Whether you are an experienced qualified mechanic or a complete DIY novice just lifting the bonnet of your 4x4 for the first time, there are so many different tools available to buy that the choices can be a bit bewildering.

Do you buy from a local car parts store, a national retail chain or a specialist tools supplier? Do you go for the cheapest or the most expensive? What do all those specifications mean? Are the guarantees claimed on the packaging actually worth anything?

Here we are publishing an indispensable guide to tools and workshop equipment to answer some of your inevitable questions, guide you on what to look for before parting with your cash and hopefully make your life a lot easier by showing you how to use tools properly and safely.

We will be covering some of the more every day items like spanners and screwdrivers to the more specialist sockets and air powered equipment.

If there is anything we have not covered or something you would like advice on please contact us HERE

SPECIALIST TOOLS . . .

Land Rover Prop-Shaft Tool Now available in both 1/2" and 3/8" drive versions! Given a choice between splitting the atom and undoing the retaining nuts on a Land Rover propshaft, the atom has to be the easy option. Anyone who has ever tackled this particular job will know that millions of years of evolution has enabled mankind to devise an aperture that’s too narrow for a spanner and not quite big enough for a socket. If you are doing one this weekend, prepare yourself for grazed knuckles, plenty of head-scratching, loads of "what if I just try…" and a final admission of defeat involving a 4lb lump hammer and a cold chisel! Locking Wheelnut Removal Socket Most modern vehicles come with Alloy Wheels either as standard or as an option. This is all very nice but there will inevitably come a time when you need to get the wheels off and you realise you cannot find the key for the locking wheel nuts. Usually this will happen at the most inconvenient time, like when you get a flat tyre or when you've taken it in for a service and the keys are miles away in the garage at home. Land Rover Diesel Timing Belt Tool Kit New from Difflock.com is a comprehensive Tool Kit for replacing the Timing Belt on 2.5D, 2.5TD, 200Tdi and 300Tdi Diesel engines as fitted to Land Rover, LDV and LTI Carbodies vehicles.Not only does it contain all the special Timing Pins required it also contains a Heavy Duty Puller for removing the Crankshaft Pulley Damper assembly which is often very securely fixed onto the engine Crankshaft with Loctite. Land Rover Crankshaft Pulley Locking Tool for TDi Engines Those of you who have changed the timing belt on a 300 or 200 TDI Land Rover engine, will know that probably the hardest part of the job is undoing the crankshaft retaining bolt in order to remove the front pulley damper assembly and timing cover. Land Rover TD5 & V8 Viscous Fan Wrench Set If you have a TD5 Diesel engine or a Fuel Injected V8 Petrol engine (with serpentine drive belt) as fitted to Defenders, Discoverys and Range Rovers then you’ll know just how little room there is under the bonnet for routine maintenance and repair. To make matters worse, the large Viscous Fan fitted to these engines is often tightly fitted and removal is impossible with ordinary Wrenches because the mounting hub also moves as the large retaining nut is turned

These and Other Tools are AVAILABLE NOW! from the Difflock 4x4 Multi Store

ESSENTIAL TOOLS . . .

SOCKET SETS A decent quality socket set really is one of the absolute essentials of any vehicle mechanic’s tool kit. Socket sets allow the rapid removal and replacement of fasteners such as nuts, bolts and Torx fittings, often in places too tight for ordinary spanners or where the fastener has seized and a spanner simply slips off. Whatsmore, when used with a torque wrench or angular gauge, they allow fasteners to be set to the exact tightness recommended by the vehicle manufacturer. DISPOSABLE NITRILE GLOVES In years past not many of us worried about protecting ourselves from harmful chemicals unless the effects were instant and very painful. Long-term exposure to seemingly ‘harmless’ substances such as used oils, solvents and fuels was commonplace in garages and homes throughout the land. Sadly, this lack of care was also present throughout some industries and we have seen the results, with occupational diseases hitting the headlines more often than work related accidents. GREASE EQUIPMENT If you’re like us you then not for the first time you will have struggled to perform the simple task of injecting a few squirts of grease into a simple grease nipple. To start with there’s the messy business of actually filling the grease gun itself. If you ‘bulk fill’ your gun by sucking grease up into it from an open tub then you’ll know only too well how messy this can be and how difficult it is to keep everything absolutely free of harmful and abrasive dust. LOCTITE 243 Threadlocking compounds are used throughout industry, especially in automotive applications, to provide an inexpensive and reliable way of ensuring that fasteners do not come loose. They are highly specialised liquid compounds that cure quickly to form a bond between the surfaces they join. Good theadlocking compounds are far superior to split or shake proof washers and even Nyloc nuts since they also completely eliminate corrosion between the surfaces they bond hence preventing seizing.

