Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Real_PhillBert]

1 hour ago, bcredeur97 said:

it's like this:

say you have a nut to get off. You have 1 socket for it. You give it a 1/8th of a turn and your socket breaks. 

Oh well, just return and get another right because lifetime warranty? 

you get another one, you manage another 1/8th of a turn and it breaks. 

do it again. 

again.

again.

again

 

 

4 months later you finally got the nut off.

 

 

is the cheap tool still worth it?

 

 

That said... I don't want to spend $30k on tools right out of the gate if I have no money and no plans on being a full time mechanic but I want to work on my stuff. So I do like to look for the middle ground.. or the "good" cheaper stuff but it's hard to find...

I agree. 

 

Also if you're on a tight budget pawn shops are full of the high end tools for super cheap. And lets be honest, for 99% of basic mechanic stuff, a simple socket set, a couple pairs of pliers and a couple of screwdrivers will get the job done. Most people don't need a 84" roller full of tools to accomplish what they want.

[Bitter]

14 hours ago, terrytek said:

i could buy it for u and ship it to u  

i mean harbor freight tools is good. cheap. they break, get another set under warranty.

Except they're tightening that warranty now. Most power tools are 1 year, and some hand tools too now or you can only replace it a certain number of times. It's pretty shit to have to stop working, drive 20 minutes, get another one, 20 minutes back home, then resume. Now imagine you're charging labor at a shop. Nope, screw that. Even for at home I don't want my tools breaking, I'll get hurt or break something else and that's not worth it. 

[bimmerman]

I've been using the same set of crafstman sockets and wrenches since 2005 or so, on all my cars. Not that much more than harbor freight and I think i've lost tools more often than broken them.

 

There's a major mechanic's socket set that Crafstman makes that is usually a killer deal for fathers day. includes every socket they sell, for ~$300ish. This set IIRC: https://www.sears.com/craftsman-308-piece-socket-accessory-set-with-extension/p-00935831000P?ef_id=Cj0KCQjwt_nmBRD0ARIsAJYs6o2xQ0Z4vdARTnIXze_LLZ7nNIq-9g30HlSH8uzhSSLzuM5VlbvmD4YaAhdTEALw_wcB:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!8592!3!317853285778!!!g!405353931314!&sid=IDx01192011x000001x1651384318&utm_campaign=9031914&utm_group=62569197599-317853285778&utm_term=pla-405353931314&gclid=Cj0KCQjwt_nmBRD0ARIsAJYs6o2xQ0Z4vdARTnIXze_LLZ7nNIq-9g30HlSH8uzhSSLzuM5VlbvmD4YaAhdTEALw_wcB

 

I will say the standard Crafstman ratchets are pretty bad, or were when I bought my tools. I love my gearwrench rotatable head ratchets though: https://www.amazon.com/GearWrench-81223-2-Piece-Cushion-Grip-Ratchet/dp/B001M0O1BG/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=gearwrench+ratchet&qid=1558123379&s=gateway&sr=8-8

 

The tippy top highest quality stuff, these are not, but I haven't had any issues. Add screwdrivers, pliers, torque wrenches, and allen/torx sockets and you're ready to do just about anything.

 

This would be an excellent starter kit, or racetrack oh-shit kit from the looks of it: https://www.sears.com/gearwrench-1-2in-combination-ratcheting-wrench/p-A031749829?rrec=true

[terrytek]

7 minutes ago, bimmerman said:

I've been using the same set of crafstman sockets and wrenches since 2005 or so, on all my cars. Not that much more than harbor freight and I think i've lost tools more often than broken them.

 

There's a major mechanic's socket set that Crafstman makes that is usually a killer deal for fathers day. includes every socket they sell, for ~$300ish. This set IIRC: https://www.sears.com/craftsman-308-piece-socket-accessory-set-with-extension/p-00935831000P?ef_id=Cj0KCQjwt_nmBRD0ARIsAJYs6o2xQ0Z4vdARTnIXze_LLZ7nNIq-9g30HlSH8uzhSSLzuM5VlbvmD4YaAhdTEALw_wcB:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!8592!3!317853285778!!!g!405353931314!&sid=IDx01192011x000001x1651384318&utm_campaign=9031914&utm_group=62569197599-317853285778&utm_term=pla-405353931314&gclid=Cj0KCQjwt_nmBRD0ARIsAJYs6o2xQ0Z4vdARTnIXze_LLZ7nNIq-9g30HlSH8uzhSSLzuM5VlbvmD4YaAhdTEALw_wcB

 

I will say the standard Crafstman ratchets are pretty bad, or were when I bought my tools. I love my gearwrench rotatable head ratchets though: https://www.amazon.com/GearWrench-81223-2-Piece-Cushion-Grip-Ratchet/dp/B001M0O1BG/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=gearwrench+ratchet&qid=1558123379&s=gateway&sr=8-8

 

The tippy top highest quality stuff, these are not, but I haven't had any issues. Add screwdrivers, pliers, torque wrenches, and allen/torx sockets and you're ready to do just about anything.

