Tools you should have?

My friend Howard, God rest his soul, once said “I have one tool in my toolbox. A check book.” Of course, we laughed. Howard was a great guy and had owned his share of great cars ranging from BMW to Mercedes to Ferrari to Porsche. He was a crotchety old curmudgeon that could tell a dirty joke to a room full of women and get a big laughs. I miss him a lot.

Howard had already done all of the wrenching he wanted to do. He was tired of it, and he wanted to focus on driving. I don’t have a problem with that, but that wasn’t where I was (or am). I have little kids and if I intend to be in this hobby, I need to wrench for myself.

It got me to thinking about the essential tools that I needed to keep my cars in tune, running and to effectively, albeit not swiftly at times, make repairs.

I think that most of us have the basics pretty well covered. We have screw drivers, and socket sets. However, as I have taken on more and more of the work on my cars, I have collected more and more tools. Some of the tools are obvious, some not so much. Here’s a short list:

Ramps

Floor jack

Pin locking jack stands (4)

3/8” and ½” drive socket set, metric and standard.

Open end wrenches, metric and standard.

Torque wrench – ½” & 3/8” drive

Drop lights

Pickup/extendable magnet

BFH (Big F-ing Hammer)

Breaker bar, ½” plus 4 foot section of steel pipe.

Gap tools (spark plugs, valves, etc..)

So I am wondering, what tools do you have that you find indispensable? I am sure a garage lift would make a lot of your lists, so let’s leave that off for now.

Let me know, and thanks for humoring me.

Add Whitworth wrenches on my list.

My Dremel tool has been a savior at times, and just plain useful other times.

1/4" drive sockets for small work. My favorite handle is a Snap-On rotating so I can use it in difficult spots.

Some of my most indispensable tools were never meant for the automotive trade - or even the bicycle trade - a set of dental tools. Picks, and scrapers and mirrors. Great things to have in your box.

I recently purchased a windscreen wiper puller. Nice little thing to have.

Gear puller.

Taps and dies.

A selection of thread inserts.

A welder.

Wire brushes.

(Can you tell I like tools?)

A parts washer.

A really good bench vice.

A drill press.

A good air compressor - on my very short list to get. Mine is way to small to run air tools. Then, of course, a whole bunch of air tools!

Yeah, I would love a lift, but I either have to lower the floor of my barn/shop or cut a section of the hay loft away.

I have a parts washer, OMG it is so convenient with an old car, never will I go without one again!

A 3 foot socket extension, and a set of swivel sockets. The day after I bought my Celica I went and got a metric set.

The swivel sockets are expensive but save so much time in tight spaces and with the extra long extension you can get a lot more bolts without having to strain you back for it.

I have all the usual tools previously listed by the other posters here and all good ones I might add. But now that I spend a good amount of time at the do-it-yourself junk yard looking for parts, the one tool I am finding indispensable is.............wait for it........a small hack saw. Yup, it has saved many a trip from futility. When it's not your car and it's completely corroded together I cut it out/off and take it home to take it apart. And just so you know, this particular junk yard sends the cars to the crusher after a few months and has a high turn over rate so I am not destroying some future restoration project.

I'd add a really good flashlight. I have a nice rechargeable one, and it gets lots of use.

I forgot to add Pblast too

Combination wrenches, not merely open ended ones. Two sets. I find myself using two wrenches at the same time quite frequently, especially on suspensions.

1/4" drive set. I use them a whole lot.

Screwdrivers. Big, small, standard, reed, phillips, etc.

Pliers. Lots of flavors. I must have at least 40.

Safety glasses.

Little hammers. BFH's many times don't work as well as a little one. Then comes all the drifts, punches and chisels to bang on.

Allen & torx wrenches.

Good set of picks.

4.5" SAG. wonderful tool.

Sharpie marker.

3/4" drive set. Don't need them very often, but when I do, they work like nothing else will.

Foxtrapper,

The sharpie! That reminded me that zip lock baggies of several sizes are almost essential. But the little bits in and mark the bag with a sharpie.

I like a wide variety of vice grips. The small ones will hold little parts like cotter pins and get them into place better than fingers. A power washer. A variety of extentions and u-joints for socket sets Set of Allen keys or sockets.

Cheers Ron

To go with those baggies I have a couple of those magnetic dishes. They are great to keep nuts and bolts from going to far be for they go into the baggies.

