Overland Sourcebook 2018 EAST

Overland Sourcebook ~ Your guide to adventure TM ~ THE ESSENTIAL OVERLANDER TOOL KIT
those you use when you do want to damage
something—or at least reshape it. I used to
carry a no-bounce hammer for the former
and a small sledge for the latter; now I carry
a single model, a Park Tool 21-ounce, which
has a steel face on one side and a plastic face
on the other.
8. To cut, file, punch
You should carry a hack saw with several
spare blades, and a set of tin snips. Also a
combination half-round and flat file, plus
a round file. I have a selection of punches
from tiny to stout, and a brass drift, which
is irreplaceable when you need to pound
something such as a wheel bearing race
in or out without scoring the surrounding
steel. A good compact scraper for cleaning
off gasket residue will make that job much
easier than doing it with a pocket knife. And
for lighting your work area under the vehicle
or after dark, a magnetic LED lamp with a
swiveling head will make your life much
easier.
9. One-use but indispensible
For some repairs you’ll find parts held in
place by snap rings or circlips. These are
fiendishly difficult to remove with anything
but a proper pair of circlip pliers. And
circlips can be either internal or external—so
you might need to either squeeze or spread
them—and small or large. I have a Snapon
kit that comprises 12 different snap-ring
pliers, but that’s a bit overkill for a field kit.
On the other hand I’ve had bad luck with the
pliers that use replaceable tips in different
configurations. Knipex to the rescue: They
make a set of four pliers that come in a small
roll.
Toyota ups the difficulty ante on some of
their hub and transmission circlips: there
are no holes to accept circlip pliers. Graham
Jackson and I recently had to service the
hubs on our Land Cruiser in the Australian
Left to right: Brass drift,
large and small steel punches,
combination and round files,
Park Tools 21-ounce combo
hammer, hacksaw.
This Knipex circlip plier set
should handle most internal
and external snap rings.
48 Overland Sourcebook ~ Your guide to adventure TM ~ 2018 EAST Edition
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