Tools & Garage Thread

[UnpavedPreferred]

Who makes the rollerboard for getting under stuff? That one looks well made and you've reminded me that my mallets have gone missing since the last move.

I thought the red harbor freight creepers were standard issue for shady tree mechanics.

I keep considering getting a new one but this one I can lay on my stomach while cursing at my tools and which ever vehicle I’m working on.

Maybe I’ll budget for a new one or a roller seat when I address the OR marshmallow suspension.

 

[midnight20pro]

I've always done the backhand limbo crawl and sheet of cardboard but I believe I'm officially too old, for that shit, anymore.

 

[UnpavedPreferred]

I still keep a 5mm thick 2'x4' sheet of plywood for oil changes. I can't fit under the Mazda6 nor the Grand Cherokee on the creeper.

 

[CementOffRoad]

My two work boxes, apparently my only photo of my main box has my gravel cruiser infront of it.

Home garage I've managed to stuff a crapload of tools into that China Freight cart (which needs replacing at this point). I use quickjacks as well for home duty.

 

[Butch]

Nice place to hide from the wife......

 

[Tyler]

Your garage is insane. I’d have so many projects going on in there.

I don’t have one of my own anymore but when I had a house in Cali the garage was one of my favorite places to hang.

 

[RevN3]

A Garage? Oh la de da Mr. French Man!

Original link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5t9w98afJo

 

[OzarkLander]

Wow super jealous of that garage @nickyreno

 

[Tyler]

Wow super jealous of that garage @nickyreno

For real. I hope one day I can have one with a lift in it. I would spend 80% of my time in there. Set up a computer desk, a small gym area, and some crusty project trucks to tinker on.

I don’t like the term man cave but I guess that’s what that is.

 

[nickyreno]

Thanks y’all. Here’s some updated pics of the cabinet install. I’ve still got to paint the ceiling black, walls white, replace the windows, install a countertop and wall mount a TV. All in due time.

I installed all of the LED tube lighting overhead and I’ve replaced all the overhead garage door motors with side mounts as well. Really helps clean everything up.

I’ll clean the floors and take a few updates pics for you guys sometime.

 

[OzarkLander]

Curious about these side mount door openers?

 

[nickyreno]

Curious about these side mount door openers?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077PJPNHK/?tag=tacoma3g-20

 

[bonifacio]

Figured a general tool thread would be pretty cool. Anyone into tools?
Talk about tools. What's nice or make things easy. Deal finds.
Sort of in between buying cheap or buying mid - high end things. Have a lot of Milwaukee Stuff.
Needed some ratcheting wrenches.

Found this deal.
Husky 30 Piece Ratcheting Wrench Set - $60.

Was stuck between getting the ratcheting flex head Milwaukee Set. Was like $550.

What do you guys use for tool organization?
Want to organize and consolidate my tool box.

Any feedback on these?

 

[mgmyota]

I like tools lol. I'm a Milwaukee guy as well. Got a handful of their tools but there's always more I want lol. I live in the barracks so my truck is basically my rolling toolbox now. I have a small rolling toolbox in my storage unit that has it's own set of tools. I have a blue ridge overland gear tool bag and I love it. Holds a ton of tools and fits right behind the rear passenger seat. I keep a set of 1/4,3/8, and 1/2 inch drive sockets, an assortment of wrenches, different kinds of pliers, screw drivers etc. Aside from the tool bag I also have a plastic container I keep in the bed that hold my jack, breaker bar, torque wrench, different greases and grease gun and a bunch of other stuff. I just started to put together a wire repair bag as well. I almost always travel alone so I like to be as self sufficient as possible. I like that wrench holder in the pic. Might need to get some for my toolbox. Ratcheting wrenches are great but in some cases a standard non flex or ratcheting wrench is good to have. Most of the hand tools in my truck are husky brand. There are definitely more tools I could use but I tend to buy as I need them. I'm hoping for some sweet black Friday deals. More Milwaukee tools

Link to my socket organizers

Link to tool bag

Link to my husky tool set

 

[bonifacio]

I have some Craftsman stuff from when stuff was made in the US. Had a Makita phase.
Switched to Milwaukee stuff. Have all the Packout stuff.

Piece together this: https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/Hand-Tools/Mechanics-Tools/48-22-9486

Was cheaper to buy the SAE/Metric separate. Buy the inserts then the Packout.
Still need the larger sizes. Want the impact sockets, but it's just so much. I wouldn't use it often.

Craftsman has the smaller sizes covered for wrenches. Want to grab ratcheting ones for those stupid jobs and the convenience. Long bolts... Spinning strut that needs a hex key to hold it in place. Bilstein 5100's. I used a standard combination wrench and channel lock pliers holding a hex bit. That just felt like it took forever.

