legacycentral bbs

...and I'm not talking about the douchey people kind.

If you look at your toolbox or where ever you keep your tools, take a look at the tools you have, when you got them, and what you've done with them. If you're like me, you started acquiring your various tools when you were younger, and they have seen you across a variety of projects and even places. They certainly can bring back memories.

I guess I bring this up because of the recently broken tip on my Craftsman flathead screwdriver.

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... G_8087.JPG
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... G_8088.JPG

As you can see it's certainly seen better days and has been used! I'm not quite sure when it happened, but the tip got tweaked/torqued a little bit, which is probably what ultimately led to the tip breaking/chipping. It's also been "arc welded" by accidently touching the battery post and ground. Not to mention various other abuses.

But....this screwdriver was one of the very first tools I received.....and I'm thinking it was around 1990 or 1991. It was a set I received from my grandparents for my birthday. So yeah, it's been around a long time, seen about 6 or so cross-country trips, an AWD & 5spd conversion, ej22t swap, ej22t rebuild, and most of a 6spd swap.

Anyway...thought I'd share. Let's hear your stories.

My socket set and ratchets are older than i am, step dad gave them to me when i was 16 or so and they've seen bikes, cars, and random maintenance jobs at his various jobs. Recently broke the 1/2 in drive socket wrench and they said they'd rebuild it then lost it... Sears >.> But it doesnt stop me from buying craftsman lol

My oldest tool is just some random screwdriver that belonged to my dad. It's far from straight due to being used to pry seized calipers off a brake rotor one too many times and has since been relegated to full-time pry bar duty.

Mainly just have a costco set of Crescent sockets and basic tools, all I've ever had, seen plenty of work and no real damage.

More recently I've spent more money than the whole tool set on specialized tools for my M3, who would have thought the tools would be the expensive part of working on the car...

Nice I too have a large set of costco cresent sockets and wrenches. Only complaint about them is the cheap labeling on the sockets that wears off and then the sockets are naked and can't be identified.

I want to preface my story by saying that power tools are NOT necessary if you're not working on cars for a living. I have them now, and yes, they make lots of jobs much easier and much quicker, but there is not one single bolt or nut on an automobile that requires power tools. Not having them is not an excuse for not getting a job done.

With that out of the way, my most memorable tool was my old AmPro ratchet that I bought from Advance when I was still in college, before I had an actual decent collection of tools.

I've never seen any Craftsman or Snap-On or Matco ratchet take the abuse that AmPro did. I did everything from my first oil change to my first transmission removal with that ratchet. That ratchet was used as a breaker bar with a pipe extension, a hammer, and a pry bar. I removed subframe bolts, rusted-solid brake caliper bolts, rusted-solid exhaust bolts, you name it.

It finally let go after 4 years while I was doing my wheel bearings on Patti... the ratcheting mechanism failed while I was standing on the pipe extension to loosen one of the rear control arm bolts. I went and bought a Craftsman ratchet, and I had to get 3 replacements from Sears before that same wheel bearing project was done.

I hear you there. I didn't get air tools until a year ago. Did everything by hand with my cheap cresent tools. I did it just like you too with a 3 foot pipe and a 3 lb hammer (still my favorite tool). Its a hard habit to break. I hardly use my air tools even now. If I'm doing a big job like a transmission ill fire up the compressor but most stuff I don't feel like enduring the noise and waiting for it to reach a good psi so ill just hand tool it like I've been doing for almost 10 years. I think my second favorite tool iis my low profile aluminum jack. Up until I bought it a couple years ago I had to suffer through years of a leaky, heavy jack that was too tall to fit under a lowered car and it jacked up my car about half as fast as the one I have now. $180 well spent.

If I'm at the hobby shop, I use the shit out of the air tools for removing wheel lugs and anything else that would require anything bigger than a 1/2" ratchet just because it's so amazingly fast & easy (that said, it's already set up there in the shop). It's purely out of convenience and I wouldn't buy them for home because my 3/4" breaker bar (my ratchets are going on 5 years old, ideally they'll last as long as I'm healthy enough to use them) and 3' pipe extension will remove anything and everything, 99% of the time without needing to hammer or stand on it.

3/4"! Damn. Never had a need for anything that big. My half inch husky torque wrench goes to 250ft-lbs which I've never seen a bolt that required that much torque.

I accumulated quite a few tools while working in the junk yard. Mostly chinese junk, but every once in a while a snapon or mac tool would appear, though usually screwdrivers. Customers had 30 days to claim any found tools, and if it were a full set of American made tools, the owners would almost always come back for them.

The coolest tool I found (IMO) was this Barcalo-Buffalo wrench, which was standard issue with WW2 military jeeps: (not actual pic of mine, but same wrench and condition).



