Tool Sets

[gimpyrobb]

What, are you 12? Seriously?

6

 

[liliysdad]

6

Luckily, my kids knew better than to use that word before they were that old.

 

[Dave455]

I appreciate everyone’s input. Also, I didn’t mean to mislead anyone about my truck. I don’t have to work on my truck, though it’s a 1988 so that may start to happen soon, I just seem to get into some sort of little fix-it job every time I go visit family nowadays. Recently, replaced tires and tubes on a bicycle, put a bunch of child’s furniture together, and another time reinstalled a belt and adjusted the tensioner on a riding lawnmower. So, I kind of decided I need to have a decent little to set of tools to take around with me as I despise to try to work on something without the right tools. Especially when I know I have the right tool in my shop at home, the only problem is, I ain’t home. Thanks,

Whether you need the tools to work on your vehicle, or not, really just becomes a matter of fine tuning the contents.

I find that about 60% of the times I need my “road box” it’s a vehicle I’m working on. Maybe my own, but more usually someone elses.

The good news is that there’s a lot of crossover. Screwdrivers, pliers, wrenches in popular sizes - all universal tools.

This is basically the contents of mine. Old picture, and changed a little since, but these things constantly evolve. Disregard the actual brands (there’s a lot of U.K. stuff here) but the critical thing is that the tools are, for the most part, “ mid grade”. Something quality, that’s not going to let me down when I only have one, but without a huge investment that I’d be worried about leaving in a vehicle overnight.


I’ve said this before, but I find that a selection of repair materials is almost as important as the tools. The cost of these is negligible (most of what you see below was grabbed from my shop) you just need to invest an hour in assembling the stuff.

I also have a box of PPE stored by my road box. Nothing exotic, just some knee pads, protective goggles, disposable dust masks, and several different pairs of gloves (disposable gloves, chemical resistant gauntlets, and something to provide grip / mechanical protection.

Most times, that rides along with the tool box and has been just as useful!

 

[AEAdam]

Luckily, my kids knew better than to use that word before they were that old.

Hopefully someone reported that post. Odds are high people here have disabled family members, kids and they don’t deserve to read stuff like that on tool forum talking about toolkits.

And it’s all so disrespectful.

 

[Zewnten]

It’s HF’s lowest line, and has used Chinese manufacturers where the better lines are Taiwanese. My opinion, it has value as a starter set and a self contained toolset. For folks more serious, who may eventually abandon the set, I think they can do better piecemeal. I’d want better wrenches, better screwdrivers, better pliers etc. I think you can do okay with Pittsburgh sockets. Just need to know their limitations.

That said, there are smaller sets that could cover basics, opening the door to choose the other bits. As I said earlier, the value really lies in the set. If you want a single set, this could be a good fit. I’m inclined to make up my own sets using Milwaukee packouts.

Might have chaged but about 2 years ago a lot of the Pittsburgh pro was still Taiwan made, almost everything in the 300 piece kit was Taiwan.

 

[AEAdam]

Must have changed but about 2 years ago a lot of the Pittsburgh pro was still Taiwan made, almost everything in the 300 piece kit was Taiwan.

Good to know.

As we all know, HF has gone to a good, better, best marketing model with Pittsburgh in the good category. If you went to HF and handled screwdrivers for example, I really doubt many of us would choose the Pittsburgh models.

Again, the value of that 301pc set is the set itself, not so much the enduring quality of the tools.

When I moved to England, I made my own sets. This was 15 years ago. If I had it to do all over again, I'd use packouts. These are small parts boxes I bought at the Container Store.


This little 1/4" drive set was crazy helpful. Probably my favorite. I don't have great pictures of the other 2 kits. But the concept was each set had sockets, screwdrivers and pliers sized appropriately for the work I did with those sockets. In the 1/2" kit, the screwdrivers were replaced with pry bars. The pliers were stacked 2 or 3 high.



I never had an awesome way to store wrenches. I kept them in a, get this, white canvas tool roll. I also had my trusty Bosch 1/2" impact gun and some other bits and bobs.

