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Beerhippie

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 13, 2023
Messages
9,739
Location
Far NE Oregon
In reality, right up through college, the only motor vehicles I had with disk brakes were bikes. Drum brakes require few specialized tools (they exist and do make the job easier)--but a highly specialized vocabulary. The second time in an hour that the needle-nose Vise Grips slip off the damned spring sending your knuckles into the edge of the brake back plate with full-force....

Electronic calculators were banned up through high school.
 
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Jtels85

Well-known member
Joined
May 3, 2017
Messages
1,515
Location
Ohio
It was branded Blackhawk here. Now everything is branded just Expert. Good stuff, just like blue point without the snap on baggage.
Expert is all over the MAC truck that pulls into work every Wednesday. I’ve had good luck with their sockets, but the Expert ratchets are trash. Our lube tech has had quite a few warrantied in the past year.

It’s a shame because the Expert line could really benefit from some updated ratchets, combination wrenches, pliers and screwdrivers.
 

L.Cheapo

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 23, 2014
Messages
5,908
You laugh, but in college when I was broke and doing a brake job on a Sunday night in a parking lot at school I had the caliper off and realized I had no way to compress it.

I turned the handle on the factory scissor jack a few more times, assembled an appropriate length of 3/8" extensions, and with the extensions on the ground against the old inner pad and the caliper under the knuckle, I gently lowered the vehicle on it, compressing the piston.

I'm not proud of it, but it worked. I much prefer the Lisle caulk gun style to that method. :ROFLMAO:
 

lund

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 2, 2019
Messages
766
Location
Michigan
Debated? Well, I'm looking to be convinced. I was really just asking someone to SHOW me why it would be an improvement on a simple, basic caliper. You just gave (another) example of a more exotic one. I'm not saying NO ONE needs these, I'm asking to see how it would help me.

And while I'm not sure what this has to do with it (but others have mentioned it): I drive 20+ year old American vehicles (parts from elsewhere, of course), to 300k miles, in a very rust-prone environment.

More often than not lately, I'm replacing calipers when I do brake jobs because the exposed pistons get pitted from rust and don't function properly after compressing them.

But again, $20 is cheap money for something that'll improve the job, I'd just like to be shown how.

[EDIT: BTW, after decades of fighting to adjust drum brakes with screwdrivers, I finally bought the proper tools, and that was a huge improvement, so I'm not against this.]

Mike
Amen. Cases and contexts. I do not understand why some people get bent out of shape on applicability discussions. Sure, I guess some people do not want to risk marring their "$500 powder coated and polished caliper." Fine great problem to have but it aint going to stay like that on any of the roads I and most other people drive on (ok maybe worse roads for me in Michigan ... we are like a 3rd world country). Then another person asked the obvious: well the lang tool will not fit my smaller caliper so where to a get a range of sizes. Hmm. Ok, I have better things for toolbox space for multiple sizes of bulky items that I use once in a two years that might hypothetically save a fraction of a minute for me (I never recall taking more than 30 sec to use a c-clamp so I guess if it works in zero time I save 1/2 minute ... wow). I never see clamp marks on my caliper after changes since it does not take much force to retract.

If someone likes something and find value to it, then fine. But those people should not take offense to the need being debated with other contextual answers coming up. Seems overly centric. Couple that with the snarkiness ... come on. Some of this stuff seems like people using super expensive flank-drive wrenches since they like the feel of designer type brands and then complaining about flank drive marking up their fastners. Well, you cannot have all things at all times. Enhanced grip adds stresses. Cases and context. It helps to discuss matters so people are aware and can do what is best of their situations: someone wanting pristine fasteners might then avoid disappointment if they buy a $1k set of flank drive wrenches and find that it messes up the fastener appearances they want. I am certainly not against more tools. But to me, bulky stuff like caliper retractors need a good justification to take up that much space as an every other year use item. This specific case does not for me. But it might make for a pro doing lot of brake jobs or for special applications. If so, good for them. But awareness of tradeoffs is not a bad thing.
 
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lund

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 2, 2019
Messages
766
Location
Michigan
Kind of where I am on this. I cannot really justify them.
A layer of masking tape can work to lightly jam the bit in enough in a socket. That is what I do for occasional use (or when I do not want to walk to get something better) and it has not failed.
 

lund

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 2, 2019
Messages
766
Location
Michigan
Estwing 3lb drilling hammer

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I have been using one of these forever. Old enough not to be before the started using the purple paint. It is virtually indestructible and it is the right weight to give a good hammering without a lot of stress or lugging around something too big. The grip is good too and very tough.

It will be a sad day if these kind of things are eventually outsourced.
 
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SouthernIllinois

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 14, 2024
Messages
1,670
140 mile round trip but I got what I went for. Green Jack for $99 plus some other stuff. I was there 5 min before they opened.

Four people ahead of me, all four bought one jack each.

Out of curiosity, I asked if they had any of the new 1/4” drive set everyone is buying. She said they had several in the back and no I didn’t buy one. I’m in the minority that doesn’t see the point in them.

My yellow SD jack now has a little brother which will be handy.

The suction cups were $8 each - I figured that was cheap insurance when it comes time to pull the front and back glass out of my project car.


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YesIHaveAHammer

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 1, 2025
Messages
819
Hazet Screwdriver bit set 2240N/36
Nice surprise to receive the older version with the more well proven grey bits rather than the shiny chrome ones with coloured size indicator collars. The selection of bits is good (e.g. common repeats, T27 present). Bits seem good, good fit in screw heads, but the case and bit holder (older 2239-6) are just satisfactory.

