Quality tools tight wads budget

[mtt.tr]

How rough, using a scaffold tube on a ratchet. A true professional would use a power bar and a longer scaffold tube!

**** or bust also broke my 3/4 breaker. It's why I bought a multiplier

 

[mtt.tr]

Expert level is linking two spanners together!

Not much winds me up as much as that!!

This really annoys me,

But true expert is using a chisel on large nuts

If I do anything hub related I order a nut before hand.

 

[James1979]

Number of hub caps I’ve taken off and the nut is just a chiselled mess

If you’re doing the same type of thing all the time it’s not that hard to buy or make a socket?!

 

[Mick Annick]

I don’t do that at all

Nope, me neither, never done that…

 

[Munkul]

Expert level is linking two spanners together!

Not much winds me up as much as that!!

I must be expert then

Thing is, if you have all the gear, long spanners, power bars etc, then you probably don't need cheap ratchets... but that's all you have, then they really should be able to take some abuse.

 

[Munkul]

This really annoys me,

But true expert is using a chisel on large nuts

If I do anything hub related I order a nut before hand.

yeah that's rough as

 

[SierraV6]

This is going to be a slightly controversial statement. But can save you money especially if you mainly work on older cars.

Good quality sae sockets and spanner’s can be used on their metric equivalent fasteners. Meaning you only have to fill in the gaps with metric spanner’s instead of a full set. You can go the other way as well but in my experience sae tends to work better on metric fasteners than metric on sae. The sae are generally slightly smaller a then the equivalent metric fastener, so ounce the tolerance on the fitting and spanner are taken into account means they will fit snugly on metric fittings. I know in a perfect world we would have an exact set of everything but dosent always work unfortunately, especially handy in portable kits as can save a lot of space a weight if both are needed. Most of the larger sizes 25mm plus bar 30mm are just direct equivalent of each other.

But doesn’t this mean you end up with LESS spanners? Or am I missing something?

There is going to be trouble, look what I have found:

Wrenches for Professionals and DIY Enthusiasts

Lightweight wrenches from ASAHI: up to 30% weight reduction thanks to clever cutouts – ideal for overhead work & daily tool use.

www.fine-tools.com

And I really like this idea:

Assembly Tools - Buy Online - Fast Shipping

Assembly tools for the workshop or DIY enthusiasts, available for online purchase with fast shipping

www.fine-tools.com

Pic for those that don't click:

I really don’t need those…. No really, I actually don’t need them…..

 

[Jack_K]

There is going to be trouble, look what I have found:

Wrenches for Professionals and DIY Enthusiasts

Lightweight wrenches from ASAHI: up to 30% weight reduction thanks to clever cutouts – ideal for overhead work & daily tool use.

www.fine-tools.com

And I really like this idea:

Assembly Tools - Buy Online - Fast Shipping

Assembly tools for the workshop or DIY enthusiasts, available for online purchase with fast shipping

www.fine-tools.com

Pic for those that don't click:

 

[Munkul]

Call me old fashioned, but I can't bear to use any adjustable that isn't a Bahco. Every single other adjustable seems to wear out faster, slip off nuts faster, and generally be a pain.

Bahcos aren't even that expensive these days. They're not quite as good as they used to be, but they're still very good.

 

[bricol]

Same philosophy here. If it's a tool I know I'll use at some point in time, I'd rather buy it when I can afford it, & have it sat there, than wait until I need it, & risk either not being able to afford it, else be stuck for doing the job until it arrives. Plus, I am a bit of a tool whore.

It's like the old saying: Better to have & not need, than to need & not have.

Once bought, they cost nothing other than space.

Yeah I did that . . .

Aged 17, I had a Renault 11 - to get the hinge pins out to get the doors off was a right pain, unless you had the right tool - which the breakers yard I bought non-dented doors from had . . . so when I saw the same tool in Machine Mart, I bought it . . .

35 years later, I have never used it . . . no other car I have owned has had the same method to attach the doors. . .

 

[Nick DV]

Call me old fashioned, but I can't bear to use any adjustable that isn't a Bahco. Every single other adjustable seems to wear out faster, slip off nuts faster, and generally be a pain.

