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As a not quite car-savvy person who is attempting to learn basic car maintenance, is there a general basic tool set you can point me towards, or is one of the harbor freight tool sets my best bet?
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Oct 1, 2013 00:13
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| # ? May 25, 2024 01:30 |
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Phone posted:As promised! Despite having "Central" in the name, it's not actually a Harbor Freight item. Here you are: http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B0051XRS24/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_1?ie=UTF8&index=1 Good eye anyways. That finale was fantastic.
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Oct 1, 2013 00:28
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RoyalScion posted:As a not quite car-savvy person who is attempting to learn basic car maintenance, is there a general basic tool set you can point me towards, or is one of the harbor freight tool sets my best bet? When I started out, I already had a basic tool box, hammer, and screw driver set. I got a set of sockets, a set of box wrenches, a pair of vice grips, a socket wrench, and a torque wrench. I splurged (Proto) on the socket wrench and torque wrench because I knew I'd be using them a lot. Everything else I picked up at Sears because it was close, reasonable quality, and had a lifetime replacement warranty. From there, I bought tools as I needed them. I generally don't look at tool sets, but usually the ones I see either seem to be missing something obvious, or are 300 piece, $250 massive kits that seem to have 3 of everything.
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Oct 1, 2013 00:28
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Uthor posted:Fyi, a local circular has a coupon for any of the HF torque wrenches for $10 each. Might go and grab a set for myself. I can probably snag the details if anyone wants to place an online order. There's a full page spread of coupons in the back of most car/motorcycle/handyman/pop-sci magazines. That $10 torque wrench coupon is there like half the time. My wife keeps a stack of the ads clipped to the fridge sorted by expiration. So many drat free flashlights in this house.
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Oct 1, 2013 01:17
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I got a 12v bosch drill and impact as a gift. How poo poo would the 12v sawzall be? I'd be doing sheet rock and plywood cuts in a trailer home, maybe pvc.
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Oct 1, 2013 01:31
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eddiewalker posted:There's a full page spread of coupons in the back of most car/motorcycle/handyman/pop-sci magazines. That $10 torque wrench coupon is there like half the time. My wife keeps a stack of the ads clipped to the fridge sorted by expiration. So many drat free flashlights in this house. I haven't see the torque wrench sale before, but don't generally pay attention to the flyers. Totally getting the free flashlight when I go there even though I recently got a $3 Amazon flashlight that is infinitely better than any HF flashlight I've used.
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Oct 1, 2013 02:07
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Christobevii3 posted:I got a 12v bosch drill and impact as a gift. How poo poo would the 12v sawzall be? I'd be doing sheet rock and plywood cuts in a trailer home, maybe pvc. It will work perfectly for that. But don't expect to cut a shitload of steel or anything like that. The occasional nail? Yeah it will zip through that like butter.
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Oct 1, 2013 05:06
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Motronic posted:You should really have both, as well as an inch-pound 1/4 for general work. But if your main concern is lug nuts, yes...get the 1/2" first. A 3/8" will not typically go high enough for lug nuts and things like crank bolts. This...although it should be mentioned that the HF 1/2" torque wrench only goes up to 150 ft-lb, which is good for most things but if you plan on doing anything requiring more than that in the future (things like crank bolts, axle nuts, etc) it would be a good idea to get something more capable in the first place. I have a full set of the HF wrenches, but had to buy a stronger 1/2" when I needed to do something the HF one couldn't handle. I ended up with this Mountain one which will do 250 ft-lb and isn't super expensive either. Definitely get the smaller ones for more precise work though. The HF ones are well worth the $10/each. Black88GTA fucked around with this message at 06:11 on Oct 1, 2013 |
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Oct 1, 2013 06:09
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eddiewalker posted:There's a full page spread of coupons in the back of most car/motorcycle/handyman/pop-sci magazines. That $10 torque wrench coupon is there like half the time. My wife keeps a stack of the ads clipped to the fridge sorted by expiration. So many drat free flashlights in this house. http://slickdeals.net/f/1276399-harbor-freight-coupon-thread That linked slickdeals thread is pretty good for finding the best HF coupons. For whatever reason, a lot of the mailed circulars and magazine coupons aren't the best deals they offer(they're usually beat by 5-10%).
