I can't wait to see this!!
I spit my drink laughing, good memories
Socket Extensions: How Many?
- Thread starter Bull
- Start date
I can't wait to see this!!
I spit my drink laughing, good memories
Burtonrider10022
Well-known member
Glad you enjoyed it lol
On a related note, I bought a damn extension today
A local Ace Hardware was going out of business and I grabbed an Ace/Craftsman 1/2" 3in extension for $4.
I should have grabbed the 22" breaker bar ($12) and 8" ratchet ($9) as well... both 1/2" drive...
On a related note, I bought a damn extension today
A local Ace Hardware was going out of business and I grabbed an Ace/Craftsman 1/2" 3in extension for $4.I should have grabbed the 22" breaker bar ($12) and 8" ratchet ($9) as well... both 1/2" drive...
ShadowRuleZ
Well-known member
I keep getting them from garage sales for like a dollar each and feel obligated to bring them home with me. Wish I could find some 1/2", most everything is 3/8". I probably have about 20 or so.
Hank McMauser
Well-known member
I've bought snap-on extensions for a buck3" 3/8 dr, but most other brands I never pay over 50 cents for unless its a longer-ish one or 3/4" drive
hischj
Well-known member
I have 16 1/2 feet worth of extensions in my box. the shortest is an 1.5" wobble in 3/8" drive and the longest is a 36" 3/8" drive. At my job there is a machine with a 1.5" access hole and the bolt is about 39" in. I got the 36" and still have to put a 6" on it. The first time took forever with about 10 extensions pieced together. It was a nightmare.
MadMark
Well-known member
You can always click them all together and push a bangalore torpedo under an annoying neighbors hedge.
Heavy Metal Doctor
Well-known member
x2
extensions are one of those "CYA w/extras" tools - Yes it is rare, but clicking 4 feet of them together is occasionally the best / fastest way to get the job done.
MikeF2316
Well-known member
Of course the other problem is if you have tools in more than one location - there's nothing worse than needing that long extension when you're more that 10 miles away from it...
I try to get by with one of each size and length. However with today's modern engines and engine compartments, sometimes you need a length that's in between the lengths you have. Just last week I needed to use a 3/8-1/4 adapter and a 1/4 drive socket to get the right length to remove some water pump bolts on a transverse engine car.
Socket racks artfully arranged is the way I find best to organize my extensions
I try to get by with one of each size and length. However with today's modern engines and engine compartments, sometimes you need a length that's in between the lengths you have. Just last week I needed to use a 3/8-1/4 adapter and a 1/4 drive socket to get the right length to remove some water pump bolts on a transverse engine car.
Socket racks artfully arranged is the way I find best to organize my extensions
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fflintstone
Well-known member
I don’t know the number of extensions I have but I am somewhere north of 30’. The longest I have are 20” I have 4 of them though. I store them all in one small drawer lying together roughly segregated by drive size. I only have 1 inch drive extension, and 3 or 4 ¾” drive.
71goldss
Well-known member
I also have a few short ones in my socket drawer.
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BlindViper
Well-known member
I have 1/4 and 3/8 snap on wobble plus sets. The plastic trays really keep them compact in the drawers. I also have a long set of 3/8 that like 18, 24, 36" bars but it sits in the top of the box loose.
Chadwilliam1
Well-known member
71goldss what brand are those locking extensions?
71goldss
Well-known member
Pittsburg Pro from HF for around $15 for the whole set on sale and 20% coupon. Also got their 3/8" wobble set for around $12. I'm not a big HF hand tool fan and would never buy their wrenches, but the quality and finish of these looks really nice and I like the slide collar locking design. I'm just a DIY'er so can't personally justify big $ for something I don't use very often. All of the rest of my extensions are USA Craftsman.
Edit: Just realized that I bought both 3/8" and 1/2" locking sets separately, so double the cost I stated. Still pretty inexpensive!
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Thunderbisciut
Well-known member
2 each of 2", 4", 6", and 10"in 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 excluding impacts. I don't like having more than I need, and this is more than I've ever needed.