Bahcos aren't even that expensive these days. They're not quite as good as they used to be, but they're still very good.

I'll second that

 

[Agrismith]

I must be expert then

Thing is, if you have all the gear, long spanners, power bars etc, then you probably don't need cheap ratchets... but that's all you have, then they really should be able to take some abuse.

Tbh if you have all that gear then you most likely have an impact gun aswell rendering most these things redundant.

 

[cheb]

The only adjustables I try to avoid are the ones with the reversible thread, whichever way you turn it it moves the jaws the wrong way.

So that's all of them then.

 

[Jack_K]

Call me old fashioned, but I can't bear to use any adjustable that isn't a Bahco. Every single other adjustable seems to wear out faster, slip off nuts faster, and generally be a pain.

Bahcos aren't even that expensive these days. They're not quite as good as they used to be, but they're still very good.

I avoid adjustables unless It is something I know is loose. I don't have any but Lobster are apparently very good, not sure in comparison to Bahco.

 

[cheb]

I've got a Stanley one that's a cross between an adjustable and a mole grip. Proper jaws like an adjustable but with a locking handle like a mole grip. Very handy when single handedly working on a fitting through a bulkhead.

 

[MetalMonkey]

Irega make quality adjustables at reasonable prices.
It is all they make, and they make them in their own factory in Spain.
They have a few interesting designs too.

That's where my money would (and did) go.

 

[MattF]

Call me old fashioned, but I can't bear to use any adjustable that isn't a Bahco. Every single other adjustable seems to wear out faster, slip off nuts faster, and generally be a pain.

Bahcos aren't even that expensive these days. They're not quite as good as they used to be, but they're still very good.

Same here. Old style Bahco, else none.

 

[addjunkie]

This really annoys me,

But true expert is using a chisel on large nuts

If I do anything hub related I order a nut before hand.

When I were a lad, long before @Robbie260 was a semen stain, I went to sea. It was an old ship pre hydraulic tensioned heads, xheads etc. Every nut was done with either just a hammer, or a hammer and flogger. Only thing that was hi tech was a special head socket as you couldnt get in to swing the hammer. This was a great big socket, welded to an extension with a 2m T bar. The correct torque was achieved with two men-according to the book.

We only resorted to the chisel when the heads were too mashed to use just a hammer. Then we just used to split them!

 

[Robbie260]

When I were a lad, long before @Robbie260 was a semen stain, I went to sea. It was an old ship pre hydraulic tensioned heads, xheads etc. Every nut was done with either just a hammer, or a hammer and flogger. Only thing that was hi tech was a special head socket as you couldnt get in to swing the hammer. This was a great big socket, welded to an extension with a 2m T bar. The correct torque was achieved with two men-according to the book.

We only resorted to the chisel when the heads were too mashed to use just a hammer. Then we just used to split them!

Still have a emergency slogging spannner on the wartzila engines.

 

[knighty]

talking of using long bars on things

I ned a mincer worm snap it's pin... think of something like this,,,

but much bigger, ours is 73hp and made to mince frozen meat and bones etc.


ordered a new pin, a bit of confusion because the base of the mincer is standard but they everyhting else is custom to the customer they;re supplying (I bought it used)

supplier told me I'd be very lucky if I managed to get the pin out, most of the time they can't even get them out themselves


so I bolted a big vice to the floor, attacked it with the oxy acetylene, a 3ft set of stilsons and a long bar

it was red hot but wouldn't shift... kept checking I was turning it the right way and it wasn;t a left hand thread... I was sure I was right

so I got a full length scaffy bar on it... idk how long they are, 3m? ... all my 14 stone hanging on the end of it wouldn't shift it

one of the drivers got back so I got him to help me, him (16stone?) on the end of the scaffy bar it while I attacked it with a sledgehammer thinking it would shock it off... wouldn't budge

two of us on the end of the scaffy bar and a 3rd guy hitting it with a hammer and it wouldn't shift


I was sure I was turning it the right way but decided to tro the other way just in case...

as I was moving the stilsons it moved a bit!!!!


it wasn't screwed in at all... it was a square peg pressed into a hole :-o


luckily all the heat and twisting I put into it deformed it and it came out pretty easy after that :-)