The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk How do you work under the hood?

HI Stovebolt guys....

I have a Howard Knapp truck (1952/53 Chevy truck) been fiddling with this fall and winter...spent sometime working under the hood this weekend....I guess I am used to my Willys Jeeps...but darn how do you guys work under the hood?....I was like draped over the front fender....I am 5'7" tall and I gotta tell you...these trucks are huge to work on...in my eyes at least...my feet were hanging out in the air most of the day...I had literally jump on the front fender to get up and work on it...

Do guys use ladders or blocks or what to be comfortable and work on them???...I would hate have fresh paint on it and then have to lean and hang all over it to get it under the hood to work on it???...is there a way to work on them or a trick I need to know???

any insight from you pro Stovebolt guys?

MikeC

I have a set of magnetic fender covers From Harbor Freight that I use, and on my 55 2nd, I mostly come in from the front, between the radiator and the fender on each side for carb/tuneup work. I am 6'2" so that helps some!

I have several home made wooden benches I use.

Eat your vegetables! I always did, and now im 6'4"!

Its a disadvantage when working under the truck though..

I am 5'4" and I usually use a platform of sorts. I also have been known to climb up and get right in the engine compartment.One reason I dislike a small block chevy is the location of the distributor right up against the firewall.Sixes at least leave room to move around.---Jack

I'm but the same stature as you Mike. A guy that used to be my
friend introduced me to one of these:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/159518551

DG

I'm around 6'1" and if working on a stock Stovebolt I use a bench of some sort. My Burb is lowered so I can reach most things from the ground.

Denny, what's that fine piece of gear called? I use a cast iron stool that was a custom wedding gift & probably shouldn't. Your vertical-enchancing-wheel hugger apparatus is what I need.

Brad

Just type in Wheel Step and you'll get them anywhere from
$20 to $100.
Tried making one from some scrap square tubing I had laying
around, finally gave up after pricing expanded metal. I then
sprung for one for about forty bucks.
Nice and sturdy, and folds up to store on a shelf out of the
way.

dg

Mike- I'm 5' 8 1/2", and I use a plastic work stool/seat that came with a Black & Decker drill I bought about 8 years ago. I think those ladder things that allow you to lay over your engine would be nice, but I'm pretty sure I'd spend more time crawling off and on to get a better angle if I had one.

Denny, I've seen those tire hangers for sale, and I think I'm going to fabricate one for myself soon. I really like your tool cart there, too! My problem would be that I am still working on my truck on the curb in front of the house, and we live on a hill. The cart would be a block down the street before I knew it was gone. Man, I can't wait to sell this place and have my new garage-with-attached-home in the country!

Awesome Denny & thanks for the review.

Brad

I use one of these

http://www.zoro.com/g/Truck%20Ramp%20Step/00042565/

I built one some similar to this over 50 years ago and I have built quite a few during the course of time. It hooks over the front wheel. I bought one of these from Zoro a few days ago when they had a 30% off sale. I can't waste my time building one for that price. And that is the only way to get under the hood. Especially the ones with butterfly hoods.

Oh my gosh crenwelge

So cool...why didn't I think about that???.....that makes so much sense...I am gonna have to look around my dump and see if I fabricate something similar....

I knew there was a trick...I just couldn't figure it out...love you stovebolt guys...you have so much knowledge it scares me...

MikeC

How about just using a milk carton crate, turned upside down? Been using them for many years and I'm also 5'-7"

I'm 6'4", too. On top of that, I have arms that would be a better fit on someone that's 6'10", so there's no issues reaching anything on top. Underneath, however, that's a whole different game.

Hey Bill, do you have trouble with your knuckles dragging on
the ground?

Every time I've used a step stool or orange crate bout the
time I get down deep into it the stool kicks out from under
me. My tire step with the expanded tread keeps me on solid
footing.
Unless you have access to some cheap tread material Mike, it's
cheaper to just buy one of them steps already made for you.
But each to his own device.
The problem I have is leaning over when handling something
like the intake/exhaust package or worse yet pulling or
setting a head, I leave that up to the cherry picker
now a days.


dg

is the the 200lb or 500lb model?

