Getting a grip on a slippery problem
Issue 70 : Jan/Feb 2010
Just as Imelda Marcos was addicted to footwear, I confess I’m addicted to tools. And not just any tools, either. I’m addicted to pliers. At last count, between my onboard toolbox, my workshop, and the toolkit in my truck, I used to own 30 pairs.
I say “used to” because I just bought another pair that has already assumed permanent residence in my toolbox aboard Pleiades. I was driven to this latest purchase by a problem I experienced while changing the oil in my diesel. (With the possible exception of removing my own appendix using nothing but a grapefruit spoon and my rigger’s knife, there is no task I look forward to less.)
I’d managed to suck the old oil from the crankcase and replace it with fresh, but I couldn’t unscrew the old filter. First, the space in which the manufacturer had so “thoughtfully” located the thing was so small my hand barely fit into it. And second, because both my hands and the painted housing on the filter were slick with a film of oil, once I did cram my digits in there, I couldn’t get a decent grip anyway. The solution: oil-filter pliers.
I found mine at a farm-supply store. With tax, they were $10.25. The jaws are slip-jointed, like Channellocks, and expand from 2 1⁄2 to 4 5⁄8 inches to accommodate a wide range of filter diameters. Some might argue that a strap wrench will work, but trying to get that vinyl strap to grip a filter coated with a film of oil would be like eating Jell-O with chopsticks. For my money, a tool specifically designed to grip and loosen a stubborn oil filter is a better solution.
The jaws are curved, offset, and have opposing sets of teeth. The offset jaws make it easy to see what you’re doing and, when clamped around the base of the filter gripping the little dimples located there, the teeth make solid contact. They have just enough give to prevent crushing or puncturing the old filter. Best of all, the handles are nearly 12 inches long and provide plenty of leverage. Once I’d slipped them around my oily little filter, one good push loosened it to where I could spin it off by hand. And no, you can’t borrow mine. Plan on getting a pair of your own.
Rich Finzer earned his powerboat operator’s license in 1960 at age 11. He began sailing in 1966 and is an accomplished racing sailor. He runs a winter boat-storage business and cruises Lake Ontario in his Hunter 34, Pleiades, supporting his aquatic addiction as a freelance technical writer.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