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Oct 3, 2013 01:26
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RoyalScion posted:As a not quite car-savvy person who is attempting to learn basic car maintenance, is there a general basic tool set you can point me towards, or is one of the harbor freight tool sets my best bet? As already said, tool sets aren't usually a good deal. Most of the less mechanical tools from Harbor freight are pretty decent. You can get a cheap socket set from them and some of their ratchets are ok. I have a couple I have been using for a few years now. Just get what you need for the job at hand and slowly build up from there. If you start with changing the oil you can get a decent jack and some jack stands. Then just get either a metric or sae socket set depending on the vehicle. After that you will need something to collect the oil in.
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Oct 7, 2013 05:23
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plscks posted:The shop really should buy them, but my old service manager was a bum and only got us things that were mandatory for him to get us. And I was oiling them, but not nearly at the frequency that I should have been, I speculate that that caused the malfunctions, but hopefully the inline oiler will solve that problem with my latest one. I also don't press on it at all, that tends to deform the frames and that's no good if I find a hole and we have to warranty a frame, if they see that sort of abuse and damage then we get stuck buying one and I most probably lose my job. Maybe late but when I worked at sea every ship seemed to use IR needle guns. Crap tools can't be exchanged for months so the cream rises quick.
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Oct 9, 2013 02:57
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What's the general consensus on buying precision measuring tools from eBay? I just bought a 6" Mitutoyo dial caliper from a dude with 100% feedback and 3500+ transactions. All of his other auctions are other machinist tools so I'm guessing that's what he deals in. Overall I'm feeling pretty good about it, but wanted everyone else's opinion.
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Oct 9, 2013 18:45
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If you're worried about it send it off to get calibrated, it's not particularly expensive.
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Oct 9, 2013 19:11
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Has anyone tried one of those useless looking Harbor Freight defrosters? The folks' rear window defroster flaked, and they refused to let me check out the grid over the summer months to look for breaks, because, you know, no need - and now we're in the many-moons-of-freezing territory.
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Oct 9, 2013 19:31
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Noxious posted:As already said, tool sets aren't usually a good deal. Most of the less mechanical tools from Harbor freight are pretty decent. You can get a cheap socket set from them and some of their ratchets are ok. I have a couple I have been using for a few years now. Just get what you need for the job at hand and slowly build up from there. If you start with changing the oil you can get a decent jack and some jack stands. Then just get either a metric or sae socket set depending on the vehicle. After that you will need something to collect the oil in. Yep. My Chinese tool set is sort of the base of my tools. Mind you it was made many moons ago when the Chinese tools were reasonably strong. Anything I've needed better of has been replaced. Anything else has been added. I've got a smallish but overflowing tool chest, tool boxes etc. full of things I've needed over the years. If it's something specific like a socket, spanner or whatever I buy reputable brands. The Chinese stuff is the gap filler for all those times when I need something which is a different size to every other bolt on the car or that sort of thing. My ratchets except for my 3/4" one are cheap and I hate them. I've knocked a few of the directional thingies off them in tight spaces and stripped the ratchet on a few too. If an opportunity presents grab decent ratchets and breakers, even if it's on an as-needed basis.
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Oct 9, 2013 22:20
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General_Failure posted:Mind you it was made many moons ago when the Chinese tools were reasonably strong. Look at how wrong you are. If anything, Chinesium has been improving in quality. A decade ago I quite literally picked up a "china drop forged" wrench I saw in a stock bin at a bargain house, noticed it was bent, and bent it back - with my bare hands.
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Oct 9, 2013 22:29
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Didn't say what it was drop forged out of 
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Oct 9, 2013 23:06
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kastein posted:Look at how wrong you are. Ha! I have a "drop forged" shifter I was forced to buy for ...oh goddamnit, for a battery replacement in a carpark for the Fairlane a couple of years back. Just leave it. It did the job barely. It was clearly cast from a mould made from an actual drop forged Chinese shifter. There is some really sketchy quality stuff out there. I've never encountered a wrench like the one you saw. Pretty much all my Chinese made stuff from 15-20 years ago is still going strong except for ratchets, and a 12mm spanner that got broken when my brother in law stood on it while it was on a tie rod end on the ground to try and unjam it.