Even the non-flex head Milwaukees were high. I'll pay it if I have to. But I dunno. Just seems like so much.

I ended up grabbing these 2. Will mess around with it and return the one I don't want.

Husky SAE/MM Ratcheting Wrench Set with Stubby (30-Piece) H30PCRWPOUCH - The Home Depot

The Husky Ratcheting Wrench Set is a comprehensive combination wrench set that includes a total of 30 wrenches. The set includes 20 standard ratcheting wrenches (10-metric and 10-SAE) and 10 stubby ratcheting

www.homedepot.com

GEARWRENCH SAE/MM 90-Tooth Pro Combination Ratcheting Wrench Tool Set with Tray (18-Piece) 86698 - The Home Depot

Since being patented in 1996, GEARWRENCH has been the leader in ratcheting wrenches, with more styles and sizes than any other brand. GEARWRENCH premier mechanics hand tools are designed to meet the tough

www.homedepot.com

I do like the smoothness of the high tooth count. But wish it had more sizes. Husky is convenient because you can just take it back to Home Depot no receipt and swap it. Gearwrench I guess can sometimes be swapped at Fastenal, Grainger, Napa but they seem to hassle you about it. I've broken the ratcheting mechanism in a different brand one before.

Tekton also seems to have a pretty good warranty. Can't take it and swap it right away, but they sent out replacements.

 

[mgmyota]

Yeah I can't justify spending big money on wrenches when I don't use them day to day. I've been fine with some husky or similar wrenches. I definetely want to get this Milwaukee impact though or the 3/8 version and a set of Milwaukee impact sockets. I'm sure there's some other good and probably better impact socket brands out there. I'll have to do more research. I might need to look into the whole Milwaukee packout system to organize my power tools better when I'm on the go.

 

[bonifacio]

Do it.

 

[bonifacio]

Yeah I can't justify spending big money on wrenches when I don't use them day to day. I've been fine with some husky or similar wrenches. I definetely want to get this Milwaukee impact though or the 3/8 version and a set of Milwaukee impact sockets. I'm sure there's some other good and probably better impact socket brands out there. I'll have to do more research. I might need to look into the whole Milwaukee packout system to organize my power tools better when I'm on the go.

You know about the HD hacks? I got that one for $120.

 

[mgmyota]

You know about the HD hacks? I got that one for $120.

I don't know anything about the HD hacks lol. Nice collection

 

[bonifacio]

When there is the free tool battery promotion. Add them both.
They can't just mark one to zero. So they calculate the price of it and reduce it by % from each item. Why the receipt always says max refund value. That's max refund value returned by itself.

So basically you get a chunk off the tool. Just return the batteries. Has to be a promo going on which is all the time.

Here you can see the battery/charger pack is $200. Router is $200. Add them to the cart and you see the discount. Each was marked down to $99 each.
Return the batteries, get $99 back. The tool stays $99. You just got the router for $99.

If you don't want to deal with the whole return thing, you can even order what you want from the store, then order what you don't want to be shipped. Go pick up the part of the order you want at the store, then cancel the order for the other half. What you picked up stays the same price. You can even order both to pick up from the store, then immediately return the half you don't want during the pick up.

Sometimes you can stack this promo with a buy more save more promo + veteran/MIL discount if the cashier person is cool and wants to flex their know how.

It's how there so many sellers on Facebook Marketplace. They buy these bundles, split them up and sell everything separately. Most people don't know you can do this. So if they see a $100 battery for $90 no tax on FB, they think it's a good deal. When the flipper got it for $50. Sometimes you can catch stuff on clearance. If you dig hard enough some stores will have a surplus and clearance out the same items, so you can get it for less just by punching in that zip code.

All of these were bought on the promo and split up for a profit.

 

[mgmyota]

When there is the free tool battery promotion. Add them both.
They can't just mark one to zero. So they calculate the price of it and reduce it by % from each item. Why the receipt always says max refund value. That's max refund value returned by itself.

So basically you get a chunk off the tool. Just return the batteries. Has to be a promo going on which is all the time.

Here you can see the battery/charger pack is $200. Router is $200. Add them to the cart and you see the discount. Each was marked down to $99 each.
Return the batteries, get $99 back. The tool stays $99. You just got the router for $99.

If you don't want to deal with the whole return thing, you can even order what you want from the store, then order what you don't want to be shipped. Go pick up the part of the order you want at the store, then cancel the order for the other half. What you picked up stays the same price. You can even order both to pick up from the store, then immediately return the half you don't want during the pick up.

