How many 4-way box wrenches have you accumulated?

[KEV THE REV 2312]

37 minutes ago, Busdriver said:

I have about 20 but perhaps a bigger question is how many nylon/brass bushes do you have and even better what clever hacks have you done to use them. I managed to use half of one to make the base of an air brake handle on my Dynamog!!!!

Got tons of those too , but only used some nylon ones for various spacers - not for wheel bearings !! , and the brass ones are sitting in a pile so when I get a ton in weight I can weigh them in and get a whole £ or so .

[alvinlwh 5894]

35 minutes ago, El Gecko said:

For most wheels I use a socket bit in a 1/4" hex driver like @KEV THE REV, but I'm still looking for a socket with thinner walls that will fit the deeper wheels like @alvinlwh mentioned.

Ah, for a moment I thought I am the only one. 😁

[alvinlwh 5894]

18 minutes ago, El Gecko said:

Easy if you use the little plastic sleeves/cylinders the bearings came in to store the bushings you took out. 10 bearings a sleeve/10 bushings a sleeve

I never even took them out of the bag and often find them at the bottom of boxes, in between pages of the instructions, down the side for the sofa... 

[RichieRich 685]

This thread made me laugh. I have 18 Tamiya-type 4 way box wrenches: 11 Tamiya, 3 Kyosho, 2 HPI, 1 Academy and 1 unknown wrench with a hole in the center. The HPI ones are nice because one side can hold a ball end for threading turnbuckles.

[OnTheTrail 1152]

1 hour ago, alvinlwh said:

Now, if OP was to ask how many bushings we accumulated, that will take a bit of working out... 

LOL.....

I've kept all the bushing so far.  Not sure what I'll ever do with them but for some strange reason, I feel compelled to keep them.

[moffman 5752]

2 hours ago, Willy iine said:

Nice.

May not be fair because I was not the original purchaser, but one of them was from a 1981 58035 M38 Wild Willy SWB version I bought used... and restored (the car, not the wrench.. lol) 

My first tamiya was the ranger way back at around that time 80/81 and I just can't remember if that had tamiya box wrench in the kit? 

[manny 83]

As many as the number of licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.....and if you get that reference, you're old like me!

 

[Willy iine 18805]

2 hours ago, alvinlwh said:

Fixed? I am hoping to use one that can be swapped out for other bits so that one tool (handle) can do it all.

Yeah, fixed meaning no ability to swap bits, no ratcheting action.   At least for me the smaller the tool, the less flexibility is better.   The only tools in my RC tool box that have swappable bits/heads are my Wera driver, small Panasonic drill, and tiny 90 degree ratchet which I rarely use.  Nut sockets all have solid dedicated handles as I don't want any play.

 

As for bushings, I made an extension cord pulley a while back for my garage, but ended up swapping all of them to 5x11x4 bearings for the added smoothness.   I also used them as signage posts (to elevate the sign from what ever it is you are attaching it to for a nicer refined look), also used as mounting spacers for one of my security cameras mounted outside.. still have a jar full of them and not sure what to do.. 

[OnTheTrail 1152]

2 hours ago, alvinlwh said:

Fixed? I am hoping to use one that can be swapped out for other bits so that one tool (handle) can do it all.

You can make you own (with the afore mentioned surplus 4-way wrench by gosh  ).   This will be a tough decision for a lot of you as you'll have to sacrifice one of your perfectly good 4-ways.    

Just cut off the section for the wheel nut.  Get a #S2 square drive and drill out the inside of the neck to a size a slight bit smaller than the OD of the square drive.   My square drive was slightly tapered so perfect for this.   In my case I used a # 19 (.166") drill bit.   Little bit of JB Weld and press it (gently....) with a vise.   You could also heat the neck before you press it in there and may not even need the JB Weld.   And voila.......you now have a thin wall 1/4" driver bit to save you a lot of hand turning.   

[Willy iine 18805]

28 minutes ago, moffman said:

My first tamiya was the ranger way back at around that time 80/81 and I just can't remember if that had tamiya box wrench in the kit? 

Really.. I can't speak for the Ranger, but the M38's came with them..

