By Tony K
If you have read the Factory Service Manual you frequently come across the dreaded mention of an SST or Special Service Tool. I say dreaded because the only place you seem to be able to get them is from Toyota and we all know that means they are not going to be cheap. But I have to admit I have never bought an SST from Toyota as with a little thinking you can come up with many serviceable alternatives that do the job really well but also do not cost you an arm and a leg.
But remember not to overthink things as there are some tasks that just have to be done with a specific tool. Some tools you can’t fake or it isn’t worth the effort to build the tool, like a torque wrench, socket or the dial indicators needed to set up a differential
The simplest tool I have made is nothing but a flat plate with some holes in it. This thing gets used from the front axle to the rear axle and in between as well. The needed holes are just the same pattern as the output flanges and there is a hole in the middle for tightening down or loosening the large nuts that hold the flanges on.
One of the crudest tools I made was used to set up my new ring and pinions in the diffs. If you ever rebuild a diff you will find that the carrier bearings are adjusted with a large goofy nut with a bunch of holes in them. All I did was use an old exhaust ubolt that had the right spread to fit the holes and slipped a screwdriver inbetween to supply the leverage to tighten or loosen the nut.
Even complex tools can be fabricated. I needed to check the fuel pressure in my wifes FJ62 and you don’t want to know what the one fitting costs to just hook up the cheap fuel gauge I purchased. So into the wagon I went, so to speak, and I came up with something pretty simple. The only hard part is that it required a lathe that luckily I already had. I needed the lathe so I could make a longer banjo bolt. A banjo bolt is nothing but a bolt with a hole in it to allow fuel or oil to pass through a banjo fitting. The bolt serves two purposes, while holding on the fitting it also 
allows liquid to pass through it’s center. This is a common part on a 62 as well as a BJ60 but the one I needed was longer. Pop the bolt in the lathe and five minutes later I had the custom bolt I needed. Add a couple of fittings from the hardware store and I was good to go.
There is also the other end of the spectrum. I carry a long flat bar in my tools thats only purpose is to remove a broken section of axle. It just slips in the opposite side of a broken axle and slips by the pinion shaft to push out the offending piece of broken axle if a my magnet on a stick won’t do the trick.
My full float axle has a really oddball nut that holds the hub on the spindle that needs some way to tighten it down. As with most things there is a special socket to do the trick but a look through the tools at one of the auto parts store turned up a socket that was close enough to do the job at a much reduced cost over the factory piece.
Another simple test tool is the one needed to read the codes put out by the computer on an FJ62. All this has to be is a bent up paper clip or short section of wire. Yes you read that correctly. At the check block on the firewall for the computer, jumping the test connections with the aforementioned paper clip will get you the codes needed to identify a problem.
Another not so special but good tool is what is known as a “Crows Foot”. It fits on the end of your ratchet and is indispensible when removing or installing the fuel pulsation dampener on an FJ62. They fit into all kinds of tight small spaces where nothing else will work.
And sometimes no tool is the solution. Believe it or not there is a tool made that removes the large sheetmetal retainer that holds your shift lever in your tranny. I have found that a rag serves the same purpose. Just push down on the rag and turn, haven’t lost this battle yet.
So the next time you come across that feared “SST required”, take a deep breath and put your thinking cap on. You just might be able to come up with a solution that costs very little or saves you a ton of money compared to the factory tool.
