Recent content by Benny Franklin

Mine have been going strong for over a year now. I work on diesel pickups pretty frequently (own 3) and everything else I find myself wrenching on seems to suffer from limited space and it’s a constant PITA to access fasteners. I don’t turn wrenches at my full time job anymore though, so they...

The shorter bar makes good sense in your situation. I normally remove dead/diseased wood and do some occasional brush clearing or clear the roads after a storm. My grandfather heated with wood so I used to process 10-20 cords a season until he passed away and it always seemed like less effort...

I run a 28” bar on my 660 for both felling and bucking- I’m 6’ 5” tall and wear out much faster if I’m hunched over, even with a lighter saw. I’ll grab a 20” or 12” saw for delimbing but otherwise it’s 28” all the way. You could also make the argument that the faster cutting time of a larger...

Stihl, get one of the farm/ranch saws as the homeowner series is pretty weak and the commercial series is overkill. For firewood and splitting I think something in the 50-60cc range with an 18” bar will fill your needs. I ended up getting a climbing saw/12” bar, kept my old 029 Super/20” bar...

The boss put Milwaukee and Dewalt on my service truck, so I used both. The Dewalt couldn’t hold a candle to the M18 Fuel impacts in 1/2 and 3/4 using 8.0 and 12.0 batteries. My buddy swears by his 1” Milwaukee for tire changes on his Peterbilt. Now that I don’t turn wrenches full time the...

Found I had a 2 for 1 picture of the recent builds. The one I was sitting in is 12x16, privacy lattice on the back. There’s a small vise and 65lb anvil lag bolted to a couple oak rounds for minor work, and my brother’s ATV is parked there until he gets time to work on the transmission. Mostly...

Get it all. I have a set of short handle flex head ratchets (1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 drive) and a 10” piece of EMT conduit for a handle extension- way more useful than a long handle ratchet Quinn (HF) has a nice set of low profile 6pt impact sockets I bought a cheap set of metric flex head ratchet...

Some things it’s worth spending the money on- pliers, screwdrivers, drill bits/driver bits to name a few. Good cordless tools are invaluable as well. On the flip side, I have been unable to break a Pittsburgh impact socket or a Tractor Supply/Rural King wrench It seems like Icon is giving...

Just had to remove one of these that was a PITA, no flats on the ball and it had been assembled since at least ‘99 A good pair of vice grips as tight as I could get them and a breaker bar/socket along with some PB Blaster got it moving. Didn’t feel like getting one of my impacts so the breaker...

I’ve heard good things about Yeswelder, but I’ve had experience with Miller, Lincoln, Hobart, and the Titanium series from Harbor Freight. Definitely get a 120/240v machine, shielding gas will make it nicer but nothing wrong with flux core. At one time I used flux core dual shield almost...

I have an assortment of Pittsburgh, Icon, Gearwrench, Wright, Craftsman, and MAC wrenches, plus a couple sets off Amazon for oddball items (flex head ratchet wrenches and hydraulic line wrenches) I always keep a set of the Pittsburgh cheapies around for field expedient modifications I have a...

Cool- I’ve seen those but never knew what they were called. I might actually have 1 or 2 in my tools somewhere…

At work (machinist) our clamps are mostly standardized to use 1-1/16 wrenches or sockets. The vast majority of my coworkers use 1/2 drive breaker bars and ratchets, and frequently break said 1/2 drive tools (even the tool truck brands). My cheap 3/4 drive ratchet hasn’t broken or even flexed...

And 4 wheel drive makes it even worse, I should know lol

50’ should be fine, depending on how the driveway and turnaround area is set up. Turning radius on my truck is just under 30’, add a 20 foot bumper pull or 30 foot gooseneck and it’s a PITA to turn and park sometimes