[alvinlwh 5894]

9 minutes ago, OnTheTrail said:

You can make you own (with the afore mentioned surplus 4-way wrench by gosh  ).   This will be a tough decision for a lot of you as you'll have to sacrifice one of your perfectly good 4-ways.    

 

That is an excellent idea, will make one when I have some down time. 

[Juggular 4964]

3 hours ago, toyolien said:

I have a pen pot full of them. I guess there must be 50, maybe more. 

Wouldn't it be cool if you could melt them and make a tankard out of them?

 

 

[toyolien 4678]

13 minutes ago, Juggular said:

Wouldn't it be cool if you could melt them and make a tankard out of them?

 

 

Ooh hadn't thought of that. Be yes, it certainly would. A Tamiya Tipple Tankard...

[moffman 5752]

1 hour ago, Willy iine said:

Really.. I can't speak for the Ranger, but the M38's came with them..

Then I'm thinking the ranger must of had one because they are in the same release date and the box wrench was around a lot longer than I thought it was........if you can learn something new every day it keeps the interest alive👍

[Saito2 6686]

4 hours ago, OnTheTrail said:

Just curious how many of the standard R/C 4-way wrenches you folks have accumulated over the years. 

Probably over 100.

[OldSchoolRC1 983]

I've got them all over the place, well over 100 from 35+ years of builds. 

You know you're a Tamiyaphile when you wear one...This is my first one from when I was 15. (It's actually from an FX10 kit, but we know who was behind it. ) I polished it up and put it on a chain and wear it pretty much all over the place. It's well due for another polish, it's a bit tarnished from the blood, sweat, and gears of the last G6 weekend. 

[Willy iine 18805]

47 minutes ago, moffman said:

Then I'm thinking the ranger must of had one because they are in the same release date and the box wrench was around a lot longer than I thought it was........if you can learn something new every day it keeps the interest alive👍

Agreed.. I'm a middle aged guy curious about a lot of things..    sometimes gets me into trouble too.   

 

..oh, I wasn't supposed to push that button?  oh okay...   *click*

[moffman 5752]

1 hour ago, Willy iine said:

Agreed.. I'm a middle aged guy curious about a lot of things..    sometimes gets me into trouble too.   

 

..oh, I wasn't supposed to push that button?  oh okay...   *click*

Yeah like the "don't touch wet paint"and what do you do.......!

[KEV THE REV 2312]

13 hours ago, Willy iine said:

Really.. I can't speak for the Ranger, but the M38's came with them..

Looks like the cross wrench came in with the Tornado 58032 kit , I can't find the Brabham 58031 manual to check if it was earlier , but some kits previously to the 58032 had double ended box wrenches with the centre toggle hole ,some had a single end tube style wrench , and others like the Scorcher had a 3 position flat spanner which is one tool I use a lot !!

The wheel nut driver I use measures 10.90mm O/D and the Tamiya box is 9.95mm O/D

[Willy iine 18805]

@KEV THE REV  Wera's rock.  I love mine.    

Lots of good historical info in your post!

[alvinlwh 5894]

Not the "t" wrench but a set of tools I got in a 3Racing kit I started today. 

[InsaneJim69 1584]

18 minutes ago, alvinlwh said:

Not the "t" wrench but a set of tools I got in a 3Racing kit I started today. 

Is that plastic shock pliers included in the kit? 😳 👍

James.

[alvinlwh 5894]

34 minutes ago, InsaneJim69 said:

Is that plastic shock pliers included in the kit? 😳 👍

James.

Yeap, and it need to be built. Also included  shock/turnbuckle eyelet tool. 

The build thread for this kit is not approved yet, I have more picture of the "kit" within a kit. 

[alvinlwh 5894]

2 hours ago, KEV THE REV said:

The wheel nut driver I use measures 10.90mm O/D and the Tamiya box is 9.95mm O/D

The standard 1/4 one is far bigger, more like 12mm O/D I think. Wonder if the smaller one (1/8?) will be better?

[tim.senecal 487]

Its been a long time between box wrenches, but i picked up 3 more this summer (2021)...  i stopped counting a long time ago.  my first was when i got my hands on a 1/10 Elf Tyrrell p34 way back in 1980.  checking all my toolboxes today, i counted 8.