These and Other Tools are AVAILABLE NOW! from the Difflock 4x4 Multi Store

WELDING . . .

PART ONE - Introduction If you are looking for a quick, cheap and simple method of repairing or fabricating steel and aluminium sheet or section, then you could be forgiven for rushing out and buying yourself a DIY welder from your local tool stockist. Sadly, for many who have they have found out the hard way that there is a lot more to welders and welding than meets the eye, and garages and sheds across the country are full of seldom used, dusty welders that are a pain, rather than a pleasure, to switch on. PART TWO - Arc Welders Arc welders are the simplest form of electric welder and are suitable for welding steel and cast iron, and despite their reputation for being hard to master and difficult to use on thin sheet they are very effective, reliable and have the lowest operating costs. They work on a simple principle that will be evident to anyone who has seen a tree after it has been struck by lightning; it is the fact that electric arcs concentrate enormous amounts of heat into a very small area. PART THREE - MIG/MAG Welding Mig Welders (also known as MAG or MIG depending on gas use) offer considerable improvements both in ease of use and control over their Arc Welder counterparts. In fact, with the correct wire and gas combination (more on this later) they can be used for welding Mild Steels (even thin sheet), Aluminium and even Stainless Steel.

These and Other Tools are AVAILABLE NOW! from the Difflock 4x4 Multi Store

LIFTING & JACKING . . .

In this feature we hope to explain the do’s and don’ts of lifting your vehicle for servicing and maintenance. This does not include Off Road lifting with Hi lifts where soft ground and slopes can be particularly hazardous, so if you want to know more on that subject click here Even at home, lifting your vehicle and working on it when raised can be highly dangerous. If you’re a 4x4 owner you could be playing with a couple of tons of very unforgiving metal and every year the unwary or foolhardy are killed or seriously injured working underneath their vehicles. This is all the more tragic when you realise that a few simple guidelines are all that are required to keep you safe and your vehicle secure. Here are the major factors to consider: The design, capacity and condition of your lifting and support equipment The ground surface that your vehicle, lifting and support equipment is resting on The security, stability and condition of the vehicle being lifted, especially the chosen jacking points (coming soon) The method of lifting and supporting and limitations this imposes (coming soon) The ability to summon help in an emergency (coming soon) By looking closely at each of these in turn we can get to grips with the hazards and understand how best to avoid them PART ONE - The design, capacity and condition of your lifting and support equipment Lifting and supporting a 4x4 safely requires not just a jack to provide the lifting force but also axle stands, wheel chocks and spreader plates (for soft or uncertain ground conditions).The first piece of equipment most of us will buy for lifting our vehicle will be a Jack. Jacks come in a variety of shapes and sizes ranging from simple ‘scissor’ jacks to hydraulic trolley jacks. PART TWO - The ground surface and location When you lift and support a vehicle it is important that it doesn’t move or it may roll off your jack/axle stand. For this reason, you should never lift a vehicle on any sort of slope because it is simply too risky. If you don’t have a level place at home then either get busy with the spade and concrete mixer to make one (concrete should be a strong mix and at least 100mm thick laid onto a bed of around 200m of hardcore or preferably Type 2 Fill with all topsoil previously removed) or do the work on flat ground elsewhere.

These and Other Tools are AVAILABLE NOW! from the Difflock 4x4 Multi Store

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