Spark Plug Socket & 1/4 in drive torque wrench mods

Just recently picked up a 95 Trooper with the 3.2 liter V6, SOHC engine. I thought I would share two tool mods I've made to make life easier.

Tool #1 Modified spark plug socket with "extraction tool hole"

With the spark plug tubes on these engines, I found that the spark plug socket wanted to "stick" to the plug and separate from the 3/8 drive extension after tightening the plugs. I checked on the forum and went to YouTube for ideas. In the end, I opted to drill a hole in the top portion of the spark plug socket, paint it white, and then modified a Harbor Freight pick tool to include a small hook that I can use to "grab" the socket using the new hole. It works great. I needed it on 3 out of the 6 plugs I installed. Word to the wise, you will need a very drill to make this hole in the socket. The cheap black oxide bits or even the titanium bits will not do the job. Ask me how I know I ended up using a Bosch 5/32 inch carbide tip drill along with some cutting fluid and it worked great.

Tool #2 DIY - 1/4 inch square female to 3/8 square male adapter

I have thought for sometime that it would be really helpful to use my 3/8 inch sockets with the 1/4 inch drive torque wrench. There are many cases where I want to set a low range torque on slightly larger fasteners. For example, the spark plug torque for the 3.2L V6 is 13 foot-pounds which is way too low to be accurate using the 3/8 inch torque wrench I have. So I decided to create this adapter. There may be a commercial version of this adapter available, but I couldn't easily find it so I made one. I took a 1/4 inch drive 1/2 inch socket and another short 3/8 inch adapter and welded them together. I used it to install the spark plugs which works out to a 156 inch-pound setting on the 1/4 inch drive Torque wrench. It worked great.

Hope these ideas can help others!