 

[BobsYourUncle69]

There are a bunch threads on this subject. I went through several different sets in my truck for years and settled on this Gedore Red set. The Red line tools are not German made. It’s currently $241 on Amazon.

A few years ago I got this box from Montezuma but could never quite make it fit in my truck anyplace. I carry it in my UTV now. It’s a good size and you can fill it with whatever seems the right mix.

This gedore red set appears to have the Taiwanese wrenches instead of the Indian wrenches which looks very similar to the Ampro , King Tony and Teng wrenches , the Indian made Gedore red wrenches are awful.
Although I don't like how the sockets fit so loosely , they're a hell of a lot better than Home depots Husky which are inconstant and some can be classified as wobble sockets.
I do like the Gedore red ratchets, not the best there is but far from the worst.

Project farm has suggested the Gearwrench set is the best value and he has voted it so 2 years in a row.

I personally have made up a set for my truck in a ridgid tool box consisting of

-Gedore 1B 6-34mm set with a few larger wrenches
-Ampro 10-32mm regular offset wrench set(going to change these though as I rounded a bolt and then had to pull out my gedore 1B which had no problem loosening the semi rounded bolt after is had a god at it with the Ampro )
-Ampro SAE and meric set but have changed the ratchet to a Husky 72 tooth and the metric sockets to Tekton 1/2 drive up to 38mm
-Gedore red extendable 1/2 breaker bar (has come in so handy and I'm surprised I haven't broken or bent it yet )
-Gedore red 3/8 metric socket set
-Knipex alligator 10inch pliers
- a few different Klein and Ampro pliers
-Husky 6in 1 scared driver (one Husky product I actually like )
-trim removable kit

I keep adding to it and I'm sure I've left some things out but it all fits into a rigid tool box that goes behind my front seat or in the load bin.

 

[BobsYourUncle69]

For anyone wondering here is a review of Gedore vs Gedore Red tools. He also has an older review of just the Gedore Red set in the comparison.

Yes and no.
Those plastic case Gedore sets appear to have only the ratchets being the actual German made component and those sockets could be Taiwanese as some have said they fit as loosely as the Gedore red.
That specific Gedore ratchet isn't as good as the other style of Gedore ratchet that has the 3 way lever for on/lock/off.

When a Gedore socket doesn't have COO on it , it's either made in Taiwan or South Africa however the reports of the looser fitting sockets are a typical trate of the Taiwanese made sockets. It's nowhere near as bad as some other sockets but the German and South African made sockets have a good snug fit.

In this case , I feel the Gedore red is a better buy.

 

[Mattlt]

Years ago, Craftsman had a couple of varieties of Technician Tool Sets. These included pliers, hammers, hacksaw, etc, stuff not in the mechanic's tool sets. Similar to the one pictured, but I think they had some better ones. I'm surprised they weren't more popular. It's always best to create your own custom set anyway.

 

[nafets47]

Good to know.

As we all know, HF has gone to a good, better, best marketing model with Pittsburgh in the good category. If you went to HF and handled screwdrivers for example, I really doubt many of us would choose the Pittsburgh models.

Again, the value of that 301pc set is the set itself, not so much the enduring quality of the tools.

When I moved to England, I made my own sets. This was 15 years ago. If I had it to do all over again, I'd use packouts. These are small parts boxes I bought at the Container Store.


This little 1/4" drive set was crazy helpful. Probably my favorite. I don't have great pictures of the other 2 kits. But the concept was each set had sockets, screwdrivers and pliers sized appropriately for the work I did with those sockets. In the 1/2" kit, the screwdrivers were replaced with pry bars. The pliers were stacked 2 or 3 high.



I never had an awesome way to store wrenches. I kept them in a, get this, white canvas tool roll. I also had my trusty Bosch 1/2" impact gun and some other bits and bobs.

Just as a tip if you want to do a foam insert like the one above or just in a box with sockets. You take your top foam and space out your layout. Then find a socket that has the exact or close enough outside diameter and use it as a "drill bit" to cut the top layer of foam. It will make a perfect circle and will allow your socket or bits to fit snug.