From the back to nature desk of our renewable resource and sustainability division comes one of the more versatile and useful items in the Clunkbucket Arsenal of Tools. Wood. Countless blocks, lengths, or chunks of wood make it onto the tool carts and work benches of the world as proof that necessity is the mother of invention. Can’t get the car high enough with the floor jack? Block of wood on top of the jack. No parking brake? No problem! Wooden wheel chock. Firewood works especially well in this case for those so equipped. Seal driver kit not equipped with a big enough round to seat the rear main seal on a Mitsubishi Astron engine? Precision cut wood, with hammer. Battery hold down corroded to nothing? Wood wins again as an economical and corrosion free substitute. Sticky starter? A few well-placed raps with a cut-down wooden broomstick and away you go. The block of wood can be used in combination with any number of hammers for non-marring blows or convincing of fancy-finish parts into the right place. Wood used to keep Revolution four-spoke wheels from rolling into the neighbor’s expensive land yachts during cleaning, prevents unwanted litigation, and pays for itself a million times over. Any worthwhile tool cart or box carries wood of varying shapes and sizes collected from the light bulb moments of mechanical genius. As we’re certain there are myriad uses for wood not mentioned here, additional applications of wood for automotive repairs and/or parts are welcomed in the comments.
Years ago I had those same Revolution wheels on my Fiat 124 Coupe!
Just looked at on old Jeep CJ-5 last night that had some 4×4 blocks used to raise the seat frame. At least it was treated lumber.
World’s Fastest Indian – Excellent use of wood for trailer repair!
That’s why I have a lovely quarter sawn oak BMW motorcycle piston support. I knew somebody who made furniture as hobby, so I borrowed his bandsaw and a piece of scrap. I also have the usual collection of 2x4s and some pieces of teak chair leg.
Shortly after my driveway was paved, a couple 2×4’s under my ramps kept them from sinking into the driveway. I’ve also seen them used as ramps themselves – when I worked at a Chevy dealer, we had a customer with a lowered Corvette (seriously) who had his car brought in on a flatbed. We had to use several blocks of wood to lower the angle of departure for the car, so it didn’t scrape the front spoiler.
My shop has many different sizes of wood blocks, and they’re all essential. My favorite is a hunk of oak, which has held up to astounding abuse over the years as a driver, transmission support and jack assist, among other things.
I would also add that I often prefer using wood instead of jack stands for vehicle support. I have several sections of wood beam, 8 and 10 inch square, five to six feet long that I picked up at a local recycled wood lot (cheap!). If used judiciously, they are stable, solid, won’t crush under load and won’t wobble or tip like a jack stand can. Mine have helped me put in several transmissions and engines and even differential/axle/suspension assemblies in my Volvo 240 (easier than putting in a heater core).
No shop is complete without wood! That, and a pile of old car parts and other random bits to fabricate stuff with.
I used to have an Eclipse that blew alternator belts if you looked at it funny. The first time it took probably half an hour to change. The second time, I began to see a pattern and packed my car accordingly. The belt tensioner was completely buggered and you had to keep tension on the pulley manually while you tightened it down. I kept a 4 foot 2×4″ in the truck with extra belts and a piece of 12 gauge copper wire. Armed with my ghetto tools, I could change belts in 2 minutes flat on the side of the interstate with no flashlight. My Datsun 620 truck also got a passenger floorpan made from plywood for the short time I owned it, the 4 floor mats the previous owner had put down fell through on I-40 the first time I got about 45.
When drilling, wood makes an excellent backing plate to prevent dulling bits or drilling into one’s leg.
I just used a 5lb hammer and block of wood to “gently” “coerce” a quarter panel into withdrawing from the rear door after being rear-ended. If only the mere sight of wood and a hammer (and the smell of intent in the air) were reason enough for the quarter panel to talk the crippled unibody beneath into channeling its inner elasticity and snapping back into its original shape.
The doors all open and close without catching now, but I can sort of slip my finger under the trailing edge of the rear, driver side door now. Crunchy. :shudder
Wooden block + ratcheting tie down straps + truck = perfect tools to pull out the crushed rear quarter panels on my LeMons racer.