take care of your tools

its winter time here in new england. the shop slows down to a crawl. we got plenty of time on our hands. now is the time to inventory your tools and order any new tools that you may need. it is also time to maintain your tools. chain tool, crank puller, ratchets, etc should be cleaned and lubed. for the park hanger alignment tool i pull out the inside shaft and clean and grease it. the grease provide a hydraulic buffer between the shaft and tool. this reduces play and gives smoother operation.

crows foot cone wrench

this is for working on fox fit dampers. torque wrench on a cone wrench. plug in a park cone wrench and turn it 90 degrees so you don't have to do any calculations.

snap rings

square edges of the snap ring should face the snap ring pliers. the snap rings wont fly off and get lost on the floor anymore. one side of a snap ring is rounded from the stamping process and the other is squared off, easy to see by eye and feel

extend the life of your park dag 1

if you have a older park derailleur alignment tool you will find that the alignment boss is quite large. the large boss interferes with the smaller hangers on many new road bikes. a quick fix is to grab a axle washer and slip it on over the stud. this will reduce the diameter of the boss and give you some room to work with. for example trek madone hangers and the DAG 1 dont play well but slip on the washer and its good to go. the pic above is for illustration. the washer i have is larger than normal and the tool is the newer DAG 2