What Other Uses Have You Tried With VW Tools

[kingkarmann]

Against better judgement I am resurrecting my wifes 1990 W-bodied 1990 Buick Regal GS Coupe. She purchased it as her 1st new car and as I mentioned in a previous thread she is a bit sentimental about it and refused to part with it.
I am now nearly finished with it and had ran into a bit of a snag during the replacement of some rear suspension components. The suspension is a tri-link which consists of a trailing arm and two lateral arms bolted to the rear knuckle. A transverse mounted fiberglass spring provides the needed suspension. A rubber auxillary spring that looks like a figure "8" is compressed between the lower lateral arm and a bracket attached to the knuckle.
I had no problem removing the old one. It was worn and has lost its ability to help dampen the suspension. A special GM compression tool is normally used to install it. An DYI procedure is outlined for those without the GM (ie expensive) tool. It involves compressing the spring by jacking the lateral arm with a floor jack high enough to insert the bolt through the arm into the knuckle. I just couldn't get everything squared enough to get that bolt to thread. Sitting on the floor in frustration I started to think maybe I should look in buying/borrowing the tool. Then I remembered I had a the VW swingplate compressor tool!
I had to make a couple of small and easy reversible modifications. I bolted a flange to the part of the tool that cradles the swingplate so it would fit the 3/8" wide Buick lateral arm. The top of the swingplate tool is made to fit over the frame to body bolt. There is no such attachment point on the Buick. All I had to grab was a smooth metal bracket. As I tried to crank the tool to compress the spring the top would slip off the bracket. I remedied this by drilling an 1/8" hole in the bracket and threaded a bolt into it. This gave compressor tool socket a bolt heat to grab on to. It worked beautifully and didn't cost me a thing but time. Now to do the other side!
What VW specific tools have you used on a non VW project?
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"Depression is a malfunction of the instrument we use to determine reality.”

Mike Gerson

What is your "Bespoke Reality"?

[cdennisg]

A bay bus jack worked well to lift up a deck ledger that had sagged. Even ran it up and down with my 18V impact gun.

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nothing