Easy sphere removal tool

[Neil Taylor]

Inspired by a photo on this forum of someone who had welded a band onto a pair of threaded rods passed through 2 holes in a piece of angle iron similar to an old fashioned bed spring base frame, I made something similar. It is essentially just a U bolt like an exhaust clamp only bigger diameter of course.

I had some lengths of 5mm threaded rod. This is easily bent by hand without heat round the circumferance of a sphere. Drill 2 holes with one fairly close to the end of a piece of angle iron about 2 feet in length or therabouts. I used a strip of old pond liner to make a band glued together to stretch over the sphere for grip. Others have used inner tube. Whatever is to hand.

My rear spheres looked original from the rust on them but they all turned off easily with this tool at the first attempt using the pressurise/depressurise technique described elsewhere on this forum. A quarter turn under pressure I found unnecessarily generous as they spun off by hand after that with no force, and no spraying from any of them. I was dreading this job after some of the horror stories, and reluctant to pay for an expensive removal tool, but this tool is made in minutes, works like a dream and costs next to nowt.

I note someone did this with 10mm rod and the threads did strip on my 5mm before I got the 6th sphere off, but it only took me 10 mins to get back in business with a new length of rod bent round a sphere so while not perhaps the most durable tool, it was quick and easy, making sphere changing a doddle.

[stoofer]

I found a snap-on oil filter removal tool excellent for sphere removal. simple device, drive-ended bar with a (strong) fabric strap that gets tightened as you rotate the bar with a ratchet (or breaker bar for very stubborn spheres)

it would be very easy to make one out of an extension bar and an old seatbelt I reckon (or get lucky like me and find one for £5 on a famous auction site)