Tools Q

[Micrashed]

With the exception of a couple of King Dick ratchets that I inherited off my father I have a hit and miss selection of rather shite tools.

 

Number 1 son is progressing well through college doing his Mechanikerry course and has asked for some tools of his own ( the Mav seems to have kindled his interest a little bit there). As I have the mechanical nounce of a concussed bumblebee I would appreciate some suggestions for a starter tool kit.

[messerschmitt owner]

Halfords Professional kit - wait till it's half price but the 170 piece one is good value at £125.

 

Just looked and they're half price at the moment. There's a 200 item set too at £150

[ruffgeezer]

halfords pro stuff is pretty good, especially if you go in with a trade card.

 

I've got a halfords roll cab here, it's quite scruffy but plenty of storage, 100 quid would do the trick.

[The Moog]

Halfords pro kit... Bigger better. Does me for most things. Lifetime warranty as well

[ruffgeezer]

Also, I have a ton of tools to sort through. perhaps I could spec out a starter kit to your budget?

[overrun]

Halfords Pro or Advanced will do him for now, but imo each new revision and it gets becomes lower in quality and options/fitment/sizes etc.

 

The socket sets are always half price! Paying full whack is like buying an SCS three piece when there isn't a sale on - impossible!

[cort16]

I agree with the halfords pro kit I got the middle kit and it's rare I come a cross something I need to do it can't accommodate .

[HH-R]

I've got a nice Halfords Advanced (or professional, I can't remember) socket set but I never use it. It has two major flaws - on my cars I normally find things like the spark plug socket is too thick to get in the hole! I end up using a cheapy set I got from Argos instead. The second annoyance is that on every tool set in the world that is in a carry case, half of the handle is on each side so when the case is closed it makes a full handle. The stuff doesn't fall out if you pick it up without closing the clasps. The Halfords set only has the handle on the bottom so the amount of times I've closed the lid and picked the box up to move it a few feet and the entire contents have gone all over the street...

[catsinthewelder]

I really rate my Halfords pro swivel head ratchet,  it's taken a lot of abuse and still works well.  I like my Laser sockets more than Halfords though as they're single hex.

[overrun]

I've got a nice Halfords Advanced (or professional, I can't remember) socket set but I never use it. It has two major flaws - on my cars I normally find things like the spark plug socket is too thick to get in the hole! I end up using a cheapy set I got from Argos instead. The second annoyance is that on every tool set in the world that is in a carry case, half of the handle is on each side so when the case is closed it makes a full handle. The stuff doesn't fall out if you pick it up without closing the clasps. The Halfords set only has the handle on the bottom so the amount of times I've closed the lid and picked the box up to move it a few feet and the entire contents have gone all over the street...

My 'mk1' 150pc Halfords Pro set has handle on both sides. Case has split at the hinge once, so am on a NOS item now, with 'mk2' metal claps instead.

 

Best combo of box, tools and clasps.

[stuboy]

can complain about 170 piece halfords set, get a decent knuckle bar too

[New POD]

Costco have a decent set for just about £100 once you add the VAT. Make sure he keeps all receipts, and offset it against tax in his first paid job.

 

Personally, I gradually have built up a pile of tools, over the years, buying as and when I need, but you can never have too many 13 mm sockets in my opinion. They seem to hide when you need them.

[HillmanImp]

Halfrauds kit too. My box is plastic clasps though....Defo get metal if you can mine is shit.

 

Volksy actually bent his strongbar doing some shit to the Renault Mastervan he had at the time. Took it back, straight swap for a brand new one that is currently in my garage as i am a thieving cnut. 

[purplebargeken]

Another vote for Halfrauds.

[forddeliveryboy]

Yep, Halfpro are decent, although I bought a set of 5 or 6 ratcheted, hinged spanners last year at Aldi and they're proving very tough and long-lasting. Weren't much over a tenner, either. On the other hand their steel toecap wellies are total crap, the 'rubber' splits like wet paper.

[MrDuke]

Aye, Hellfrauds for me too, although mine does have one or two annoying omissions (11mm spanner, socket drive adapters) but it's still damn good quality kit for the price.

[overrun]

Costco have a decent set for just about £100 once you add the VAT. Make sure he keeps all receipts, and offset it against tax in his first paid job.Personally, I gradually have built up a pile of tools, over the years, buying as and when I need, but you can never have too many 13 mm sockets in my opinion. They seem to hide when you need them.

Crescent set? Mate has on. Lovely 72 tooth ratchets.

[overrun]

Aye, Hellfrauds for me too, although mine does have one or two annoying omissions (11mm spanner, socket drive adapters) but it's still damn good quality kit for the price.

Good point. I added a pair of drive adapters to mine.

