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after installing new brake pads while trapping the jack handle firmly under the bumper.

E-Z OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR: A tool ten times harder than any known drill bit that snaps off neatly in bolt holes, thereby ending any possible future use.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids, but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.

STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER: A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws.

PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.

HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to make hoses too short.

HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer is now used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit.

MECHANIC’S KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl covers, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, refund checks and rubber or plastic parts.

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