Toolkit

[chrixxer]

What's a good toolkit to keep in the plane (preferably something I can source from Walmart or a hardware store or whatever there is in St. Louis, Missouri on a weekend; Amazon Prime works, too, can have it shipped to my mom's)? Is a '66 M20E metric or SAE?

[N6758N]

everything is SAE, get yourself a good 1/4" drive ratchet set and a few good screw drivers for starters. You can take most of the airplane apart with those tools. 

[75_M20F]

Cell phone and a credit card.

[N201MKTurbo]

Go to Harbor freight and get a 1/4 inch drive SAE socket set a set of end wrenches. Take a 7/8 end wrench and cut it in half to get spark plugs out with. Make sure you have a wrench to get the leads off the plugs. And a stout pair of needle nose pliers and some Allen wrenches. Get one of their fabric tool bags and throw it all in there and toss it on the hat rack and hope you never need it. Oh and a good #2 Phillips screw driver.

Edited May 16, 2017 by N201MKTurbo

[1964-M20E]

Just now, N201MKTurbo said:

Go to Harbor freight and get a 1/4 inch drive SAE socket set a set of end wrenches. Take a 7/8 end wrench and cut it in half to get spark plugs out with. Make sure you have a wrench to get the leads off the plugs. And a stout pair of needle nose pliers and some Allen wrenches. Get one of their fabric tool bags and throw it all in there and toss it on the hat rack and hope you never need it. Oh and a good #2 Phillips screw driver.

agree with everything but put in baggage area probably little heavy for the hat rack at least mine is.  I could almost overhaul an engine with what I have.

The other thing is if you do an owner assisted annual make up a tool bag for that and keep that on the plane.  You will never be without a tool to take something apart to look at it and or fix it if there are no mechanics available.

Add safety wire and safety wire pliers.

 

[75_M20F]

Too me it doesn't seem right to be flying around with X pounds of tools in the back of the plane all the time. There is a certain amount of efficiency that is lost flying around extra weight. Most stuff that grounds the plane will require a mechanic anyway, since I am not a mechanic why haul around a toolbox?

Edited May 16, 2017 by Mooney_Mike

[KSMooniac]

Aft CG increases speed (& thus efficiency) so carrying tools is a good way to do that. not to mention if you carry tools or spare parts you'll likely not need them! Carrying a couple gallons of water is good too. If you need to lose that weight for baggage, just pour them out.

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[M20F]

What do you intend to fix or are you capable of fixing?

[75_M20F]

14 hours ago, KSMooniac said:

Aft CG increases speed (& thus efficiency) so carrying tools is a good way to do that. not to mention if you carry tools or spare parts you'll likely not need them! Carrying a couple gallons of water is good too. If you need to lose that weight for baggage, just pour them out.

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That's assuming you don't have the option of not carrying said weight, then yes the farther aft (within limits) the better.

Your not going to convince me that putting a 50 lb weight in your baggage area is going to count at a speed mod and increase range at the same time.

 

Edited May 17, 2017 by Mooney_Mike

[KSMooniac]

Try it and you might be surprised.

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[75_M20F]

Just now, KSMooniac said:

Try it and you might be surprised.

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OK, I will take you up on that. I will put my barbell set in there so at least I can workout when I break down.

[MooneyMitch]

I always carry a well stocked tool kit.   Open ends, sockets, screw drivers, needle nose, duct tape and more.  Just in case.  

[Skates97]

I have sockets, open end wrenches,  screw drivers, needle nose/regular/vise-grip pliers, safety wire and safety wire pliers. I also keep the best two of the last plugs I replaced, I figure if needed they will still get me where I need to go. I could basically do a lot of damage/repairs with what is in the small box in the baggage area. 

My question for those who carry a spare plug to change if needed, is do you also have a torque wrench in there or do you figure you'll just guess? My torque wrench has its own little case so I just keep it in the baggage area as well. I've seen plugs stripped out of heads before and that's not something I want to do. 

[Ned Gravel]

9 minutes ago, Skates97 said:

I have sockets, open end wrenches,  screw drivers, needle nose/regular/vise-grip pliers, safety wire and safety wire pliers. I also keep the best two of the last plugs I replaced, I figure if needed they will still get me where I need to go. I could basically do a lot of damage/repairs with what is in the small box in the baggage area. 

My question for those who carry a spare plug to change if needed, is do you also have a torque wrench in there or do you figure you'll just guess? My torque wrench has its own little case so I just keep it in the baggage area as well. I've seen plugs stripped out of heads before and that's not something I want to do. 

All this (except my spare plugs are new) and a spare landing light bulb (HID light), an oil bottle funnel, windscreen cleaner, cloth rags, set of six most common bits for screwdriver,  and magnet to find the lost screw or tinnerman.  I used to carry a small torque wrench, but I replaced the oil filter screen with a real oil filter - no need for me to get to those nuts anymore.