Misc tips and tricks spares to carry
Members Breakdown Kits
Jamesc76 I carry:
3 to 13mm 1/4 drive socket set 8 to 24mm metric and imperial 3/8 drive socket set 24 to 36mm 1/2 drive socket set Inch drive 46mm socket and bash bar Spark plug sockets 6 to 19mm spanners 4 different size adjustables Hammer, lump hammer Full array of screw drivers Mutli meter, with 4 different leads Pliers, vise grips, mole grips, needle nose pliers, strap wrench Jump leads Tow rope Wire Soldering iron and solder Crimps (loads inc fuse holders) wire stripers, crimp tool, bits of heat shirnk Bulbs var. Inspection lamp, mini mag light, 4d mag lite Jubilee clips var. Spare injector, coil pack, long plug lead Noid lamp(for injection systems) Surgical gloves Splash proof one use overalls Gaffer tape, electrical tape Electrical cleaner spray, penetrating oil RAC card Mobile with internet 80-90 help list (must check if any new on it !)
Aidan
if you have breakdown/recovery then a spare fan belt and bulbs are all you need to carry, though I also find electrical contact cleaner is pretty handy if you get an earth fault as you can often 'fix' the fault by liberal application to the earth crowns and spade terminals I have a 2.1 though and I carry a complete (and I mean complete) ignition system in the van plus the fan and power steering belts, and the necessary bits to reconnect the inlet side if I get a backfire on lpg as I had this happen to me once when I had nothing in the van to reconnect the idle stab pipe and had to wait for RAC to show and get a bit of plastic tube to do the job. The gloves and a screwdriver live under the rear mattress so I can fix that pdq if required. screwdriver set and wire cutters, fuses, relays, light switch and hazard switch, spade connectors, some useful little wire links already terminated and inc a fuse holder, 10-19mm spanners cv bolt tools torches inc shake it charge it type cleanish used air filter for drowned syncro (useful eh Jed) engine oil, mixed coolant, power steering fluid, windscreen washer mix, vinyl gloves, overalls and some repair any pipe type of 2 pack putty for that big metal water pipe that one day will leak and a new darlek cap (for Roger :lol: ) if it requires bigger tools than that it's probably not a beside the road job.
on syncro trips may also add spare driveshafts and carpet for crawling under van plus recovery gear of course
mobile phone and rac card, hiliftjack and standard jack and wheelnut brace extending type (Draper Asda £4) and spare wheel at rear tyre pressure, tyre pressure guage that works so you can air down, oh and a small 12v compressor/light and a jump pack though this seems to be mostly used for starting the neighbours cars it seems.
that's a fair weight and not used on 99% of journeys in any shape or form, bulbs and fuses probably acount for most jobs so the rest is dead weight and wasted fuel , just so I can hopefully make it home under my own steam, proably a lot daft.
I've had one fan belt shred in 7 years I've been stuck once because of failed light switch (thanks Andy for not fixing known fault before letting me drive the NaafiWagon back to Warrington) I've been stuck once because of an earth fault (which RAC man couldn't figure out) which also left me without lights I had three water jacket failures during the time of dodgy seals, nothing you can do about that except stop, add as much h20 as you can and wait for recovery
five of these failures occurred in one 12 month period so I had about 4 months with no free callouts, and since then I haven't had them out at all, but there's only one van now so less to go wrong and less to neglect/forget about/make time to see to
ESSENTIAL SPARES
Oil
Coolant
Fanbelt
SPARES FOR LONGER TRIPS
CV joint
Spark plug(s)
HT lead(s)
Dizzy cap + Rotor arm
Fuel hose and clips and filter
ESSENTIAL TOOLS
Jump leads.
Self Amalgamating Tape, Essential emergency repair for water cooled engines, can be bought off ebay will repair a split solid coolant hose (possibly a rubber one at a pinch, might just get you home)Also think of some plastic hose connectors and jubalee clips of various sizes to replace split hoses.
socket set
spanners (inc 2 of 13mm) preferably good quality
screw drivers several long, short, flat and philips
voltmeter
large adjustable spanner 30mm+ (to fit gas bottle, steering wheel nut, front thermostat, header tank level sensor etc)
pliers
Good quality mole grips, nort silver chinese crap quality ones flat edged and curved, can double as hose clamps in an emergency.
stanley knife
(head) torch
Gaffer tape
superglue
magnetic pick up tool
disposable gloves
WD40
nylon rope (blue string)
TOOLS FOR LONGER TRIPS
compression tester
timing light
Halfords 1/4" drive Pro socket set (always handy & goes up to 14mm sckt, has all the screwdriver & hex/torx bits too) HM: Ratchet strap (2m long, good quality)
Recently, we had a clutch slave cyl. mounting bracket crack and fail, effectively no clutch, show over. Using a ratchet strap, (and some help from friends) we managed to strap the slave into place against the (v.high) operating forces, using a long ratchet strap around the whole bellhousing. Got pretty close to the driveshaft boot and even rubbed a bit, but clutch still working fine 200 miles later.