Outlawmws
Well-known member
shampoop
Well-known member
Extensions are the hardest thing for me to organize. I just try to seperate drive sizes, wobblys, and impact ones into different drawers/sections, that way each pile is small enough to not have too much trouble finding what you're looking for. I have tons of 1/4 and 3/8" you never know what crazy combo you're going to need. 1/2" is only the basic stuff.
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lwlobo
Well-known member
My 3/4" extension was the first 3/4" tool I owned. Now I have some sockets and a ratchet as well. Don't let the lack of tools in a certain drive size keep you from buying extensions!
Fireball027
Well-known member
Between work and home I have around 150, maybe more. They range from 1" to 36" and everywhere in between.
alpinewhite
Well-known member
Is that what she said?Yep 6" is kinda small
Armstrong1720
Well-known member
Simple pick a big drawer for extensions. When u fill it level full of extensions then your close to having enough.
sberry
Banned
Here is part of the problem. I was figuring it by drive and I toss all in by length. Same with the sockets, its easy to see the drive size. Not hard for my brain to recognize the difference in 1/4 and 1/2 but 1/2 and 13mm is a problem, storing highly used multiples is a problem.
These were protos, we reconfigure it on occasion but the cart has no sockets, only some common metric wrenches and all the drive stuff, can wheel it around to other bay and the sockets, pliers on the rotary along with a rotary for SAE wrenches serve both bays.
I am working on a montezuma design rack that has some of the same principle, allows for the extraction of the right socket. There is a bit of issue with it, I would just as soon have another turnstyle, its so simple and its all toss in put away, no clips, no worry about drive size, when its too full the rack on the other side must be short.
There is a set of sockets there just not all in a line.
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kythri
Well-known member
sberry
Banned
We had 2 wrench and socket racks feeding the area and it was a problem to keep them filled out, when we figured out how to serve the area with one rack of each it became easy.
That stuff serves 2 bays, one being hoist and the other old box I call my box but its a rack for the workbench area. Very little 3/8 here, its a combo, adjustable. channelok or 1/2 drive socket world. If I need something else will get it but 95% of it is done from the top of the cart. Short, easy to see. If I was doing this again today and didnt already have an old box I got for 75 I would get the HF 44, make some easy boxes racks for my drivers etc, stuff I realluy used on top, push the rest away off the top to the drawers.
Anymore I wouldnt fill huge boxes, if I was working by myself would get what I needed and wouldnt fart with every wrench they made. Bend up a couple china ones in a crisis.
I think the last pic is one where we put some pegs on vise bench for common combos, the tool box that serves this is just a bit away and we had enough the replenish is easy. There is a theory,,, when all the hangers in a given location are full the overflow goes to another area that must be shallow.
When the world is right with my ocd there is never less than one wrench in a hanger and never more than it will hold. This is like an avg air consumption number. 1 man may need 2 wrenches but 3 may be suffecient for 2 men etc. As one man said earlier in a thread,,, he owns a shop where he has a comunity box for all the men,,, not everyone needs every tool. If they got the basics many of the specialty items can be just as easily shared/maintained.
I provide all the tooling in my shop, its easier and its simple, Ray Charles can find the right wrench here.
That stuff serves 2 bays, one being hoist and the other old box I call my box but its a rack for the workbench area. Very little 3/8 here, its a combo, adjustable. channelok or 1/2 drive socket world. If I need something else will get it but 95% of it is done from the top of the cart. Short, easy to see. If I was doing this again today and didnt already have an old box I got for 75 I would get the HF 44, make some easy boxes racks for my drivers etc, stuff I realluy used on top, push the rest away off the top to the drawers.
Anymore I wouldnt fill huge boxes, if I was working by myself would get what I needed and wouldnt fart with every wrench they made. Bend up a couple china ones in a crisis.