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Oct 9, 2013 23:15
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fps_bill posted:What's the general consensus on buying precision measuring tools from eBay? I just bought a 6" Mitutoyo dial caliper from a dude with 100% feedback and 3500+ transactions. All of his other auctions are other machinist tools so I'm guessing that's what he deals in. Overall I'm feeling pretty good about it, but wanted everyone else's opinion. I've bought nearly all my measurement tools off ebay. You can save a ton of money for relatively low risk. For new or like new, name brand tools it's tough to go wrong. Assuming they aren't worn out or damaged, some old tools can be better than new ones. These calipers are really tough to beat on price and quality. Unless you get them wet, digital are more durable than dial calipers.
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Oct 10, 2013 01:13
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Are Sealey a reasonable name in budget tool chests? I'm thinking an AP2200BB combo for £100 looks good value, even if I have to rip the utility room apart to fit it it'll be better than the ragtag assortment of toolboxes and plastic boxes I have now.
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Oct 14, 2013 12:06
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West SAAB Story posted:Has anyone tried one of those useless looking Harbor Freight defrosters? The folks' rear window defroster flaked, and they refused to let me check out the grid over the summer months to look for breaks, because, you know, no need - and now we're in the many-moons-of-freezing territory. No matter how good/bad it is - the maximum it can use from a car's cigarette lighter is about 150W. That's if your lighter is fused at 15amps. That outlet is meant to light a cigarette, not defrost a window!
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Oct 14, 2013 14:07
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Those kinds of things are useless at actually de-icing, but if you have a car that takes a long time to warm up or has a particularly ineffective heater, they can blow enough warm air into the flow from the demister vent to help clear the fogginess on the inside of the glass a bit faster.Cakefool posted:Are Sealey a reasonable name in budget tool chests? I'm thinking an AP2200BB combo for £100 looks good value, even if I have to rip the utility room apart to fit it it'll be better than the ragtag assortment of toolboxes and plastic boxes I have now.
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Oct 14, 2013 15:23
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Is there a standard-ish trolley jack  types would recommend?I'm currently using a VW scissor jack, dads old axle stands and the power of prayer. I was just going to get a Halfords 2 ton trolley jack, based partly on this auto express test and partly on it's a 10 minute drive to get one. I just want to do brake pads and other basic maintenance on an '03 Polio tdi without injury. Any input welcomed 
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Oct 14, 2013 16:03
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Knobjockey posted:'03 Polio tdi Nice I've got one of those cheap red 2-ton jacks that are about £25, the one with the black wheels and the yellow plastic carrying handle. Hasn't let me down yet. One of these:  At some stores, they're blue with a 1-ton capacity instead, but it's the same jack.
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Oct 14, 2013 16:27
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It's cute like a Tonka truck.
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Oct 14, 2013 16:33
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Knobjockey posted:Is there a standard-ish trolley jack If you're on a tight budget, I'd drop twenty on this Machine Mart jack (it's about another fiver if you need it in a carrying case) and the same again on these axle stands. Machine Mart/Clarke stuff is often toward the budget end of the market, but it works, it's usually cheap, and if you sign up for promotions with them you'll get VAT-free offers every now and then. Halfords' pro sockets/spanners are great, though, if you buy one of the big sets when they're on half-price sale, can't beat them for the money.
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Oct 14, 2013 16:35
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Thank you very much gentlemen, I appreciate the advice.
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Oct 14, 2013 17:02
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0toShifty posted:No matter how good/bad it is - the maximum it can use from a car's cigarette lighter is about 150W. That's if your lighter is fused at 15amps. That outlet is meant to light a cigarette, not defrost a window! Doesn't really matter, being harbor freight, it just doesn't work.
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Oct 14, 2013 21:09
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I've had halfords replace broken tools years after I bought them, they're like Harbor freight or craftsman sorta. I was honest about it too.
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Oct 14, 2013 21:28
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Cakefool posted:I've had halfords replace broken tools years after I bought them, they're like Harbor freight or craftsman sorta. Harbor Freight has lifetime warranties on hand tools. They'll still break, but they will replace them. Its anything that isn't a hand tool that you need to worry about. Folks picked one up, open box. Shocking, I know - it didn't work! 
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Oct 14, 2013 21:30
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I don't know what brand is the best (my set is Craftsman, and work OK), but those hammer-on spiral fluted rounded-bolt removers work wonders. I removed a bunch of BMW lug bolts today that laughed at a friend's Milwaukee cordless impact, then rounded when a breaker bar and cheater pipe were applied. Popped em right off with the hammer-on bolt remover, the appropriate socket to go over it, my 3/4" breaker bar, and 4 feet of pipe.
