I got tired of the oil filter wrench and my drain tool with two screws. These worked great until I received a corroded 1979 base and the base ring was shot along with the element. The element was seized on and I could not remove it with my usual tools and heat.

So off to the machine shop. I made a four post remove tool and then a fixture to hold the gen 2 and later in the vise.

That is awesome. Also that element looks like a barnacle-encrusted ship hull.

And that was after several descales

The high element was open . Off to Gabor tomorrow.

So I tried a few tools before, the heavy oil filter wrench worked well for most but it skips a lot.



So I tried a drain style wrench, the holes line up perfectly for a poor mans spanner. It really needs four screws.



I loaned this one out, while it was gone I tried a different drain fitting , it did not work very well.



I tried all of these with heat, blue torch tank and hot enough to get things moving usually . The four point new spanner worked well with the heat and will be my go to if I rebuild any more.

For those wanting to make their own, I used 1/4" dowel pins 3.516" across from each other center to center and then perpendicular to each other.

The piece of aluminum scrap we had was 4" in diameter. Might even work in a good piece of hard maple if you sink the pins in far enough.

I drilled with a milling machine twice for accuracy. One drilled all the way through in case a pin breaks later it is not stuck in a blind hole and can be pushed out. Then a larger hole followed by a reamer. I think one could do this with a good center punch, drill press and center drill, followed by an undersized bit so you can press the pins in.

I then pressed the pins in. The pins are hardened steel dowel pins. I picked up mine from a local supply store for like 40 cents. They can also be found on McMaster and elsewhere.

Awesome post!
Thank you!
~Richard