Oil Filter Wrench Alternative

Are there any tricks to getting the oil filter off if you dont have the specific oil filter wrench? Can it be loosened by hand? I just got the bike and want to get some fresh oil in it before the riding season

 

If you have a pair of gardening gloves or a set of gloves with rubberized palms you can sometimes get a good enough grip on the filter to loosen it off. I have done this on my bike before but it can be difficult to get both hands on the filter. I have also used one of those kitchen style rubber strap wrenches that my wife has to loosen the lids on jars. My wife has now bought me an adjustable filter wrench that fits on my 3/8" socket wrench from the local auto parts store and it works great. Guess she didn't like me using the kitchen stuff on the bike. I did wash it though, honest. LOL

 

You can sometimes jam a screwdrivers through the body of the old filter and then twist to loosen it up enough to get it off by hand but it's really messy and not worth the trouble in my opinion. Why not just go and buy a cheap wrench from Home Depot or your local auto parts store since you'll probably use it again at some point in the future? We're talking about $10 max.

Rollin

 

a quality tool will last a life time. Spearing something with a screwdriver is fun though :madgrin: As long as it does'nt have the mother of pearl handles

 

I'm a bit hesitant to post this because SO FAR I've always managed to get mine off by hand (a piece of coarse sandpaper wrapped around the filter helps for extra grip if you need it). Now watch my next filter change be 3 days of cursing and angle grinding! :biggrin:

 

Large pair of Channelocks.

 

This looks to be the exact same wrench my wife wound up getting from the local auto parts place. Less than $10 and it works great on the VFR, my wife's Tahoe and my Mazda.

 

Just remember once off put the tool aside. Smear the new filter O-ring with fresh oil & HAND tighten only do NOT use a tool to tighten them.

 

Hear hear to the hand tightening. I have never used a wrench to tighten an oil filter EVER. I have never had a leak of any kind and I can get the filter back off by hand.
Dale

 

Don't over tighten the drain plug either. That sux.....so I am told....

There are many ways to get this thing off without the wrench. Some great ideas here. I like the sand paper idea. To stick a screw driver through the filter would work, except that is kinda messy. I would leave that as a last resort. There are all sorts of oil filter removal devices that are not size specific similar to the rubber strap one mentioned here. I would just go out and get one. They are something like 8 bucks at most.

The biggest problem with the filter is that it is in a difficult spot to get a good grip on. Over come that, and you are likely off to the races. Good luck.

 

I would NEVER drive a screwdriver through a filter on a car, truck, or bike. It makes a mess and you run the risk of it not comming off without damaging something else.
If you dont have the proper tool and the old one will NOT come off, try placing a screw type clamp over the body and tightening with a 5/16 socket. Once it is good and tight, place a long screw driver in the slot and tap on the other end with a hammer. The clamp with grip the filter stronger and more evenly than plyers and it will pop the filter loose. The best part is you can save the clamp for the next time.
Just my $.02

 

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If I did a heinous act with a screwdriver, I would have to turn myself into the screw-driver poh-lice :wacko:

I have always been able to get the most stubborn ones off with either channel-lock pliers (slip-joint) or just one of my typical cup style filters.

I have run into some interesting oil-drain plugs though. One that comes to mind was one that was on a bmw funduro back when they were a 650. It was an aluminum plug that was rounded off by the po and had no chance of using an extractor or anything. At the time, I chose to go with my hammer and chisel. I slowly walked that sucker off with my tap-tap-tapping. Still got that sucker on my shelf as it was kind of cool with its thoughtful magnet on the end. Other creative ways could be taking your die-grinder/dremel tool and making a slot for a flat blade screwdriver...anywhoooo)) mechanical carnage is neat, as long as its not your pride and joy thats on the operating table. Cheers :drinkers:

 

You are one sick puppy there. Get out of that fuggen Florida sun. It is doing things to your head. I would never find anything in that tool chest. ANd if I did, I would be afraid to move it. Do you have digital video covering that or still using analog?

 

Sounds like some of you guys need more porn in your lives to take off those oil filters.



:hss:

 

Meierznutz - this is the best idea I have heard in along time for removing oil filters without the oil wrench...Thanks!

 

Us old guys have been around the block. We still have a few tricks up our sleeve. I was talking to a friend's son the other day when he asked about getting a broken stud out of the head on his jeep. I got him a drill bushing and a left handed drill bit. He looked at me like I had two heads. "Ya, left handed drill. I have to use that with a piece of titanium coated muffler wire and a 2 foot bumper hose right?" He got an education on how to drill out a stud without waffling the hole. Now I am the smartest guy he has ever met. All I told him was that I learned the trick when I was nine working with my Dad. Just passing things along.
Unrelated but worth passing along anyway... when I was building the PS and Alt mounts for the LS-1 powered Miata, Pop came by to help me. I had mocked everything up in cardboard, then plexiglass, and was down to cutting parts from 1/2" aluminum. He suggested that I used the band saw. We turned the blade speed as low as it would go, then coated the top of the material with a thick layer of car paste wax. The blade pulled the wax into the cut and kept the blade from overheating and breaking. When I was done I cleaned each piece and used the belt/disc sander to smooth everything and then polished them to a shine with a buffer on the lathe. It all lined up great and thanks to Pop I didnt have to pay someone to do it.

 

The thing with a car hose clamp we use to safety wire an oil filter. They do say "hand tight" for those oil filters, logic being, once the heat hits the o-ring, it will seat. I like to give them a 64th of a turn or so with a tool, thats just me. Usually, I can get them off with my hand.

I have left hand drills, its a crappy day when you have to use them though. Good point is to remember to use your drill in its Reverse mode when your using them.

"You are one sick puppy there. Get out of that fuggen Florida sun. It is doing things to your head. I would never find anything in that tool chest. ANd if I did, I would be afraid to move it. Do you have digital video covering that or still using analog?" No cover, no butcher block top (would like one though, but hard to justify its $500.00 price.) Yes, I would notice if you moved something, as I have a photographic memory. No-video, but I do have a sticker on a door that warns that the place is under video surveilance...Thats aboot it - Back is doing ok too, I dont have as much of a foot drop and my big toe is doing better, no stiffness in my lower back like I used to have...knock on wood...still got some sensations on my leg though...:smile:

 

I use a hose clamp. Tighten it around the filter then put the screwdriver against the screw of the hose clamp and lightly tap it with hammer until it's lose enough to take it off with your hand. Then do the reverse for the new one. Works everytime.