What Are Your Most Favorite Maintenance Tools?
- Thread starter Gebo
- Start date
Loctite. It ain't coming off until I say it's coming off. 
Cordless power tools. I never knew I needed a 1/4 long neck electric ratchet until I had one, same with a compact 3/8 electric impact. 3/8 impact swivel sockets go with that as well.
Torque wrenches, and Ryobi cordless impact driver.
5 isn't enough. I'll take (5) 5-packs please
AutoMechanic
Site Donor 2025
Oil plug puller. Especially when the car is hot. Finger saver for sure in that case. My coworker bought one then everyone in the shop had one in the same week and same brand too so we all had to write our initials on ours lol 
. The only drain plugs it won’t work on is the plastic ones of course but of course being a Subaru tech I don’t run into that much.
. The only drain plugs it won’t work on is the plastic ones of course but of course being a Subaru tech I don’t run into that much.I mean honestly, headlamp. It's kind of weird that for so many years people used handheld flashlights and only coal miners used headlamps. It's not like we needed some kind of technical revolution or something. We just all voluntarily sacrificed the use of one hand for like a century or so before we all finally got around to strapping lights to our heads, where they belonged from the beginning.
Think back 30 years ago, how many of you worked on a broken-down car with a friend holding a flashlight for you? In retrospect that's absurd!
Think back 30 years ago, how many of you worked on a broken-down car with a friend holding a flashlight for you? In retrospect that's absurd!
Naa you're more of a triple square guys.
QuickJack
Tire mounter/ balancer
welder
Youtube
Basically I like being able to fab instead of replace, and to do work that others feel they can't. If I could do windshields too that would be great. Youtube is fabulous for getting psyched and seeing a car as rusty as mine cause struggles for someone else first.
Tire mounter/ balancer
welder
Youtube
Basically I like being able to fab instead of replace, and to do work that others feel they can't. If I could do windshields too that would be great. Youtube is fabulous for getting psyched and seeing a car as rusty as mine cause struggles for someone else first.
4WD
$50 site donor 2025
I wear ball caps allot anyway - so those clip on LED’s are really awesome …
Vice grips have never done much more than mangle things for me. They're just a step that adds frustration before moving on to something that works.
Carbide aka Acetylene lamps that fit on a helmet go back about a century. Effective, but a bit of a fire, or gasoline explosion risk when working with Autos.
I remember holding, or asking someone to hold, a flashlight 30 years ago... on the side of the road. In my workshop we always had trouble lamps (2 of them) with a 60W rough service bulb, also a fine source of heat in Winter months.
Now I use a LED stick with a magnetic base, an "Astro Pneumatic Tool 40SLMAX 450 Lumen Rechargeable LED Slim Light w/XL Battery" to be exact. Not a fan of wearing headgear, really. But if it works for you, then it works.
I use them for holding things together to weld, or straightening, bending thin metal. For nuts and bolts, not at all.
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Vise grips are good for holding the "collar' of a rubber brake line while you fight to undo the line nut. Break a tie rod adjuster free with an 18" pipe wrench then use the vise grips to crank it around. They're also an impressively wrong tool for crimping wire connections.
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2021
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Plumbing bag and electrical bag
LOL!Loctite. It ain't coming off until I say it's coming off.
On the other end, i like my 1/2 3ft breaker bar, handy for mower blades. Its coming off when i say its coming off!
Those are great! I keep breaking mine for some reason, though.
Who's making a 36" breaker bar in 1/2" drive other than Snappy/Bahco?
