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Filter wrenches


Neil2

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Hitherto I've always managed to get spin on filters off either by hand or with a chain or strap wrench.  But one of the fuel filters on my current boat is an absolute swine to access, it's wedged in such a way between the engine and the bulkhead that none of the wrenches I have will shift it.  The last time I had to resort to whacking a screwdriver through it but even that's not easy and of course it's messy.  

 

What I need is one of those band type wrenches, eg the Halfords model looks like it will do the job but doubtless other members have variants they could recommend?

 

Sorry I can't post a photo - nowhere near the boat at the moment. 

Edited by Neil2
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31 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

Hitherto I've always managed to get spin on filters off either by hand or with a chain or strap wrench.  But one of the fuel filters on my current boat is an absolute swine to access, it's wedged in such a way between the engine and the bulkhead that none of the wrenches I have will shift it.  The last time I had to resort to whacking a screwdriver through it but even that's not easy and of course it's messy.  

 

What I need is one of those band type wrenches, eg the Halfords model looks like it will do the job but doubtless other members have variants they could recommend?

 

Sorry I can't post a photo - nowhere near the boat at the moment. 

Any number of strap wrenches available on E bay or Amazon. If you could get in to  use a screwdriver a strap wrench with a 1/2" socket drive will fit assuming you can get some kind of a drive {or spanner) onto the socket part.

 

Just looked on E Bay , first page I looked at, half way down, a Draper branded one for just over a fiver. It's click and collect if that helps. I think it's the one I bought recently. Sorry I don't know how to insert a link. Any time I've tried it I mess it up.

Edited by Slim
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1 hour ago, Neil2 said:

Hitherto I've always managed to get spin on filters off either by hand or with a chain or strap wrench.  But one of the fuel filters on my current boat is an absolute swine to access, it's wedged in such a way between the engine and the bulkhead that none of the wrenches I have will shift it.  The last time I had to resort to whacking a screwdriver through it but even that's not easy and of course it's messy.  

 

What I need is one of those band type wrenches, eg the Halfords model looks like it will do the job but doubtless other members have variants they could recommend?

 

Sorry I can't post a photo - nowhere near the boat at the moment. 

I use on of these. It has never failed to get any filter off in an awkward space because the webbing will slide into a narrow gap. It has a 1/2" sq. drive or you can use a spanner. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Draper-1-2-Square-Drive-or-21mm-120mm-Capacity-Oil-Filter-Strap-Wrench/153557661897?epid=9017000289&hash=item23c0bff8c9:g:Z7cAAOSwfP1dIx9y

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Slip a suitably sized jubilee clip on it. Position the boss in a suitable psoition and tighten.  Place screwdriver against boss and tap in the correct direction with a hammer. A guy I read about used to leave a jubilee clip on the newly replaced filter ready for next change.

I have tried many but my best is home made from an old trouser belt (one of those canvas type ones), and a piece of metal pipe with a slot cut in it. Never let me down with a filter yet, but I do now have to wear braces.

Edited by Guest
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16 minutes ago, cuthound said:

Yes - that's the one I was looking at.  None of the spanner/socket driven type will work, believe me I've tried. 

 

20 minutes ago, catweasel said:

Slip a suitably sized jubilee clip on it. Position the boss in a suitable psoition and tighten.  Place screwdriver against boss and tap in the correct direction with a hammer. A guy I read about used to leave a jubilee clip on the newly replaced filter ready for next change.

 

 Actually that's what I was thinking of doing except it hadn't occurred to me to fit the clip on the new filter prior to installing it - sometimes you look for a technical solution and miss the obvious eh.

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Halfords sell this one ….. for fifteen whacker'oonies.

However I bought on at Addled or it might have been Lidl'donkey and it cost me under a fiver.

 

I've got to say it's fantastic and has never failed me, I reckon I use it three or four times every week.

I've used it to open those stupid little jars of meat paste right up to odd shaped jars of Schninewartunfaffen SS Hot Dogs.

 

Dead good!

 

926543.jpg

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9 hours ago, Flyboy said:

I use on of these. It has never failed to get any filter off in an awkward space because the webbing will slide into a narrow gap. It has a 1/2" sq. drive or you can use a spanner. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Draper-1-2-Square-Drive-or-21mm-120mm-Capacity-Oil-Filter-Strap-Wrench/153557661897?epid=9017000289&hash=item23c0bff8c9:g:Z7cAAOSwfP1dIx9y

I’ve had one of those for about a decade and never noticed that it would take a square drive!

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I changed an oil filter on a car once and the metal shell had a big nut shaped pressing that you could simply put a socket or ring spanner over. It was so easy to get off I couldn't help wondering why they weren't all made like that?