Sometimes you can stack this promo with a buy more save more promo + veteran/MIL discount if the cashier person is cool and wants to flex their know how.

It's how there so many sellers on Facebook Marketplace. They buy these bundles, split them up and sell everything separately. Most people don't know you can do this. So if they see a $100 battery for $90 no tax on FB, they think it's a good deal. When the flipper got it for $50. Sometimes you can catch stuff on clearance. If you dig hard enough some stores will have a surplus and clearance out the same items, so you can get it for less just by punching in that zip code.

View attachment 45546
View attachment 45544

All of these were bought on the promo and split up for a profit.


View attachment 45547

Ohhh wicked smart. I just might have to try that. Thanks!

 

[Lava road]

Still got my old Sear combo set sockets and a few wrenches , purchase in early 70’s, tool box kinda rusted out…
A few years back pick up a Kobalt EXTREME, set of sockets, 1/4 , 3/8 , 1/2, nice thing any bolt can be at any lengths, it still works, hollow in the middle sockets, better then a deep socket..
Today discontinued…oh my middle ratchet broke, to replace this tool, Lowes, told me I had to return the whole set, so I ended up with a completely new set again….
(Extreme set…. One socket fits metric or standard…). I Keep this Extreme set behind my rear seat,

Lowes ..returning any broken tools… Craftsman or kobalt, …Very hard… very difficult…!!!…
Aloha

Ps: I found 6 point sockets to be better and stronger then 12 points…12 point can strip more easy ..
I try removing a spark plug and the 12 point started slipping…then someone told me use a 6 point…came out easy!

 

[406Camper]

Harbor Freight is really stepping it's game up. All tools have lifetime replacement. No receipt required.
I splurged and upgraded my torque wrench to an ICON when the cheap one failed.

 

[Tyler]

I’m a tool and I definitely enjoy collecting tools. My two tool rule of thumbs:

1) I buy everything from Harbor Freight first, if possible. I’ve been doing this for 8+ years and honestly don’t have one bad thing to say about any Harbor Freight (usually their Pittsburg brand) tool I’ve owned. Around 12 years ago, I got my first big socket and tool set from Home Depot (Husky brand), and the ratchets were absolute crap. And sure, Snap-on stuff is nice to work with, I guess. But for prices like that, I genuinely don’t understand why people bother. And I say this as a former mechanic of 7 years that has used every brand out there.

Harbor Freight is really stepping its game up. All tools have lifetime replacement. No receipt required.
I splurged and upgraded my torque wrench to an ICON when the cheap one failed.

This!


2) I like to buy the speciality tool when I need it, as opposed to renting or borrowing. This usually means I add 1-3 specialty tools to my collection per year. For example, I got this bad boy last year:

TEMCo Lug Crimper Tool TH0012-8 AWG - 0000 AWG(4/0) DIELESS Indent Electrical Battery Terminal Cable Wire 5 YEAR WARRANTY https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HJYVFSG/?tag=tacoma3g-20

I also got a ball joint press kit from Harbor Freight that I have never used on ball joints but have used it in like 5 unintended applications where it came in super handy, lol.

 

[Tyler]

Here’s my Harbor Freight box and table jack helping me lift it into my truck. The box is overloaded and abused to hell but shows no signs of bending/cracking etc.

 

[Tyler]

 

[Tyler]

Found some pics of the toolbox in action lol

 

[TCOTUE]

Most of my stuff is Craftsman, with the exception of GearWrench ratcheting wrenches (which get used quite frequently). I do have some random tools from when I worked at Autozone.

I have a massive Husky roll around box. Recently acquired another smaller roll around box (currently has all my dialysis supplies on it). After I get done with dialysis it's going in the garage and I'll have to fill it too.

 

[Tyler]

I have a massive Husky roll around box. Recently acquired another smaller roll around box (currently has all my dialysis supplies on it). After I get done with dialysis it's going in the garage and I'll have to fill it too.

I love being able to roll my box right up to the car but the box itself is overloaded and I haven’t decided what to do about that because 1) I don’t have my own house right now and 2) if I got a bigger box, I wouldn’t really have much to much into the smaller one that I already have.

 

[Tyler]

Today I spent some time upgrading my Harbor Freight toolbox by drilling a Husky toolbox (black, left side) to it. I also added a table (white, right side), a paper towel holder, a cup holder, a magnetic holder, and some wrench holders. I’ve tried a million things to organize wrenches and sockets but never liked those. The way I did it in these pictures, I think I can actually be efficient with. I didn’t get to finish so the Husky box and a few drawers are messy.