 

This would be an excellent starter kit, or racetrack oh-shit kit from the looks of it: https://www.sears.com/gearwrench-1-2in-combination-ratcheting-wrench/p-A031749829?rrec=true

I just borrow my dad's craftsman set of tools. I trust them because these were produced in the usa, and they have been very dependable. sucks that they now outsource all their manufacturing to china, and quality has since depleted. i haven't had any of their old shit break on me.

[bimmerman]

2 hours ago, terrytek said:

I just borrow my dad's craftsman set of tools. I trust them because these were produced in the usa, and they have been very dependable. sucks that they now outsource all their manufacturing to china, and quality has since depleted. i haven't had any of their old shit break on me.

Yea, fair. Once I moved out I was SOL, but using dad's tools was awesome while I could.

 

I definitely think that tools are something you want to cry once and then use/have forever, rather than consider disposable consumables. Unless you value your time at zero, the more expensive tool that doesn't break and doesn't need warranty service will have a better $/hr return on investment. There's definitely a sweet spot though, since hobby mechanics won't need Strap-on level perfection.....though it sure is nice.

 

Though, if you get too bit by the ooo shiny bug, you'll end up having completely run out of parts + car + tool storage, and it suuuuuuucks. I've been eyeing a roller tool chest/workbench instead of the HF tool cart that I'm currently overflowing.

[Bitter]

Mac and Matco offer some great value too.

[Bitter]

1 hour ago, vinyldash303 said:

I really like my S/K ratchets. I use Grey Pnumatic slim impact sockets for both impact and non impact use. Fucking love my Ingrsol Rand compressor and impact guns.

I've been beating up an IR 2135 Ti for almost a decade now and it's never skipped a beat save for when the bottom of the handle tried to come apart, that's a common issue on the early guns and easily fixed with super glue, it's been 100% since that minor issue. My inlet valve leaks, I need to replace that, otherwise zero issues. In fact just earlier this year for the first time ever I pulled the hammer case and cleaned/lubed it all inside there. In hindsight I wish I had bought a boot for it but oh well.

 

My newest gun is an Aircat NitroCat 1250K, that thing is beastly power man! Even on our mediocre shop air it hits hard and takes off everything I've thrown at it. Usually stuck stuff means you need to go from your thin wall flip socket to a standard style socket to get back the lost torque from the extension, this gun basically just ignores the extension and thin wall flip socket and takes stuck lug nuts off like nothing at all. And it's quiet too! It's a bit bigger and heavier than my IR Ti though so I don't use it daily, but when I do use it nothing hasn't come off yet.

 

 

And I just scored my boss a used Atlas Copco RRH-10P rivet gun. Air rivet guns make for beastly air hammers, they have awesome teasing triggers you can slowly apply hammer from light taps all the way to full hits in a very controlled progressive manner. The 10P unleashes 13J of hit each hit at full power AND it's dampened so the vibrations stay in the gun and don't transmit down the handle meaning it's really easy to control. My 'big bore' 6X rivet gun is badass too, but it's old style non dampened and can be very difficult to control at times. If you can snatch up a 6x or 7x air rivet gun for a cheap price I highly suggest you do it, I can drive out ball joints from knuckles in seconds instead of spending 15 minutes setting up the ball joint press. Sometimes the mini sledge is needed to start them moving. And hub bearings are never seized into knuckles anymore, gone is spending an hour with a regular air hammer and slide hammer. Truly, these big air rivet guns are awesome time savers!

[vetali]

1 hour ago, Bitter said:

And I just scored my boss a used Atlas Copco RRH-10P rivet gun. Air rivet guns make for beastly air hammers, they have awesome teasing triggers you can slowly apply hammer from light taps all the way to full hits in a very controlled progressive manner. The 10P unleashes 13J of hit each hit at full power AND it's dampened so the vibrations stay in the gun and don't transmit down the handle meaning it's really easy to control. My 'big bore' 6X rivet gun is badass too, but it's old style non dampened and can be very difficult to control at times. If you can snatch up a 6x or 7x air rivet gun for a cheap price I highly suggest you do it, I can drive out ball joints from knuckles in seconds instead of spending 15 minutes setting up the ball joint press. Sometimes the mini sledge is needed to start them moving. And hub bearings are never seized into knuckles anymore, gone is spending an hour with a regular air hammer and slide hammer. Truly, these big air rivet guns are awesome time savers!