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Squankum

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 28, 2011
Messages
7,699
Location
Southeast
She said they had several in the back and no I didn’t buy one. I’m in the minority that doesn’t see the point in them.

I felt the same say -- around the shop. Then I got one for portable tool bag I've been setting up this year and went on "vacation" (a week at Ms. Squankum's business) and my found my wee tool kit very useful. (Mine isn't HF, but FACOM, but similar concept.) Change a blower fan in the Econoline, removed the battery first, removed headlights, and several other little jobs that popped up.

This ICON one is cheaper than my FACOM and also has SAE sockets in addition to metric sockets, which is nothing to sneeze at, if it were on sale.

 
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pfbz

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
956
Probably going to see a decent amount of these posts this morning, but got one for me and one for my dad

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My local store was sold out of the sale jacks by noon. i bought two more jacks a few weeks back (low profile, long reach, so a different jack), so I didn't need any more, but that was a good deal!

They did have two of the lights left, grabbed them both.
 

moemc

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 12, 2025
Messages
356
140 mile round trip but I got what I went for. Green Jack for $99 plus some other stuff. I was there 5 min before they opened.

Four people ahead of me, all four bought one jack each.

Out of curiosity, I asked if they had any of the new 1/4” drive set everyone is buying. She said they had several in the back and no I didn’t buy one. I’m in the minority that doesn’t see the point in them.

My yellow SD jack now has a little brother which will be handy.

The suction cups were $8 each - I figured that was cheap insurance when it comes time to pull the front and back glass out of my project car.


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I didnt make a real effort.. just stopped in at 6pm here while out running other errands and they said they were sold out within a hour of opening. I would have taken a blue for the $100 if they had it, but I figured that wasnt going to happen.
 

threewood

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 9, 2014
Messages
419
Location
Yuma, AZ
So I went to the solid waste drop off site to dump an old freezer. Got into a conversation with the guy working at the gate. He asks if I have a shop. I said yes. He asked me if I need a hose reel. I said yes. So he said there was a heavy hose reel someone dropped off and he hid it behind the dumpster. So I snagged it.

Hannay Reels FLN 716-20-10.5j. Over $500 new!!! I removed the gauge it had and hooked up air and zero leaks. The swivel fittings are 1/4" but it ran my tools fine. Works great retract is strong. Ordered a 4' lead hose.
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freudianfloyd

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 12, 2015
Messages
3,428
Location
Nowhere
Besides the tools I just picked up that are posted in the Garage Sale thread, I picked up a few new tools as well.

First, and ultrasonic metal thickness gauge. I used it to test the steel thickness of my new to me but old air compressor. Just happened to be a Prime Days deal as well.
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And since I have several kids driving and have done more brakes than Midas in the past few weeks on all the kids cars, I needed a tool for cycling the ABS so I can properly bleed the brakes.

Not a high dollar fancy tool, but gets the job done.
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Squankum

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 28, 2011
Messages
7,699
Location
Southeast
I've got three slide rules and a 1970s textbook on math for electronics I bought solely due to having an entire chapter on slide rule basics so I could learn how to use them.

Remember, we put men on the moon with those things.

Yes, but should we have? :D That was my reaction when watching Apollo 13, when the puzzle-solving crew on earth broke out the great big analog VOM. "You had that and you sent men to space?!"

My father spent a week at a table in WWII cranking out slide rules of his own design. The standard artillery analog calculators for silk bags of gunpowder/angle of barrel/range had been made inaccurate by a notable change in elevation between his division and Baddies, and he knew what calculation adjustments were needed by the whole unit.

I remember some math textbooks in the 80's (probably 70's books) showing sine/cosine/tangent calculations for each degree, on the inside cover pages. And something else in a statistics book, similar. From before the days of calculators, you could look up an answer that had been done by humans with pencils and the vast majority of them were correct.
 
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Squankum

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 28, 2011
Messages
7,699
Location
Southeast
Tool? Well, PPE for when I use tools. Also, radio.

3M Worktunes AM/FM/hearing loss preventer, too. Replacing one just like it because the previous one, which I loved, got caught up in the great Kroilsplosion*, and will stink forevermore, and all over my scalp and ears.

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I got the impression these have recently been phased out by 3M, so off to ebay I went for new old stock.

_______
* See my Underground Lair thread. Somehow, as of the weekend, the smell in the shop is gone. (I did employ some odor absorbers.)
 

Andres26tnt

Well-known member
Joined
May 11, 2018
Messages
994
Not necessarily a buy, but new tool sure. Decided to make my own handles for the new picks I picked up. Bought a nice $2 spring loaded bit holder. Wow I'm impressed by the quality at 2 bucks, it's has very satisfying spring action. It a pull down instead of up, those other ones I hate. This is version 1, will redesign the handle to have knurling on the neck, and hide/insert the bit holder deeper.

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Etchase

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 10, 2017
Messages
1,997
Location
Hawaii
While waiting for my Vessel faucet screwdriver from Epstein’s, I was thinking it would be great if they had one for panel screws. I didn’t see the value in the Beta or certainly not in the PB Swiss. Someone on here mentioned this one from Anex for about $12 in the US, and now I have it. Nice build quality. GJ stimulating the economy just like we expect.

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