[gordonbennet]

Unless son is going to work on shiters, i suggest avoiding buying socket or spanner kits that have imperial sizes in them, imperials will only get used once in a blue moon, if ever, with a young bloke starting out as a pro mechanic and take up space and add unused weight.

 

He's going to be using them far more than most of us, so don't buy crap (not suggesting you would, but Chinese shit isn't always obvious), they won't last 5 minutes and his peers who fall for the wooing of the Snap On sales geezer (and sign themselves up for £5k on the never never) will take the piss....some of these young uns will still be in named trainers so you know what they're like.

 

Fewer but better would be my suggestion.

 

Most used items are socket ratchet drivers, these are the backbone of a tool kit and should be as good as you can buy, 1/2 and 3/8 drive will be the mainstay for car work,  i seldom use any 1/4 drive they can't take much torque.

 

If poss buy 6 sided sockets, i don't have Halfords pro so haven't a clue if they come in 6 siders.

Set of impact sockets, the black ones, these are made to take abuse and will not slip once on, invaluable for suspension work and rusted bolts.

Set of standard deep sockets.

Set of torx sockets and Allen sockets, and a set of good torx screwdrivers.

Various extensions and universals.

 

He'll need bloody good standard screwdrivers, and a good set of standard ring (not too deep) and combination spanners, going up to 24 mm at least, open ended both ends not necessarily but will probably come in a good value tool roll spanner set.

Impact driver kit, the small hand held ones you hit with a hammer, these are invaluable for stubborn screws on brake discs and other stupid ideas like those.

Set  of drifts and cold chisels, better he use these as scrapers than screwdrivers.

Selection of hammers, including a decent reasonable length lump hammer.

Pliers, and some decent large and extra large water pump pliers, mole grips of varying sizes.

Couple of large adjustables.

Stillsons.

Brake pipe spanners.

Brake pipe clamp.

Torque wrench.

Oil filter wrench's, chain wrench with 1/2" square socket fitting for standard ratchet is best of all IMO for versatility.

Rechargeable inspection lights, and a serious sturdy self supporting torch.

 

Long magnetic pick up tool for retrieving those bloody odd and ends that fall into the most inaccesable places.

 

Couple of good car tyre levers, invaluable for pushing suspension parts apart when needed.

 

Ratchet spanners are handy but look more handy than they are, you won't use them to shift tight bolts that would be silly, i have a set and when needed they are invaluable but only used rarely, deffo one for a half price bargain offer.

 

Specialist tools should be supplied where he works, and will depend on what branch he goes into.

 

If he's going into working from home, and i suggest this anyway as a birthday present, get him a proper pro quality trolley jack made by Weber or similar.

[Micrashed]

Unless son is going to work on shiters, i suggest avoiding buying socket or spanner kits that have imperial sizes in them, imperials will only get used once in a blue moon, if ever, with a young bloke starting out as a pro mechanic and take up space and add unused weight.

 

He's going to be using them far more than most of us, so don't buy crap (not suggesting you would, but Chinese shit isn't always obvious), they won't last 5 minutes and his peers who fall for the wooing of the Snap On sales geezer (and sign themselves up for £5k on the never never) will take the piss....some of these young uns will still be in named trainers so you know what they're like.

 

Fewer but better would be my suggestion.

 

Most used items are socket ratchet drivers, these are the backbone of a tool kit and should be as good as you can buy, 1/2 and 3/8 drive will be the mainstay for car work,  i seldom use any 1/4 drive they can't take much torque.

 

If poss buy 6 sided sockets, i don't have Halfords pro so haven't a clue if they come in 6 siders.

Set of impact sockets, the black ones, these are made to take abuse and will not slip once on, invaluable for suspension work and rusted bolts.

Set of standard deep sockets.

Set of torx sockets and Allen sockets, and a set of good torx screwdrivers.

 

He'll need bloody good standard screwdrivers, and a good set of standard ring (not too deep) and combination spanners, going up to 24 mm at least, open ended both ends not necessarily but will probably come in a good value tool roll spanner set.

Impact driver kit, the small hand held ones you hit with a hammer, these are invaluable for stubborn screws on brake discs and other stupid ideas like those.

Set  of drifts and cold chisels, better he use these as scrapers than screwdrivers.

Selection of hammers, including a decent reasonable length lump hammer.

Pliers, and some decent large and extra large water pump pliers, mole grips of varying sizes.

Couple of large adjustables.

Stillsons.

Brake pipe spanners.

Brake pipe clamp.

Torque wrench.

Oil filter wrench's, chain wrench with 1/2" square socket fitting for standard ratchet is best of all IMO for versatility.

 

Ratchet spanners are handy but look more handy than they are, you won't use them to shift tight bolts that would be silly, i have a set and when needed they are invaluable but only used rarely, deffo one for a half price bargain offer.

