What kind of tools do you have at home?

General Discussion
21

The oddest tool I have ever needed was when I started tearing down a VW manual transmission. There was a pentagon shaped end plate with 5 countersunk screws that had to come out. Unfortunately, those screws were deep enough where they could be weaseled out and to make things worse they were the European 5.5 MM Triple Square heads. Why in the world they did not make it 6 MM like CV bolts is baffling to me.

Spent a week trying to find that tool until one day the Cornwell guy came in and he had a set of 4 which included a 5.5. What are the odds. Another one time expense to never be used again…

22

Back when I was 20, finishing up at an auto mechanics school, an elderly widow gave me a bunch of her deceased husband’s old mechanics hand tools. I got good use out of them over the years, even though I’m no longer in the trade.

Lately I’ve been wondering how to find a good home for my tools once I am no longer able to use them. Ideally I’d like to give them to a young aspiring mechanic.

23

I think the easiest answer is… basically everything under the sun. A total mix of things but no actual junk. Junk begets Junk…a crappy tool can turn almost any fastener into a crappy fastener, its contagious and can create so much more work for you its insane… I shudder to recount many instances of this happening in days long gone by…but trust me…it occurs. Line wrenches and easy outs come to mind quickly.

Basically the Snap On, MAC, Sunex, Bluepoint, Crescent and other high end names I’ve forgotten at the moment have a different work scope than the non pro tools… The non pro’s are the ones that accompany me to the junkyards and various places far and wide…unless I have a heads up prior to some far off repair and know I will need the heavy artillery of the Professional hardware. I try to keep the high end stuff in a place where they do not need to travel and can stay in my possession… read not get lost or re-apropriated.

Basically I have a tool for every place and a place for every tool.

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24

[quote=“oldtimer_11, post:13, topic:163042”]
tools I have found in the road while driving truck
I have found quite a few log chain’s and tie down strap’s a 14 inch channel lock plier’s and one horse shoe shaped 1/2 in combination wrench in one of my tire’s don’t know if it was horse shoe shaped before I picked it up or not but it stayed in the tire for about 30 mile’s before I got to a truckstop to get it fixed.

25

You might check a high school or jr. college that has a automotive class to pay it forward.

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26

A name the opposite of the task…

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27

Oh brother you said it @texases … Don’t get me started. I can still feel the sweat dripping down my back and into my eyes whilst trying to remove some piece of hardened steel out from the middle of a soft steel fastener and thinking… How did it come to this? The job is supposed to get easier…not magnitudes more difficult the more you work on something… Ugh

I believe the “Tapestry of Obscenities” I wove on those many occasions still hangs above the places where I’ve struggled with these jobs.

28

After using an easy out for the first time decades ago I have referred to them as ‘Maybe Outs’.

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29

Every time I need a tool, I buy it, so I have that tool whenever it’s needed again. I do not believe in borrowing tools from someone else, nor do I believe in renting them from a parts store, etc.

I try to buy new tools when they are on sale, but also buy used on Ebay and Craigslist. Most of my tools are retail brands such as Craftsman/Companion (Sears), Husky (Home Depot), GearWrench (sold at many stores), Stanley (sold at many stores), and Pittsburgh (Harbor Freight Tools). All of my lifting equipment, such as floor jacks, jack stands, and my engine hoist are Pittsburgh Automotive from Harbor Freight Tools.

I have specialty tools such as a steering wheel puller kit, crankshaft sprocket puller kit, seal driver kit, serpentine belt tool, disc brake service tool set, and of course torque wrenches. Most of these are OEM Tools brand, purchased online. The torque wrenches are Craftsman.

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30

Its funny you mention this @bcohen2010… There are many tools that I own that can trigger total recall of the day and the job that put that tool into my ownership. That’s how to acquire tools and tool collections. I would bet good money that is how most peoples collections have formed over the years.

