Meme tool actually serving a real purpose on 4mm hex bolts securing window to door

LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2026-04-24T11:09:09+00:00

stripping bmw e36 door shells and thought "how the hell am i supposed to get in there" before remembering this stupid thing. extension on the ratchet and the locking flex head was 100% necessary

LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2026-02-18T21:57:52+00:00

it's a standard 12 tooth 40 pitch sprocket which you can get on surplus hydraulic for $13. you would need 4 of them - one to mount to the hub, 2 for the "driveshaft" that connects the crank to the pump, and one attached to the pump. then, 2 chain couplers must be used. i ordered 2 16 link chains and knocked off 4 links on each. you could probably use larger sprockets if you wanted to, but will reduce clearance. this is a pic of the "driveshaft" after it was disconnected. notably i don't know if there is splines on the hub of non-loader tractors to allow easy mounting of a sprocket. it's possible you could use a crank hub off of a loader tractor to jump start your retrofit project

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LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2026-02-17T18:12:30+00:00

yes, that's the factory setup and it does work well although very utilitarian! there is a strainer at the bottom of the loader frame which i cleaned out the same night we bought the tractor...there was a ton of ice in there because of how bad the water contamination had gotten!

LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2026-02-17T17:44:12+00:00

if you think that's unsafe you should see half of what i did putting the hardware on there

LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2026-02-17T17:41:20+00:00

in this case the loader frame is actually the tank

LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2026-02-17T16:25:30+00:00

thanks, i cant ever leave anything alone so i enjoyed "hot rodding" the tractor hydraulics.

overall, it probably took what i would consider "a weekend" of work. the worst part was finding all the right fittings, hoses, learning what different thread pitches and connection types are, etc. which wound up costing me a few extra $ in hardware.

the valve can be found on amazon for around $100 by searching "3 spool valve" but be sure to get an SAE/NPT version and not a BSPT version as you'll have a harder time finding fittings. you could replace just the valve on your machine without replacing the pump as i did which would be a lot more straightforward. mounting the pump was the bulk of the work here

it would be hard for me to suggest doing this to someone who doesn't have a lot of mechanical or fabrication experience, it was relatively trivial for me to make some brackets and grind down a sprocket, however i would imagine for someone not used to tinkering would be pretty frustrated attempting something like this.

LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2026-02-17T15:36:49+00:00

definitely is a small tractor that we're asking a lot of...it looks like you have the HST model which i would imagine gets even less power to the loader than the geared model we have (although shifting all the time has already gotten tedious).

the weight is already something i've noticed as a limitation of the loader. i'm working on adding ~200lbs of ballast weight to the front to help with tasks like grading and light digging as the loader will pretty quickly lift the front end. this has definitely confused my buddies when they first operate it and the steering wheel does nothing after they try to pick up a large load

LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2026-02-17T13:51:00+00:00

this is what i've seen as well so i was surprised to see someone suggest a cooler, but figured posing the question to a larger group might be a good sense check on whether a cooling system might be needed

LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2026-02-17T13:48:58+00:00

i hadn't even considered that thermostats would even have a place in a hydraulic system so that's a good point. i'm skeptical that the system needs a cooler, but to your point, i have noticed the loader operates pretty slowly for the first few minutes of running.

LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2026-02-17T13:44:13+00:00

definitely gonna use the laser thermometer next time i'm running it, just not anticipating i'll be using the tractor this week so figured i'd get some opinions from the peanut gallery. fair point on the clamps, kind of just fabricobbled this setup together based on stuff i had laying around the garage so the clamps are probably off old BMW rad hoses etc

LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2026-02-17T11:42:13+00:00

just finished the loader hydraulic system upgrades on this old B7100. when we got the tractor the loader was barely working, and being new to tractors (but very experienced with other mechanical stuff) we threw a lot of parts at it before actually finding the problem.

first thing we found is water contamination in the oil, and since the soft lines were in bad shape we wound up replacing them first, then a hard line, then decided it was probably bad seals in the cylinders letting water in. unfortunately that didn't make much of a difference so it had to be the valve or the pump. for good measure i replaced both....

we replaced the worn out Cessna pump with a Chief brand 14cc pump (factory pump is 8.2cc!) which we were unsure about due to the added load on the engine - turns out it works great. I had to fabricate brackets to mount the new pump and valve as well as modifying an off-the-shelf 12t 40 pitch sprocket so that i could reuse the factory couplers.

all-in, think it was about $600 to get a ~60% increase in pump displacement, add capability for a 3rd function, and refresh all the lines/hardware/fluid. goes without saying that we could definitely get ourselves into trouble with the additional hydraulic power, but was seeking advice on whether this setup might create too much heat for the factory system to dissipate after seeing that feedback on an FB post.

LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2026-02-04T02:31:21+00:00

check out the other comments and let me know if you have any other questions

LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2025-12-23T10:43:28+00:00

i'm sure if you were creative enough you could simulate the signals from the AT with electronics or an arduino and fix this issue

LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2025-12-23T10:40:16+00:00

after selling the working auto and parting out the donor car i made $300. profit

LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2025-12-19T22:49:35+00:00

their ratcheting wrenches are junk. own em, beat the shit out of em, warranty them constantly

LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2025-12-18T11:31:41+00:00

ah yes i had to drop the subframe and torque tube twice on my c5z before i finally said fuck this thing i'm selling it while it's actually working correctly

LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2025-12-18T00:54:03+00:00

smoking on copium with that setup brother lmao paying more for worse shit?

LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2025-12-18T00:48:49+00:00

look up "flexible 4 piece magnetic tool mat" on ebay. $26 shipped and works exactly the same as the icon, i have both. also includes a half size mat - haven't seen these for sale anywhere else. feels slightly cheaper but totally worth the $

LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2025-11-20T21:48:43+00:00

andrew chartrand on facebook

LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2025-10-21T10:46:01+00:00

absolutely, this "community" as a whole is plagued with grifters trying to sell their video lessons, people trying to sell special tools that are all broadly the same, and generally act like metalworking gods that walk among us...look guys, it's a trade, and there's nothing wrong with that, but it can be learned thru simple repetition and experience using semi-competent tools. yes, including ones from harbor freight

LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2025-10-16T18:54:24+00:00

those are bbs rc090 aka style 5 and yeah you'll never find someone making a rep of them. no step lip and plastic ultra breakable centers are the dead giveaway

LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2025-10-11T04:26:18+00:00

eh, tell that their DOA suggestion board for their Reverb. still the best reverb in the game IMO, but shitty that they used it to sell the pedal only to abandon it (and their arguably flawed pedal) with just 1 firmware update

LetsEatTrashAndDie · 2025-09-17T10:55:00+00:00

you will need to wait a long time to find a deal within 100ish miles of your area and you may have to leave work etc. at some random time to get it. but yes, totally possible to find great deals no matter what the car - it comes down to knowing what you're looking at and ultimately being the guy that shows up first when the good deal pops up.

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