 

Instead the majority are designed with a smooth domed end and you need a special tool or have to wrap something around the side walls which are difficult to get a grip on. Worst case you end up having to knock a screwdriver through the bloody thing and use it as a lever. It's almost like the designers were intentionally trying to make most standard filters difficult to remove!

Screenshot_20190806-023030~2.png

Edited by blackrose
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6 hours ago, blackrose said:

I changed an oil filter on a car once and the metal shell had a big nut shaped pressing that you could simply put a socket or ring spanner over. It was so easy to get off I couldn't help wondering why they weren't all made like that?

 

Instead the majority are designed with a smooth domed end and you need a special tool or have to wrap something around the side walls which are difficult to get a grip on. Worst case you end up having to knock a screwdriver through the bloody thing and use it as a lever. It's almost like the designers were intentionally trying to make most standard filters difficult to remove!

Screenshot_20190806-023030~2.png

Never seen a disposable one like that but I do remember the days when all cars had filter housings with replaceable elements and it was usually a simple job to unscrew the retaining bolt.  I think some car manufacturers have returned to this concept and hooray some of them even have the filter access from above the engine.

 

I suppose if you are marinising a plant engine or whatever then you're stuck with the base unit and there's not a lot you can do to make it more accessible in a typical engine bay.  But I had a Bukh engine in my last boat, a purpose built marine engine, and the oil filter access wasn't much better than a typical Beta.  And there was simply no way you could extract the filter without spilling oil into the bilge.  As you say, it's almost as though engine and filter designers were deliberately trying to make life difficult. 

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44 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

I think some car manufacturers have returned to this concept and hooray some of them even have the filter access from above the engine.

All Jags, most (all?) Mercedes and other manufacturers now have all engine servicing from the top. There’s a fitment to attach a suction tube to pull out the old oil, the oil filter is on the top etc. 

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1 hour ago, Neil2 said:

Never seen a disposable one like that but I do remember the days when all cars had filter housings with replaceable elements and it was usually a simple job to unscrew the retaining bolt.  I think some car manufacturers have returned to this concept and hooray some of them even have the filter access from above the engine.

 

I suppose if you are marinising a plant engine or whatever then you're stuck with the base unit and there's not a lot you can do to make it more accessible in a typical engine bay.  But I had a Bukh engine in my last boat, a purpose built marine engine, and the oil filter access wasn't much better than a typical Beta.  And there was simply no way you could extract the filter without spilling oil into the bilge.  As you say, it's almost as though engine and filter designers were deliberately trying to make life difficult. 

I remember them laying under an Austin A series with oil running down your arm as the nut lossened and dripping in your eye as you tried to get the new sealing ring in

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22 hours ago, Neil2 said:

Yes - that's the one I was looking at.  None of the spanner/socket driven type will work, believe me I've tried. 

 

 Actually that's what I was thinking of doing except it hadn't occurred to me to fit the clip on the new filter prior to installing it - sometimes you look for a technical solution and miss the obvious eh.

Just bought one off Amazon the same and was £7.49 pays to shop around ?

 

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17 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I remember them laying under an Austin A series with oil running down your arm as the nut lossened and dripping in your eye as you tried to get the new sealing ring in

Eeee! thems was the days, and didn't we all look funny trapsing off ter school with us shaved heads painted purple cos of the ringworm?

 

I wish somebody had told me earlier about top access for servicing on cars. 

Last year I spent ages with a torch rolling around on the road underneath my Saab 93 convertible trying to figure out where the hell they'd hidden the oil filter.   I even looked in the boot before stomping my way indoor to whizz off an email to the successors of Saab promising them if they were to give me some You're Hot/You're Cold clues it would remain our secret.  I'd not breath a word to anyone else. 

Turned out I only had to remove the massive plastic doo-hicky that sits on top of the engine, and there it was about on line (height wise) with the air filter!

Tomorrow I'm greasing the electric hood mechanism, I imagine I'll start by jacking the car up and removing the headlights.

  • Haha 1
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8 hours ago, blackrose said:

I changed an oil filter on a car once and the metal shell had a big nut shaped pressing that you could simply put a socket or ring spanner over. It was so easy to get off I couldn't help wondering why they weren't all made like that?

 

Instead the majority are designed with a smooth domed end and you need a special tool or have to wrap something around the side walls which are difficult to get a grip on. Worst case you end up having to knock a screwdriver through the bloody thing and use it as a lever. It's almost like the designers were intentionally trying to make most standard filters difficult to remove!

Screenshot_20190806-023030~2.png

Good filters are K&N, especially with the built in nut as you say. There is one that fits the Vetus Misubishi engines (Honda Civic IIRC), might give them a go sometime.

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