Imagine the stories it could tell. I have no use for standard sized tools but I couldn't let it get crushed.

kimokalihi wrote:3/4"! Damn. Never had a need for anything that big. My half inch husky torque wrench goes to 250ft-lbs which I've never seen a bolt that required that much torque.

Ever taken off an axle nut? I've broken a few half inch breaker bars on those damn things.

Yup plenty. 1/2" breaker bar with 3 foot pipe does the trick every time. Helps to remove the staked in edge, of course. Now days I just hook up my 1/2" craftsman professional impact gun. If you're gonna buy craftsman buy the professional tools, their other tools are junk.

yeah they are... and the warranties on the power tools suck as well.

I think I'm getting my sizes confused. I probably mean 1/2" when I say 3/4". What I'm thinking of when I say 1/2" is probably 3/8". Stupid fractions.

kimokalihi wrote:Yup plenty. 1/2" breaker bar with 3 foot pipe does the trick every time. Helps to remove the staked in edge, of course. Now days I just hook up my 1/2" craftsman professional impact gun. If you're gonna buy craftsman buy the professional tools, their other tools are junk.

Yea the two I broke were Craftsman, funny thing is my Harbor Freight bar did the trick both times.

The first time I changed my axle I couldn't get it off at all, ended up taking it somewhere to get it broken loose with air, which barely managed after a decent amount of time, and yes the edge was out. 3/4" would have been useful, but I'm not sure I've ever seen one of those...

James614 wrote:I think I'm getting my sizes confused. I probably mean 1/2" when I say 3/4". What I'm thinking of when I say 1/2" is probably 3/8". Stupid fractions.

1/2" and 3/8" are the normal sizes for sockets, sometimes 1/4 for really small ones.

I guess I would be considered a professional when it comes to my tools, it is how I make all my income. I have a small Snap-On chest and Matco's largest roll cart. I also have a $400 Snap-on 1/2 impact, $350 Matco 3/8 Impact, $300 Mac 3/8 air ratchet, and a $400 Snap-on air hammer along with about $2000 worth of wrenches and sockets and about $1500 in assorted ratchets and torque wrenches. But the one tool that I feel absolutly hopeless without is the free pocket screwdriver I get every year lol. Serisouly the most used and abused tool I have lol.

kimokalihi wrote:3/4"! Damn. Never had a need for anything that big. My half inch husky torque wrench goes to 250ft-lbs which I've never seen a bolt that required that much torque.

Subaru actually does what they call a forced shipment whenever a new or updated tool that they require a dealership to have is released. When the STi first launched stateside they force shipped all the tools for the 6sp trans. They make the dealership pay for a $1000 (marked up substantially I’m sure) OTC torque wrench because there is ONE nut at the end of the driven shaft, I believe, that is torqued to 310 ft/lbs. I had to do it once, there is a jig that is bolted to a steel table in our shop I was standing on the top of the table and it still felt like it wanted to flip out from under me lol. I know this is a relatively low torque to some people in other arias but on a Subaru I always thought it was funny. The Ford Diesel techs always used to borrow that wrench to torque head bolts on the StuperDuty's

I just took the screwdriver back and the new one does say "Made in the USA", but it doesn't say "Forged in the USA" like the old one.....so we'll see how it holds up.

owning a great many tools and having a cool garage to work in
I'll share a pic from when i swapped an engine for a friends VW tdi

Legacy777 wrote:I just took the screwdriver back and the new one does say "Made in the USA", but it doesn't say "Forged in the USA" like the old one.....so we'll see how it holds up.

The other day I bought a dewalt utility knife and it says "made in the usa from global materials". I'm assuming its made in china and assembled or branded in the usa. Btw its a piece of shit and I basically hate it. The blade does not retract all the way. There's 1/8" or more sticking out the end ready to slice me up when I'm not paying attention. I think ill bring it back.

It doesn't take a whole lot of work in the USA to be able to label it "made in USA" unfortunately.

Its sad to think we once had some of the best made products the world has ever seen and now we barely make anything and its all because of our own greed and laziness. Its also sad to know I am too young to have experienced these things.

So the one tool that stands out to me is a 8" c-clamp. I got it from my dad when I was 8. 22 years ago. He had to teach one of the six kids to work on the cars after he had a stroke. With 4 sisters and a brother that dodoesn't know what a open end wrench is, it kindof fell on my shoulders. My father was disabled so he would have me be his hands and he just talked me trough it. He started by having me do the front brakes on the fam van. Then I remember him having me take out the starter on that beast. Well all know how heavy a starter is on a 80's model gm v8 motor. Well they are hevier when your 8.