This sounds awesome, but I hardly see any vids of it in action in the automotive field. Pretty cheap compared to the automotive air hammers which are weaksauce. What heads do you use?

[Bitter]

5 hours ago, vetali said:

This sounds awesome, but I hardly see any vids of it in action in the automotive field. Pretty cheap compared to the automotive air hammers which are weaksauce. What heads do you use?

I've got a small assortment of Ajax bits and a few odd rivet sets that are useful for car work, angled or super short and flush. .498 isn't a size you get a lot of car bits for but they do make some suspension forks. I found a vendor in Michigan that had good prices on Ajax so I was buying through them, but I've heard good things about Old Forge also. Gray Pneumatic have a reputation of being butter soft with the bigger hammers, and 6x is a bigger hammer. South Main's 'big nasty' is a 5x with a crappy trigger that takes .498 bits. I bought me a CP 7150 so I'd have something that takes normal .410 bits in it, it's a 5x power wise but it's nice in that it takes the normal bits but the trigger sucks, no teasing it.

I've also got an old cheap crappy but still useful air hammer, one of those '$20 specials'. I hogged out some of the ports on it a few years back and it buzzes like a lady pleaser that just snorted a line of coke. I keep a needle scaler head on it for blasting rust scale off things like wheel hubs, beats grinding it off. If I need to blast heavy scale I can put the head onto the CP 7150 and then it's like a real tool. That needle scaler is pretty awesome too, huge time saver if you deal with rust scale on a regular basis and love to annoy everyone working around you with loud tools.

[RevoltTrain]

14 hours ago, vinyldash303 said:

I like my 1/4" drive snap on ratchet that Grandad found at Goodwill

I've got a whole lot of old school craftsman stuff that's never been used before, older than I am.

 

When I get my house purchased I'm more than likely gonna go with a huge teng tools kit. Have a couple friends that have outfitted their shops with teng stuff and they've abused their tools to no end and not had anything snap yet

[vetali]

6 hours ago, Bitter said:

I've got a small assortment of Ajax bits and a few odd rivet sets that are useful for car work, angled or super short and flush. .498 isn't a size you get a lot of car bits for but they do make some suspension forks. I found a vendor in Michigan that had good prices on Ajax so I was buying through them, but I've heard good things about Old Forge also. Gray Pneumatic have a reputation of being butter soft with the bigger hammers, and 6x is a bigger hammer. South Main's 'big nasty' is a 5x with a crappy trigger that takes .498 bits. I bought me a CP 7150 so I'd have something that takes normal .410 bits in it, it's a 5x power wise but it's nice in that it takes the normal bits but the trigger sucks, no teasing it.

I've also got an old cheap crappy but still useful air hammer, one of those '$20 specials'. I hogged out some of the ports on it a few years back and it buzzes like a lady pleaser that just snorted a line of coke. I keep a needle scaler head on it for blasting rust scale off things like wheel hubs, beats grinding it off. If I need to blast heavy scale I can put the head onto the CP 7150 and then it's like a real tool. That needle scaler is pretty awesome too, huge time saver if you deal with rust scale on a regular basis and love to annoy everyone working around you with loud tools.

I use gray pneumatic sockets, but my duo 3/8s are getting pretty clapped out. I might go snap on next, but that will have to wait. Just went flat rate + new car payments started.... and my 2tb HDD went tits up randomly. aaaand my headphones are starting to sound like they have a blown driver. 

[Bitter]

1 hour ago, vetali said:

I use gray pneumatic sockets, but my duo 3/8s are getting pretty clapped out. I might go snap on next, but that will have to wait. Just went flat rate + new car payments started.... and my 2tb HDD went tits up randomly. aaaand my headphones are starting to sound like they have a blown driver. 

Their sockets might be OK, but when you're slamming almost 10ft/lb 2,000 times a minute you need a quality steel bit. Guy who used to work with me was all about his Sunnex sockets, they were identical to some Mac or Matco ones the boss has, and they're not expensive on Amazon at all. If I wasn't full up on sockets I'd get some for myself (and I may yet).

 

The tool I use a lot and absolutely love for ripping through work faster is my Astro 1128 air impact ratchet. It's small but mighty! Some people have issues with theirs switching forward and reverse on it's own, mine has done it a handful of times. There's a spring inside you can stretch a little to make it not do that but I haven't bothered to take it apart yet.

