Recent content by Tim Gordon

A Mac or a Matco sounds very reasonable... I'll have to look and see if I can find any pictures of one online to compare. I'd bet you a cow and two chickens you're right!

I know that makes it tough. If I'm lucky, I may be able to get in and snap a picture tomorrow. The thing that I suspect would identify this one, however, is that swinging lock lever for the drawers inside the top compartment at the rear. I've never seen that before! Usually there's a bar that...

Today I encountered a 'largish' three drawer tool chest full of miscellaneous old tools in my local pawn shop. It has chest handles on both ends and does resemble an oversized red rally box, but does appear to have been meant to be a top unit of a roll-a-way set. It does not have a carry handle...

Wow... my rollaway has a few things that your portable box doesn't, but not very many! I see an oil filter wrench that I wouldn't be keeping, as I've pointed out, because I won't be doing oil changes there. Some more general things such as pliers and screwdrivers that are just as useful as...

Ah, motorcycles! That's a bit of a different ballgame there. I do have tools for that one, and they're CHEAP. 1) They're compact so they fit under the seat 2) They're nothing that has any real value on eBay or at a pawn shop, so the odds are against their being stolen if someone was to get to...

I do all the PC&M that I can, but sometimes that just doesn't do it. One place where we've had a lot of trouble in the past is on recently acquired vehicles. When trouble strikes, it's often something that I just haven't had a chance to deal with since it was purchased. After I've had...

Nice to know I'm not the only one! :)

This morning I see that a local big-box lumber and hardware retail chain here in the Midwest is offering a 22 piece combination wrench set that ends up being $10 after the sale price and a $5 rebate. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking it's on the order of 1/4" - 3/4" SAE and 6mm - 19mm SI...

That's not a bad idea, though having looked into it not too long ago, it was going to get expensive fairly quickly. Hitches for the kinds of cars we drive aren't that commonly stocked and to order them runs a few hundred bucks per. The Explorer came with one, for other vehicles I had to get out...

THIS is an EXCELLENT reply! Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is exactly the kind of insight I was hoping people would share!

Quite a lot can be done with the basics, any auto tech will tell you there are handful of tools they use on basically any job they tackle. The trick always comes when there's that one fastener that partially obstructed or some other issue that keeps the usual ratchet, sockets, drive accessories...

If, for some reason, I decide I'd like to make a fairly major repair, I'll truck in my tools. It would be preferable to just transport the vehicle out there if that's what's really needed, but one never knows what the future holds and it is entirely possible that the situation may dictate that...

You've got the picture when you say the objective is not to swap water pumps in the middle of nowhere! The idea is that I *may*, depending on the vehicle and situation, do it at the house in town rather than tow it out to the country, assuming that 1) the pump has seized and thrown the belt, and...

Probably the best reply thus far! Great recommendation on the ammo box. I'm a big fan of those for some things, but using one for this specific purpose hadn't really crossed my mind. Maybe it should! I don't know that I can find a rally box that would fit inside an ammo box (probably for cannon...

Question: How useful is a Cresent wrench, really? I do usually keep a few around, but typically I use them more for carpentry and grounds maintenance than anything. I personally do not use them on vehicles. In a great many instances, a Crescent wrench just isn't going to fit due to tight...