I think the last pic is one where we put some pegs on vise bench for common combos, the tool box that serves this is just a bit away and we had enough the replenish is easy. There is a theory,,, when all the hangers in a given location are full the overflow goes to another area that must be shallow.
When the world is right with my ocd there is never less than one wrench in a hanger and never more than it will hold. This is like an avg air consumption number. 1 man may need 2 wrenches but 3 may be suffecient for 2 men etc. As one man said earlier in a thread,,, he owns a shop where he has a comunity box for all the men,,, not everyone needs every tool. If they got the basics many of the specialty items can be just as easily shared/maintained.
I provide all the tooling in my shop, its easier and its simple, Ray Charles can find the right wrench here.
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Vegaman_Dan
Well-known member
Gee, now I'm wanting to take some extensions, cut them in half and weld them to rebar or something for some looooong extensions. I don't *need* a 10' extension- or at least I didn't I did until I just thought of the idea. Now I want one.
Isn't that the way it always works?
Isn't that the way it always works?
wolf_from_wv
Well-known member
Looks like 2-5 of each.
6-7 1/2"
My tools must remain portable and there isn't room for a rolling box, so I use tackle boxes in a bag.
jethro29
Well-known member
i have between 5 and 6 in every drive size,like 3/8 i have 1",3",6".10",18" and 24".in 1/4 i have 1",3",6",10",12" and 15" and so fourth for 1/2 and 3/4.
I have the typical 3, 6, 10, 18 in most sizes and also wobble. I try to avoid any more. The majority are 3/8 which is probably 20 total. They were always rolling around in the drawer. Saw a post on here (sorry, don't remember the name) about using a magnetic bar at the end of your drawer and putting the female end of the extension on the magnet. Went to HF and bought a magnet bar. Pure magic! No more rolling extensions. I can grab them right off the bar and it won't move due to the weight but it isn't a pain like removing them from a socket bar.
Tom
Tom
spotco2
Well-known member
Some of you guys need to buy some more extensions! Y'all don't hardly have any at all. I don't see how you can possibly get anything done
Maybe it's overkill, but I always liked to have enough to reach from one end of a car to the other.
When I was wrenching for a living, pulling truck transmissions was an every day thing. Being able to stand behind the transmission and reach the bell housing bolts with your impact was the simple way of doing things, so 36"-48" was a must have.
Also instead of being bent over all day taking things apart under the hood, standing up straight and letting your extensions get your sockets down to the fasteners really made it easy on the back. Old farts tend to learn the easy/lazy way of doing things after a few years. Extensions are cheaper than cases of ibuprofen.
In my daily life now, I have very little use for much over 1/4" drive. I hate searching for an extension so I just bought several of the most popular size sockets that I normally use in both deep and shallow and welded a 3" extension to each and a 6" to another. I keep a set without extensions (but do keep loose extensions handy) but hardly ever use them.
Maybe it's overkill, but I always liked to have enough to reach from one end of a car to the other.
When I was wrenching for a living, pulling truck transmissions was an every day thing. Being able to stand behind the transmission and reach the bell housing bolts with your impact was the simple way of doing things, so 36"-48" was a must have.
Also instead of being bent over all day taking things apart under the hood, standing up straight and letting your extensions get your sockets down to the fasteners really made it easy on the back. Old farts tend to learn the easy/lazy way of doing things after a few years. Extensions are cheaper than cases of ibuprofen.
In my daily life now, I have very little use for much over 1/4" drive. I hate searching for an extension so I just bought several of the most popular size sockets that I normally use in both deep and shallow and welded a 3" extension to each and a 6" to another. I keep a set without extensions (but do keep loose extensions handy) but hardly ever use them.
You guys are making me feel inadequate! 33" in standard 3/8" extensions, 28" of wobbles; 26.5" of 1/2" drive, and a pathetic 4" of 1/4". In my defense, I don't even have a 1/4" drive ratchet in my portable box! (hello Snap On guy?)
pilotman81
Well-known member
I have everything from kinda short to really long in everything from 1/4" to 1" drive. You can never have too many variations!