How large combo wrenches do shade tree mechanics have

[50yr Street Mech]

OMG ! Nice tool chest ! Need you to re-organize mine. It's a train wreck. I have to dig, and dig looking for stuff. I have crescent wrenches, somewhere buried. Never use them. I'm still using Craftsman 12 point sockets from 1984. They are a bit worn now, so the bad ones I replace with some tekton garbage off of Amazon. My 30 yr old Craftsman floor jack crapped the bed, finally. Replaced it with 2- double piston aluminum jacks. Still miss my old jack .......Sentimental reasons. A LOT of work got done with that old jack.

 

[Elkins45]

I had to buy a pair of big adjustables to tighten a compression fitting on a water line. A far as I can remember that’s the only time I ever used them.

 

[50yr Street Mech]

Hate when that happens, buy a tool and only use it a few times. Just takes up more space in the tool chest.

 

[JWC86]

Wrenches, 24mm in metric, I think 1 1/2 in SAE

Sockets, 32mm in metric, not sure in SAE, maybe 1 1/2 again.

 

[Astro14]

OMG ! Nice tool chest ! Need you to re-organize mine. It's a train wreck. I have to dig, and dig looking for stuff. I have crescent wrenches, somewhere buried. Never use them. I'm still using Craftsman 12 point sockets from 1984. They are a bit worn now, so the bad ones I replace with some tekton garbage off of Amazon. My 30 yr old Craftsman floor jack crapped the bed, finally. Replaced it with 2- double piston aluminum jacks. Still miss my old jack .......Sentimental reasons. A LOT of work got done with that old jack.

Thanks. I spent a fair amount of money on socket racks and organizers, cause I was tired of fishing around in a cluttered old box. During Covid, I was off work, and down in my shop nearly every day, doing some restoration on a 1975 Mercedes 450SL.

I spent quite a bit on tools, and on tool storage during that year.

That picture was taken about five years ago, and have since added quite a bit to the half inch drawer, but I have yet to actually need the three-quarter inch drive sockets, except when it comes to install installing oil seals on various engines. I bought the set for the 1932 Packard, because there are a couple of rather large bolts, particularly for the wheel bearings, and radiator support, if memory serves.

I don’t consider Tekton to be junk, though.

My experience with the brand is that the USA made tools are simply excellent, and even the Taiwanese made tools are really quite good. They represent a great value point. I have a lot of craftsman tools back when they were made in the USA, but the current craftsman line is a genuine disappointment.

My most recent Tekton purchase was this:

https://www.tekton.com/3-8-inch-drive-deep-6-point-flare-nut-crowfoot-wrench-set-rack-wcf92220

I got the full set - 8-27mm. They are made in the USA and they are great. My neighbor (shop neighbor) is a professional mechanic who works out of the same set-up that I have. He was doing O2 sensors on an Escalade, and he couldn’t get the right hand upstream one off, even with his Snap-On O2 sensor socket, which was slipping.

The 22mm Tekton fit perfectly, and popped it right off. He was impressed. I was impressed.

Nothing wrong with Tekton tools.

 

[Cherrybomb]

Before you spend lots of money on seldom used big wrenches and sockets,study a chart that shows sizes in .000 thousandth and compare metric to SAE.Many are real close and will work very well.I use a digital caliper and go from SAE to Metric to thousandth to help me figure out what will work.

 

[Astro14]

Some are really close, like 22mm and 7/8. Some aren’t. I prefer a precision fit - not an “eh, it’s good enough” fit.

 

[Chris142]

A lot of the AC lines I mess with are 1-1/4 and 1-1/16. I have up to that size both at work and at home.

 

[AZjeff]

Hate when that happens, buy a tool and only use it a few times. Just takes up more space in the tool chest.

And if you decide to get rid of it you'll need it within a week. My combos go to 1&1/2 inches, all above 7/8 inherited.

 

[Rust_Belt_Pete]

24mm for my ford flex.

 

[Tempest1]

HF had a clearance on their old Pittsburg 3/4" drive shallow socket set for a low price so I picked it up. Son acquired an 02 Tundra so figure it might come in handy some day.

I think the largest before that was 32mm from an old USA Craftsman set from back in the day.

 

[Rust_Belt_Pete]

Whats with all the SAE wrenches? Do yall fix steam locomotives and his majesties horse carriages ?

 

[RooflessVW]

Whats with all the SAE wrenches? Do yall fix steam locomotives and his majesties horse carriages ?

What

 

[Rust_Belt_Pete]

What

Just surprised how popular the SAE wrenches are.

 

[Astro14]

Just surprised how popular the SAE wrenches are.

How many metric fasteners do you think are on my 1932 car?

 

[Rust_Belt_Pete]

1932? Dont you just use rocks and sharpened sticks on something that old ?

 

[barbersurgeon]

For years my largest open end was either an adjustable wrench or a 24mm makita tool wrench I picked up from leftovers when working in highschool. Didn’t pinch it, asked permission and they said I could have it.

Earlier this year Lowe’s was closing out the kobalt 5 piece large wrench set in both the sae/metric variants. 1 3/8” and 32mm are the largest I think. Could have used them rebuilding the log splitter last summer. Have used a few wrenches out of each set already.

 

[Astro14]

1932? Dont you just use rocks and sharpened sticks on something that old ?

Sockets and ratchets were cutting edge back then. A wrench was more common.