[Mr.Dingle]

[FuzzyYellow]

31 minutes ago, vinyldash303 said:

Fixed my DRLs today. What you all do?

In the process of replacing the Steering rack bushings on the Tundra. one is out, but the other one a washer rusted to the bushing sleeve and for the life of my I can't get it apart.

[vetali]

6 hours ago, Bitter said:

Their sockets might be OK, but when you're slamming almost 10ft/lb 2,000 times a minute you need a quality steel bit. Guy who used to work with me was all about his Sunnex sockets, they were identical to some Mac or Matco ones the boss has, and they're not expensive on Amazon at all. If I wasn't full up on sockets I'd get some for myself (and I may yet).

 

The tool I use a lot and absolutely love for ripping through work faster is my Astro 1128 air impact ratchet. It's small but mighty! Some people have issues with theirs switching forward and reverse on it's own, mine has done it a handful of times. There's a spring inside you can stretch a little to make it not do that but I haven't bothered to take it apart yet.

Yeah I don't use air anymore for impacts or ratchets. I have a mac impacting 1/4 ratchet but hardly use it because I hate air hoses now. 

[bcredeur97]

Did 55k mile service on my dads Audi. Apart from the supercharger belt... need a 16mm crows foot for the serpentine belt tool I have  

 

oh well guess I’ll do that on his next oil change lol.

 

everything else went well... spark plugs, air filter, bit of cleaning and lubricating. Cabin filter too

 

 

he managed to rip off one of the underbody covers on his last trip to New Orleans. Now I have to find it  last time I looked for one of those for his last A6 I couldn’t find one for some reason. Tho this time it’s a diff piece it’s on the drivers side right under/in front his door.

[chaozbandit]

 

[Bitter]

3 hours ago, vetali said:

Yeah I don't use air anymore for impacts or ratchets. I have a mac impacting 1/4 ratchet but hardly use it because I hate air hoses now. 

I haven't had the incentive to buy into batteries, there's no single battery system that would work ALL the tools and be a practical size. The 1/4 and 3/8 electric ratchets are just too big for my liking, even with the airhose attached that 1128 is TINY and packs over 50ftlbs of non knuckle smashing torque. I run a compact swivel on it so it gets into tight spots easily, even my 2135ti gets into smaller spots with one of those swivels. I also worry about the batteries dropping their capacity as they age and then by the time I need to replace one in 2-4 years they're discontinued and I need to buy a whole new setup OR they're so dang expensive that I'm better off spending $600 on a new setup than I am spending $400 on a pair of batteries.

[vetali]

1 hour ago, Bitter said:

I haven't had the incentive to buy into batteries, there's no single battery system that would work ALL the tools and be a practical size. The 1/4 and 3/8 electric ratchets are just too big for my liking, even with the airhose attached that 1128 is TINY and packs over 50ftlbs of non knuckle smashing torque. I run a compact swivel on it so it gets into tight spots easily, even my 2135ti gets into smaller spots with one of those swivels. I also worry about the batteries dropping their capacity as they age and then by the time I need to replace one in 2-4 years they're discontinued and I need to buy a whole new setup OR they're so dang expensive that I'm better off spending $600 on a new setup than I am spending $400 on a pair of batteries.

Milwaukee has been pretty damn good about backwards support. I got the snap on ratchet and 3/8 battery impacts. They're ok but holy shit the lights are trash, and they don't stay on after using the tool so you gotta constantly feather the trigger for the light. Makes inflator recalls pretty annoying. 

[FuzzyYellow]

17 minutes ago, vinyldash303 said:

:c

I ended up getting it out and the new poly bushings back in. One bolt won’t align properly, so I’ll have to get a longer bolt to thread the other way tomorrow. 

[arnavvr]

> never be able to own a home in this area.

[iDeFecZx]

17 minutes ago, arnavvr said:

> never be able to own a home in this area.

$9m for an average sized plot of land with a wall? Bargain

[arnavvr]

2 minutes ago, iDeFecZx said:

$9m for an average sized plot of land with a wall? Bargain

that's actually a pretty large sized lot for the area.

[iDeFecZx]

5 minutes ago, arnavvr said:

that's actually a pretty large sized lot for the area.

Still doesnt look like much land for $9 million

[arnavvr]

2 minutes ago, iDeFecZx said:

Still doesnt look like much land for $9 million

What about $40 million? https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Palo-Alto-CA/19496542_zpid/26374_rid/37.450383,-122.121363,37.409283,-122.159515_rect/14_zm/1_fr/