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Oct 14, 2013 21:43
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kastein posted:I don't know what brand is the best (my set is Craftsman, and work OK), but those hammer-on spiral fluted rounded-bolt removers work wonders. I was an idiot that lost the lock socket for my wheel locks, and this Craftsman lug-out set worked wonders to remove the lock nuts. I didn't even need a big cheater pipe, just a decent 1/2" breaker bar and the locks popped right off in seconds. No way would I ever assume wheel locks (at least external spline locks) are actually worth a drat after using this socket set.
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Oct 14, 2013 21:58
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Cakefool posted:I've had halfords replace broken tools years after I bought them, they're like Harbor freight or craftsman sorta. I believe Halfords insist that you have the original receipt now. That's the thermally printed receipt with a lifespan of 2-5 years before it fades - so don't forget to photocopy it. Their Pro stuff is pretty drat good - which is odd as their cheap stuff is really lovely.
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Oct 14, 2013 22:08
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spog posted:I believe Halfords insist that you have the original receipt now. I got a replacement for a 1/2" drive torx socket a few weeks back, it was stamped as a 45 but both it and the 40 had 40's in. I straight out said I bought it a year or so back and don't have a receipt. Maybe that was a one-off but I get the impression most of the staff care enough to help but not enough to enforce stuff like that. Contrast that to b&q (I had vouchers) I had a flex-head ratchet spanner disintegrate after 2 bolts, youth at the counter tried to convince me that size wasn't common so what was the big deal.
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Oct 14, 2013 22:19
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Cakefool posted:Are Sealey a reasonable name in budget tool chests? I'm thinking an AP2200BB combo for £100 looks good value, even if I have to rip the utility room apart to fit it it'll be better than the ragtag assortment of toolboxes and plastic boxes I have now. Sealey tools seem pretty good. I'd rate them about level with the halford's pro stuff in my experience. Thats a reasonable price for a box combo, but see if you can find one to inspect and see how the drawers feel. My dad has a cheap halfords one and it feels really flimsy compared to my clarke one (which isn't even the posh one with ball bearing slides which feels even more solid!). I would also look at one with more drawers in. I have this one and those top 6 1/3rd drawers are great for keeping things organised - I want more of them than the full width drawers! (If you decide you want a clarke one I have a VAT free voucher for this weekend if you want to drive up to Stoke to collect it) Tomarse fucked around with this message at 08:48 on Oct 15, 2013 |
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Oct 15, 2013 08:23
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I have the Aldi version of This clarke air chisel. Does anybody know if the cheap needle scaler attachements (like this one on ebay will fit onto it? It looks like it will and for £15 I'm tempted to try anyway! I want to clear the rust off the 8 spoke wheels on my landy and I think this will get right in the joints where the rust is.
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Oct 15, 2013 08:53
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Looks like the HF IR thermometer is $26 on sale with coupon, are these any good? I know anything electrical/electronic is to be avoided from HF, but I don't really want to drop trou on a Fluke or something. For that price maybe it's OK?
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Oct 15, 2013 22:04
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Tomarse posted:(If you decide you want a clarke one I have a VAT free voucher for this weekend if you want to drive up to Stoke to collect it) Thanks but this weekend is sort out wife's new car time.
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Oct 15, 2013 22:34
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Raluek posted:Looks like the HF IR thermometer is $26 on sale with coupon, are these any good? I know anything electrical/electronic is to be avoided from HF, but I don't really want to drop trou on a Fluke or something. For that price maybe it's OK? Mines lasted a long time, with a lot of extra use as a laser pointer for the dog to chase. No idea how accurate it is, but it's close enough for anything I've needed.
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Oct 16, 2013 00:53
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| # ? May 25, 2024 01:30 |
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eddiewalker posted:Mines lasted a long time, with a lot of extra use as a laser pointer for the dog to chase. No idea how accurate it is, but it's close enough for anything I've needed. It will depend on what youre measuring. Unless it self-calibrates for different emissivities it wont be very accurate and anything that is highly reflective in the IR range will be really inaccurate. Basically all IR thermometers suck at measuring the temp of polished aluminum.
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Oct 16, 2013 16:18
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