It's easy enough to google the Snap-on part number and find out what this nice little tool is for but before you do can you figure it out? The Snap-on name would indicate automotive... hint, it's used with a socket.
I imagine the arrow would serve as an indicator of rotation. I've never seen anyone actually using this type of tool (in my day most mechanics had a screwdriver and a wrench) so I'm going by the brief description in the Snap-On catalogs.
After my comment above though I looked up the original patent and it gets a little confusing. The description starts with "It is generally recognized that to obtain the best working conditions, particularly in motors of the overhead valve type, adjustment of the valves should be made while the engine is running" and ends with "With one hand on the knob, the other hand is free to insert the usual gage between the foot of the rocker arm and the valve stem" so it sounds like he's saying you use a feeler gage with the engine running? I don't know how that would even work but like most patent descriptions it's purposely vague. And I'm not sure if hydraulic lifters were a thing in 1925.
The whole thing just looks cumbersome to me, and the screwdriver tips on so many of them I see online are broken. I'm surprised it was in the Snap-On catalogs for so long (through at least the 1960's). But on the other hand, the ones that are out there look well used, so maybe it's just me. Heck if it didn't say "Snap-On" on it I would have guessed it was a plumber's tool of some sort.
In my youth it was common to set valve lash on a running engine (If the spec was for 'hot' engine vs. 'cold') and you could tell who invested the extra effort by the beat up feeler gauges in their tool box. The justification was that it took so long to finish all twelve or sixteen valves that the last few weren't really hot anymore. Feeler gauges became a consumable item, though. Happily most cars had gone to hydraulic lifters by then except for slant sixes when I worked at the Chrysler dealer.
Maybe then do the first valve with the feeler, see how far the arrow needed to be backed, then rely on that to do the rest... That would have helped... If it worked... Thanks !
9 comments:
Valve gap adjustment, at a guess. D.
Yes, pretty obvious if you’d ever adjusted a valve, isn’t it?:-)
That was my guess, however it looks like a 3 hand job, one for the wheel, 2 for the handle and 3 for the feeler guage
Two hands and at least one good ear...that tool is used to adjust valves with the engine running.
So, something like tightening it to zero clearance by ear, then backing a fraction of a turn ? Is that why the arrow on the knob ?
I imagine the arrow would serve as an indicator of rotation. I've never seen anyone actually using this type of tool (in my day most mechanics had a screwdriver and a wrench) so I'm going by the brief description in the Snap-On catalogs.
After my comment above though I looked up the original patent and it gets a little confusing. The description starts with "It is generally recognized that to obtain the best working conditions, particularly in motors of the overhead valve type, adjustment of the valves should be made while the engine is running" and ends with "With one hand on the knob, the other hand is free to insert the usual gage between the foot of the rocker arm and the valve stem" so it sounds like he's saying you use a feeler gage with the engine running? I don't know how that would even work but like most patent descriptions it's purposely vague. And I'm not sure if hydraulic lifters were a thing in 1925.
The whole thing just looks cumbersome to me, and the screwdriver tips on so many of them I see online are broken. I'm surprised it was in the Snap-On catalogs for so long (through at least the 1960's). But on the other hand, the ones that are out there look well used, so maybe it's just me. Heck if it didn't say "Snap-On" on it I would have guessed it was a plumber's tool of some sort.
In my youth it was common to set valve lash on a running engine (If the spec was for 'hot' engine vs. 'cold') and you could tell who invested the extra effort by the beat up feeler gauges in their tool box. The justification was that it took so long to finish all twelve or sixteen valves that the last few weren't really hot anymore. Feeler gauges became a consumable item, though. Happily most cars had gone to hydraulic lifters by then except for slant sixes when I worked at the Chrysler dealer.
Maybe then do the first valve with the feeler, see how far the arrow needed to be backed, then rely on that to do the rest...
That would have helped... If it worked...
Thanks !
Here's a current version; same principle but with a built-in torque wrench:
https://www.rbssuperchargers.com/Products/Valve_Adjusting_Wrench_LSM_Torquing__TQ-100KIT--2700-0059T
https://www.rbssuperchargers.com/images_temp/1024771000WLSMINST.JPG
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