I climb on the fender of my 46 when needed. That's the advantage of not painting it I guess.

Don't know Gus, of course it's made by the Chin dynasty so there
isn't any info available. I'm 150 so I don't worry bout it and
it's plenty solid feeling when I'm up on it.

dg

Sometimes

We fabricated some truck steps at work that were made out of re bar 1/2 inch rebar. They worked great simple to fabricate and you would not slip on the steps as they had ribs and held you steady. Pat

Top side creeper

http://www.amazon.com/Traxion-3-100...&sr=8-1&keywords=topside+creeper

Come on guys, we've gone from leaning over the fender, to tire
steps, to topside creepers, to.....what's next, a sling and
trolley to fly us over the engine when tuning up our Stovebolt???
Although I did get the step for Christmas one year, I really
hardly ever use the step, most of the time it's more trouble
than it's worth.
This all reminds me of the Handy Housewife's Helper and other
gadgets, when a plain old can opener, kitchen knife and
bottom of a coffee cup to hone it work just as well with out
over stuffing the drawers with useless carp that we hardly
ever use.

dg

Gee- What's the weight rating on that sling and trolley thing? Running valves just eats up my back!

Darn it, Denny,

I ordered a Westward wheel step a few hours ago.

Well, it might not need for my 3100s but it might be useful with my 2-ton COE?

I've never seen the tire step until this thread

I think its a good idea

I've been using a house hold three step ladder sideways
I will be ordering that tire step to give it a try
Not only am I vertically challenged,I have some diameter to deal with.

Tim, once you get on Zoro's mailing list you will get emails like this. "From us to you, 15% off your next order". This was a today only offer. Sometimes they have 24 hour sales as much as 30% off.
They are wholly owned by WW Grainger and sell the same stuff cheaper. Grainger has gotten on approved vendor lists of large companies and charges them out of the gazu. Zoro sells the same stuff a lot cheaper in a competitive price market.

From my experience, you want to stay away from Grainger unless
you are really desperate. Dang near everything they sell is
way out of sight price wise. They do own Speedair and Dayton
so if you need either compressor or motors then you're stick
wit them.
There are a lot of other things that they alone carry but in
general I look in another direction when shopping.

We used to have a local dealer who was an outlet for
Grainger's overstock and returned items and you could get a
lot of stuff at reasonable prices but he grew old and bought
the farm. His son closed the place down.

After doing a tiny bit of research I see where they acquired Zoro a
few years back and it's aimed at the consumer and small
business man, e-commerce only. Their attempt to compete with
Amazon apparently. It looks to me, that the way a lot of e-commerce
is run, the company has no warehouse, everything is drop
shipped from the manufactures. So when you order an item
from Zoro it might come form Grainger, or Zoro Tools previous
suppliers or any one of hundreds of manufactures they've
contracted with.
Does that sound like I got it right???
I worked with a guy that sold out of his home, something like
a franchise. Had no warehouse and just kept a few things in
his garage. When he got an order he just relayed it to the
company and they shipped it to the customer. Bought a set of
a dozen real cheap kitchen knives from him for six bucks 30 years
ago and we're still using them daily.

dg

One at Northern hydraulics if anybody still wants an option- Irontron step.
I was about to order and hesitated because I've got by for so long without it...
And more importantly- my truck won't have fenders on when I put the engine back in it.

Brad

Didn't the guy on the original Mad Max movie have one of those?

Actually working under the hood works better if you open the hood first.

I have a wooden step I made. I made it as long as the hood, and about 1 1/2 foot tread width. I made it heavy so it wouldn't move around so easily, and the tread depth larger so it wouldn't tip over if my feet get near the edge when I'm reaching.