Cheers Gordon, pretty much what I needed to know really.

 

I already have a couple of good (King Dick)  half and three quarter ratchet drives which seem to take almost any abuse thrown at them, and a good set of Draper impact sockets, its juts knowing what to build up for him really as most of my stuff (thrown into a big tool bag) is cheapo shite, unorganised and probably not what he needs anyway. I agree about 13mil sockets though. I never seem to have any despite buying loads.

[gordonbennet]

I've edited with a few more bits added, Christ where do you stop, i can't find half my kit when i need it, my garage looks like a bloody bombs been let off in the bugger.

 

3/4 drives are bloody good, daresay he'll nick those off you and buy himself an adaptor for his 1/2" sockets in time.

 

Course if he goes into lorry work, that a whole new ball game..

[alf892]

Good suggestions here.........I would just add that for some bits Snap On is worth buying. I'm not suggesting he sign up for the dreaded 'revolving' credit' thing but some stuff they do is good. I worked at Austin Rover when Montego/Maestro was current and the wobble drive bit for the VW drive shaft bolts was the only make to consistently do the job.

He will find instances like this as he goes along. Always worth buying the odd second hand quality kit as well......very useful when you need to create a 'special' but don't want to heat up and bend a good one!

Blue Point were doing a very nice set with std and deep metrics with a selection of allen and torx bits incuding ratchet and extensions around the 100 quid mark which was good value.

[twosmoke300]

+1 for getting some secondhand tools at car boots etc. Always good as donor tools as alf said.

 

I managed to get a mint set of 24 inch record stilsons for 4 quid last weekend. I always maintain that old quality is better than new rubbish. (cars or tools )

 

As a mechanic I do have some snapon stuff and it is bloody good stuff but some tools just dont need to be that strong/ good. Avoid newer britool ratchets and the halfords extensions with the release button on them.

 

The snap on / bluepoint set that alf mentioned is available as 1/4 and 3/8 drive and is very handy. I have the 1/4 drive set and its my go-to tool for scrap yard runs and interior work cos its got all the bits etc .

[Ratdat]

I have lot of Snap-On from when I worked in the trade but I would never buy any more now. Some of it is very high quality but it's simply too expensive. These days, I also tend to keep a look out for stuff at car boot sales. It's amazing what you can get and it costs pennies. The last one I went to yielded three very nice Gedore screwdrivers for a quid. It's also a good source of specialized tools like valve spring compressors and hub pullers.

 

As twosmoke says, the proper old stuff is usually well made and will last. You tend to find a lot of old ex-military tools, a lot of which can be 50 or 60 years old and still in perfect working order. I recently bought this lovely old late 50's battery charger for £2. It works perfectly...

 

[alf892]

Sadly new Britool is shit. It was bloody good......easily as good as Snap On and with the mug tax.

 

I bought a set of Britool combo spanners in af (1/4 up to 1") and metric about 30 years ago when I had an unexpected tax rebate (and no wife). Also got a set of kamasa to hold the other side. They are bloody good too.

 

Still got both.

[mat_the_cat]

Maybe a good idea would be to buy a set of reasonable quality but not top-priced tools, and then upgrade anything that breaks out to top quality stuff. That way he's only spending top money on the stuff that's used the most.

[Micrashed]

The annoying thing there is I got rid of a lot of very good quality but specialist stuff when my father died 5 years ago. He had been an engineer all his life and had some specialist kit including stuff he had fabricated himself at work (BAC).

 

At the time my lad wasnt into anything other than dyson vaccum cleaners and I was ( and still am) a mechanical numpty. Plus I didnt really have anywhere to stow it all anyway.

[ruffgeezer]

I know I've got a spare small 3/8" socket set from halfords, and probably a complete set of common spanners, but if you are in the trade, unless you are within a mile of Halfords, I'd get snapon torx sockets and ratchets, as he will end up breaking them, and the snapon guy does not quibble when it comes to replacement. He doesn't have to buy new snapon ones!

 

Just for your info, here are just 2 drawers worth from my work box:

 

 

 

[Ratdat]

A perfect example of how useful (and cheap!) car boot sales are for tools and equipement... this mornings acquisitions. A perfectly functional Durite battery drop tester for a quid...

 

 

 

...and the perfect thing for doing my zinc plating, a regulated adjustable power supply for a fiver. Works perfectly!

 

[RoadworkUK]

A perfect example of how useful (and cheap!) car boot sales are for tools and equipement... this mornings acquisitions. A perfectly functional Durite battery drop tester for a quid...and the perfect thing for doing my zinc plating, a regulated adjustable power supply for a fiver. Works perfectly!

 

 

My god, what on earth car boot sales do you go to? Did you pick up any old Ming dynasty vases or undiscovered Picassos?