GW locking flex head ratchets

[VolvoRyan]

So, are you one of the customers willing to pay 30%+++ over MSRP on a new vehicle at your local dealer?

Why would I buy a new car? Where's the fun in that? This is Garage Journal. I only buy cars that need immediate mechanical overhaul.

Kidding aside, all my fancy tools have my wife and I driving cars well above our pay-grade, and for leasing-a-compact money. Some of the classic models in the garage are apparently appreciating faster than my outlay for tools. When I had a little side-hustle, that even bought me tools.

A fool and his money are easily parted.
These are *series production* tools. There is nothing limited edition or rare about them that should make you decide to pay multiple times what the MSRP is. MSRP is FULL RETAIL.

Please, please, please learn from this and be a smarter consumer. Your pocket book and your financial future will thank you later.

Speaking of.... (and you painted yourself into this corner).... tools provide DIY, and DIY saves huge money. The market you speak of also affects the costs of professional repairs. Thus, the margin for financial savings between buying tools and paying for repairs stays largely the same.

Let's also not forget the cascade of knowledge (can you put a money value on this?).... basically, troubleshooting.... that comes from repairing complex electrical and mechanical contrivances. This can all be ported to other stuff (AKA broken things). As a new homeowner, I was surprised that basic furnace troubleshooting isn't that different from old cars.

In short, I disagree with your thesis.

-Ryan

 

[CGarage]

Why would I buy a new car? Where's the fun in that? This is Garage Journal. I only buy cars that need immediate mechanical overhaul.

Kidding aside, all my fancy tools have my wife and I driving cars well above our pay-grade, and for leasing-a-compact money. Some of the classic models in the garage are apparently appreciating faster than my outlay for tools. When I had a little side-hustle, that even bought me tools.





Speaking of.... (and you painted yourself into this corner).... tools provide DIY, and DIY saves huge money. The market you speak of also affects the costs of professional repairs. Thus, the margin for financial savings between buying tools and paying for repairs stays largely the same.

Let's also not forget the cascade of knowledge (can you put a money value on this?).... basically, troubleshooting.... that comes from repairing complex electrical and mechanical contrivances. This can all be ported to other stuff (AKA broken things). As a new homeowner, I was surprised that basic furnace troubleshooting isn't that different from old cars.

In short, I disagree with your thesis.

-Ryan

We are on the same page.

My only disagreement here is with when you choose to buy (based on your earlier thread).

 

[bubinga]

Why would I buy a new car? Where's the fun in that? This is Garage Journal. I only buy cars that need immediate mechanical overhaul.

Kidding aside, all my fancy tools have my wife and I driving cars well above our pay-grade, and for leasing-a-compact money. Some of the classic models in the garage are apparently appreciating faster than my outlay for tools. When I had a little side-hustle, that even bought me tools.





Speaking of.... (and you painted yourself into this corner).... tools provide DIY, and DIY saves huge money. The market you speak of also affects the costs of professional repairs. Thus, the margin for financial savings between buying tools and paying for repairs stays largely the same.

Let's also not forget the cascade of knowledge (can you put a money value on this?).... basically, troubleshooting.... that comes from repairing complex electrical and mechanical contrivances. This can all be ported to other stuff (AKA broken things). As a new homeowner, I was surprised that basic furnace troubleshooting isn't that different from old cars.

In short, I disagree with your thesis.

-Ryan

Oh I agree with all that however I don't want to pay $150 when I got it for $60 last month or two months ago. I just can't afford it at the moment.
Personally I've just had to buy tools that I already have in storage cuz it's so crammed full I can't even get in there.

 

[Handyandy23]

Is SuperLube out of fashion now?

SuperLube has it's place, but it hasn't been good in any high-tooth count ratchets I've tried it in. 1/4" XP120 skipped like crazy with a little SuperLube in it, cleaned it all out and replaced with 3-in-1 and it was nice and smooth. Maybe depends on the specific design (and being a smaller ratchet with finer teeth probably played into it too).

 

[Handyandy23]

There are numerous web tools like CamelCamelCamel that show you historic pricing data with charts.

I do find CamelCamelCamel is very useful for trying to gauge when something is a good buy or not. You can sign up for price alerts on items so it will e-mail you when the price drops below a certain point.

This works best on things like locking flex head ratchets though, which are things we could save the most money on by not even buying them in the first place, since I probably already have 12 other ratchets that will do the same job.

If your PS pump goes out and you need a specific PS pulley remover then you just buy it and save the money versus taking it to a shop. You could also just buy said pulley remover when it's at it's valley, but then you might put 300,000 miles on your truck and never have to change the PS pump, and then you wasted the money.

 

[VolvoRyan]

SuperLube has it's place, but it hasn't been good in any high-tooth count ratchets I've tried it in. 1/4" XP120 skipped like crazy with a little SuperLube in it, cleaned it all out and replaced with 3-in-1 and it was nice and smooth. Maybe depends on the specific design (and being a smaller ratchet with finer teeth probably played into it too).

I've found this too. Too much lube is as bad as no lube sometimes.

-Ryan