Which service job do you hate the most?

[DJ.]

I presume a lot of us are doing some winter maintenance jobs at the moment. Some jobs are straightforward (engine oil change), some are slow and boring (checking the torque on numerous bolts), but there are some I hate with a vengeance.

On my Caterham access to the gearbox filler plug is a bitch. I have accumulated some special tools: a cut down 10mm Allen key only 1/2" long used in a brake pipe spanner, a miniature 1/4" drive reversible ratchet with cut down 10mm hex drive only about 3/8" thick so I can actually remove the plug when unscrewed (it is opposite a chassis tube ) and a wooden stick to press on the plug so the ratchet works when it is loose.

After ten years ownership, I can now check and top up the oil without getting oil down my sleeve and swearing constantly

So, do any of you have a job that is a nightmare, or are your kits better designed than mine?

[DJ.]

The offending plug:

Tools:

[locost220]

I normally dislike changing vertical oil filters where you can't get an tissue under to catch the leakage.

[Wingco]

I like the modified tools Duncan, very handy and thought through.

The one and only job I am finding difficult to do is check the axle oil, Okay i'm change the axle but not for this reason. The axle check / refill bolt is so tight to the chassis I cant get a large alan key any where near it.
I hopefully will make something or modify the new axle before it gets fitted.

I would like to ask a question.
Our cars are basically the same !! okay tong in cheek. So how do you check your gearbox oil ? type 9

[DJ.]

Yes same gearbox
I just take the plug out and see if oil drips out, the last couple of years it has so must have been very slightly over filled.

But this year it didn't so I used a pipe attached to the oil bottle and squeezed oil into the box until it started dribbling out. I didn't leave it very long to stabilise, so it is probably a tiny bit overfilled again.

The gearbox doesn't have any obvious drips (unlike the diff ), but I like to be sure the level isn't dropping without me knowing.

[Fury1630]

Which job do I hate doing? Usually the one I'm about to start - whichever one that is.

But at the moment I'm cleaning & re-painting the chassis - a particularly hateful task, the engine's out, the bell housing's off, that led to the removal of the entire front suspension - AND steering rack & shafts, which led to me not liking the brake reservoirs, so they've gone, as have 1/2 the brake pipes & today I've taken out all the fuel system under the bonnet to re-configure that, which led to me taking out the tray it sits on & re-engineering that at it wasn't really strong enough.

Sigh.

I have now more or less run out of parts to take off.

[DJ.]

Which job do I hate doing? Usually the one I'm about to start - whichever one that is.

But at the moment I'm cleaning & re-painting the chassis - a particularly hateful task, the engine's out, the bell housing's off, that led to the removal of the entire front suspension - AND steering rack & shafts, which led to me not liking the brake reservoirs, so they've gone, as have 1/2 the brake pipes & today I've taken out all the fuel system under the bonnet to re-configure that, which led to me taking out the tray it sits on & re-engineering that at it wasn't really strong enough.

Sigh.

I have now more or less run out of parts to take off.

A busy winter for you then, whatever you do, don't look at the back of the car until you've finished the front

[SteveRST]

Yeah, gearbox oil is a pain. In my zetec type9 westy it's a case of contorting myself head first into the passenger footwell.
In the dark depths of the footwell there is a blanking grommet that covers an access hole which is directly in line with the gearbox filler plug.
It is possible to fill the gearbox through this access hole, with oil squeezed from a washing-up liquid bottle with a tube on the end. I usually end up covered in oil though.

Oil filter was a pain. It only had a few mm clearance from the steering column, which meant that it was impossible to remove filter without removing the column. However, I found it easier to put a jack under the sump, undo the engine mount bolts, and lift the engine up by an inch or so to give clearance for the oil filter to come out

[DJ.]

Oil filter was a pain. It only had a few mm clearance from the steering column, which meant that it was impossible to remove filter without removing the column. However, I found it easier to put a jack under the sump, undo the engine mount bolts, and lift the engine up by an inch or so to give clearance for the oil filter to come out

Genius
I don't think I would ever have thought of that!

Reminds me of a 70s Monteverdi where the engine had to come out to change the rear two spark plugs

[locost220]

Having spent many year under cars having to fill gearbox oil i finally got told about these pumps that with the small filler tube you can bend to shape to fit into the gearbox hole and far easier than trying to squeeze every last drop out the dispossable bottle that i am sure have got thicker so harder to squeeze now.

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