They sell to anyone. They make their money with businesses because of the service they give, driving right to the shop. But I have one that stops by the house when I call him. He'd lose money coming every week especially since I'm not here most days. But I tell him what I want on the phone and he either has it or drops by when he gets it. ----- Original Message ----- From: Scott Howell To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2008 5:40 AM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] changing spark plugs on my Jeep
THanks and yes, the coil packs are a great idea. I wish more engines would use them. They are also fairly inexpensive at about $35 or $40 if I recall. Yes, I agree on the tools. I have what I would consider a nice Craftsman set that I stupidly got some cheaper extensions that weren't craftsman and so I really need to chuck those and get some real extensions. Will the Snap-on or Mac folks sell to individuals? I was under the impression they sold mostly to businesses. I am glad this isn't the six cylinder model since I gather getting to those plugs requires damn near pulling the engine. tnx On May 31, 2008, at 10:20 PM, Bob Kennedy wrote: > I haven't looked at that particular engine in a while but you should > feel good. The coil pack replaces the distributor and plug wire > though, not the plug. > > One thing you will learn as you work on cars. You get what you pay > for in tools. And sometimes you pay for what you got if you went > bargain hunting. I have a plug socket from Snap-On that swivels and > is pinned to a 12 inch extension. The plug fits tightly into the > socket and there is no chance of the socket ever staying behind. > > As engine compartments got tighter and tighter I ended up with a lot > of odd lengths of extensions and so on. > > You'll hear Larry and me talk about our air wrenches a lot. That's > because you can put a socket on one and only have to squeeze the > trigger to take a plug bolt out. I'm not too big on putting plugs > back in with mine because I don't like slamming a plug home with > aluminum heads. Or cast for that matter. An air wrench is a bit of > over kill if you don't own one but there are pieces out there you > can get to do the job. You can always have a Snap-On or Mac tool > person call you and you can tell them what you are looking for. They > talk to mechanics daily and know what a lot of them prefer for > tools. I'd bet they have just what you need if you want it. > > BTW, good idea to leave the engine in during a tune up... hahaha > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Scott Howell > To: [email protected] > Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2008 8:55 PM > Subject: [BlindHandyMan] changing spark plugs on my Jeep > > Well, this is for sure one handi-man project. I have never tried > changing plugs on a vehicle, but thanks to the designer of the Jeep > Grand CHerokee with the 4.7L V8, it is possible to reach all 8 plugs. > Well ok, I've changed 6 of the 8, but had to stop as I couldn't get > all the way in to the final two on either side. They are partially > under the point where the passenger cabin begins and there's a lot of > crap in the way. I couldn't even get a universal socket attachment > including my extension in there so a friend of mine is going to look > and see if I can use his spark plug socket that has a universal > attachment on it. In any event, I feel pretty good about doing > something like this as I really had little idea what the hell I was > doing. The Jeep uses coil packs and these are about 6-8 inches in > length and it takes the place of the spark plug. The tricky part is > not just unbolting them from the mounting, but you have to pull them > out and either set them aside or unplug them and completely pull them > out. Then you have to get down into the point where the spark plug > lives and that's in a hole that is about 2 or 3 inches deep. So, you > have to do all this without loosing the damned socket in the process > as it sometimes wanted to stay behind. Of course taping it to the > extension helped some, but it was still interesting. It sure would > have been easier if I could have pulled the engine perhaps, but that > would be overkill of course. grin > So, hey, just had to tell the group how much fun I had and trying to > get this all done between storms. I guess if I could have taken more > time, I probably could have found some way to get at the last two, but > it just means I get to go buy a new extension and socket if this > universal type works. The extension I had was kind of cheap and the > socket didn't want to hold on quite as well as it should have. It had > some odd flared end so it starts a little wide, then narrows a bit to > the shaft. I think the idea is that the socket would be less likely to > come loose, but in fact if it does, the socket now wobbles about and > I'd rather just have it pull loose than be wobbling about and possibly > cause more problems. > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > Scott Howell [EMAIL PROTECTED] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