Silicone self-bonding tape. Works miracles, it has saved me on both the race car and street car. <a href="">

I'm not sure there is a good answer to this question. For one, what car(s) you have and how much work you plan to do to them will greatly affect tool "needs."

While I've found a basic collection of tools to be adequate for working on our Volvo's and Triumphs, I've amassed a fair collection of specialized tools for working on our MINI's and my TDI. I also have a growing collection of "shop" tools that even the average pro wrench wouldn't need to own.

The number of cars you have can also play a role. I have 8 cars to keep tabs on, plus I often work on friends' cars (MINI's mainly). Thus I have been able to "justify" some rather extravagent tools - such as my lift.

But along the line of hand-tools I couldn't imagine being without:

Gearwrenchs in both SAE and metric

Swivel-sockets (1/4" dr and 3/8" dr in both SAE and metric)

Gearwrenches rock!

This is the kind of input I was looking for!

Any other must haves?

Various collection pans and a bag of oil dry.

Engine stand.

Engine hoist/cherry picker.

Grinding wheel. I am actually going to get another just to have a wire wheel and a polishing wheel.

LocTite. (sp)

A good bench. I have found the best benches are solid core doors. Go to a home recycling center - I think I paid $6.00 for mine.

A radio/CD player.

Beer cooler.

That is basically my shop - with the other stuff I have listed. The other stuff I have in there you won't need - a bicycle stand, a wheel truing stand, and a bunch of bicycle specific tools.

On my short list to get is:

Cutting torch, bigger compressor, air tools, blast cabinet, three ton chain hoist... and what ever else I find that I "need."

Oh, I just thought of one more thing, it is a ball joint separator. I will have to go take a picture of it to show you. 100 times better then a pickle fork.

All I do for a living is work on old Volvos, and the occasional LBC and AC VW, and some people are surprised at how little stuff I have in my shop. It's pretty much:

Three tool boxes small enough to carry around where needed. One Unified, one metric, one for oddball tools I don't use often.

Engine crane, two engine stands, floor jack, bunch of jack stands, two cinder blocks (perfect stand for a Volvo engine when doing stuff that can't be done on a regular stand), bunch of pieces of 2 x 4s. No lift, no pit.

BFH and a bunch of junk to use as drifts.

Parts washer is an old roasting pan full of WD40, a gallon can of carb cleaner, and an old pail for hot, soapy water. Several sizes of wire brushes.

Bubble-type camber/caster gauge, homemade trammel bar for setting toe-in.

Propane torch. Gibb's penetrating oil.

Bathroom carpet mats from Wal-Mart for fender protectors, and to keep nuts and bolts from sliding off.

Slide hammer for yanking out pilot bearings (I do this often enough to justify the $25 cost of the tool). Old trans input shaft makes a perfect clutch pilot tool. One big and one small gear puller. Serious brake drum puller for Volvos, and a few weird gadgets that do nothing but remove VW rear axle nuts.

Wire stripper and crimper, lots of terminals and connectors, soldering iron and heat shrink.

Bench vise (needs to be bigger than it is now).

Good torque wrench.

Various wobble bar extensions for sockets.

Several sizes of neoprene tubing for bleeding brakes, flare nut wrenches for brake fittings, double flare kit for making brake lines.

Electric drill motor and bits, assorted grinding wheels, etc.

Valve spring compressor, cam degreeing kit, calipers, feeler gauges.

Buddy down the road who is ingenious at fabricating stuff (in valuable). Shop in town with a big press and air tools (rarely needed for what I do).

I'm sure there's more, but not much more. It's amazing how much you can do with just basic equipment.

Man I am loving this thread. It's amazing how much good info you can get from people that know what they are doing. Frankly, I don't run across too many of them in everyday life.

Maybe we should start another thread... "tools I wish I had never bought"? Not the brand, but something you thought would be useful, but only serves as ballast in the bottom drawer of your toolbox.

Vclassics - Great list and great input. I'll be sure to contact you when I finally get that Amazon Wagon :)

Cyncrvr - you made my day!

Trevor, I don't think about that! I have a few one-time-use tools. I guess that is why I have another project car, so I get to use those tools again!

The ones I wish I never bought are those cheap tools, the ones made in China. They may work once, if at all, and then they are worthless.

The one tool I cant do with out is my old Army saftey wire pliers. I dont safty much anymore but they are just a jim dandy tool. No matter the task, I grab them...

Close second is my Snap-On ratching screwdriver. Best 60 bucks Ive spent.