31

, nor do I believe in renting them from a parts store, etc.
[/quote]

Many year’s ago I was given some good advice about renting tool’s weather it be automotive tool’s or other type’s of tool’s if you need it for one time use rent it later on if you need it again rent it if you need it for the third time buy it,

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32

That is pretty good advice @Renegade but I think by the second time…I’m already prone to buying…but three is a charm I suppose.

Some good advice I was given long ago:

“The most expensive tool you will ever buy, is the one purchased cheaply…and most often”.

The idea being buy the best quality you can afford from the get go. I can say that this has served me well over the years.

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33

Absolutely @Honda_Blackbird. Early on in my auto repairing history I was replacing the water pump on a Chevrolet van with an inline 6 and somehow picked up an off brand 12 point socket that rolled the corners off a bolt and to get the pump off I had to remove the grill and radiator and destroy the core. It was a costly mistake that I never made again. All the sockets in my tool box are 6 point Snap-on or Mac and have been for several decades…

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34

Years ago, one of the older guys at the time . . . I’m quite a bit older now than he was at the time . . . told me that if you have to borrow a tool more than once, it’s time to pony up and buy one for yourself

All I can say is this . . . I would be embarrassed if I had to constantly walk up to the same guy and borrow the same tool week after week

In fact, I’ve had “lively” conversations with a few guys over the years about that topic

There were a few guys who constantly kept borrowing tools from me

I would hand them my tool and politely say “Maybe it’s time you bought one of these for yourself.”

Some of them actually got mad at me for making the comment . . . !

Needless to say, things went downhill from there

If I’m helping somebody . . . whether that means lending them tools, expertise, a second set of eyes, a helping hand when removing a transmission, or what have you . . . and they’re ungrateful and criticizing me, then that was the last time they got my help, unless/until a genuine apology was made

Here’s an interesting tidbit of information . . . among the guys I was working with, I was one of the “early adopters” as far as buying used tools on ebay goes. I would regularly look for good deals on used snap on tools on ebay and make reasonable bids, which were usually successful in the end. If somebody else wanted to bid up close to the new price, I would bow out and let them have it. If it gets too close to new price, you might as well just buy new off the truck. That’s my opinion.

In fact, I would regularly buy old snap on non-chrome tools. The main purpose of the tool is to do its job. If it looks shiny, that might be secondary.

But I generally didn’t like to buy marked tools, meaning somebody’s name or initials etched into the tool

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35

Heh heh, that horse shoe shaped one is for diesel injector pumps. Got one of those too plus the crow feet. I used to have a spare injector pump too but cleaned that out a couple years ago. Broke my heart when I gave it to the salvage yard and pointed out what it was but the kid just threw it in the dirty aluminum bin. Those things were $500.

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36

Long ago a quick-tune and oil change shop opened 1 block away from me and lots of people warned me that I would lose a lot of work to them since my price for such work was priced astronomically higher than the new neighbor’s posted price. When the new neighbor stopped by one day and asked what I used to get difficult oil filters off and I held up my 24" Channel-Lock pliers which he borrowed that day and came back to borrow repeatedly. I would have been annoyed at the repeated need for my tool but they sent me a great deal of business. When new plugs and wires, etc couldn’t get the engine to run correctly or an oil change revealed indications of coolant leaking the owner was sent to me with the understanding that the problem was serious and required a “real mechanic”.

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37

I used to rent nail guns. So I’d rent the gun and have to buy a box of nails. Then next time I still had half a box of nails but the nail gun they now rented used a different nail. So I just started buying them instead. Lets see, framing mailer, finish nailer, roofing, stapler, brad nailer, but at least I know the nails fit. Some I bought used or at a pawn shop and $10 worth of parts over hauls them.

38

Sadly, yes. My Mustang has 11mm brake bleeder screws. The nose pan uses both 9mm and 8mm sheet metal screws. A serious PIA to remove it because you have to switch back and forth. Some interior screws on both the Ford and GM are 7mm… I think.

39

Guess I grew up in a different world, it was an unwritten law, never ask to borrow a man’s tools.

40

I’ve been hoping someone would borrow some of mine and never return them.

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