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Tools: What do you use and why?

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Let me tell you, a couple of boxes of Snap On hand tools, scanners (8K with software), torque wrenches, air tools etc, adds up pretty quickly.Throw in a couple of lifts, compressor, and that's what it comes to. I had to figure out the replacement value for the insurance company a couple of years ago. I was a little surprised, but it has taken 30 years of being a professional wrench to accumulate that much. No pics, the place is a mess! I have a nice TD in here now getting a 5 speed conversion straightened out. A series 3 Etype, a TR4A, a Volvo 122S, as well as a couple of 90s Jags. Never a dull minute, but I would so rather work on cars like this than Hondas or Toyotas.... No offence offered to devotees of those marques.
 
jessebogan said:
Never a dull minute, but I would so rather work on cars like this than Hondas or Toyotas....
Click to expand...

Amen, Jesse!!

I've trimmed down the "inventory" and have only three roll-cabs now. P'rolly about the same collection as you've got, and over the same amount of time.

I do like the 1/4" drive MAC swivel sockets tho: they used hardened setscrews instead of roll-pins in the ones I got (back in '78 or so). They've since gone cheap tho.

Snappy made a box and modules years ago that I'd like to have found: handles on the drawers were stainless bars, two color scheme; black and red. Never found one for sale when I was wrenching tho. Now it doesn't matter. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif
 
I have Snapon,Craftsman,Matco,+ some odds & ends.
I'll use the Snapon first,then the rest.I feel that Matco seems to be just as good as Snapon,+ the dealer is a great
guy to deal with.
If you ever go to Sears to replace a Craftsman tool -
- make sure that you get a Craftsman replacement,& not a
Sears.The Sears tools are not warrentied.

- Doug
 
I’ll tell you one brand of tools I don’t have, MAC.

It’s not that I have anything against their tools. It’s just that I haven’t had the chance to find out if I like them or not. The local MAC guy shows no interest in selling me any.
Here’s how our first/last/only meeting went:

Me: “Hi”
MAC Guy: “Can I help you?”
Me: “Just interested in tools.”
MAC Guy: “Where do you work?”
Me: “A few blocks over that way, but I’m not a professional mechanic. I just work on my own cars and such.”
MAC Guy: blank stare, silence
Me: “Do you have a catalog?”
MAC Guy: “I’m out of catalogs.”
Me: “I guess I can just look online to see what you have. Do you know if MAC puts the whole line on their website? Some of the other companies don’t.”
MAC Guy: “I don’t know. I’ve never looked at the website.”
Me: “Oh.”
MAC Guy: blank stare, silence
Me: “Um, do you have a business card?”
MAC Guy: “No. I don’t have cards.”
Me: “Oh.”
MAC Guy: “I can give you a little piece of paper with my phone number”
Me: “Sure. Thanks.”

I think you can see where this is going. Nowhere.

Contrast that with a “typical” conversation with my Snap-on guy:

Me: “Hi.”
Snap-on Guy: “Hi. How can I help you today?”
Me: “Nothing in particular. Just stopped to see what’s new.”
Snap-on Guy: “Here’s the latest specials flyer. Do you have a catalog? This one’s last year’s but we should be getting the new ones soon. Check back with me in a couple weeks. Here, let me put my sticker on this one and get you a new price sheet.”
Me: “Hey, thanks.”
Snap-on Guy: “You’re welcome. Have a look around. Let me know if you see anything you need.”
Me: “Thanks.”
Me: “Ooh, a brass dead-blow hammer. I didn’t see that on the website. I think I need one of those.”
Snap-on Guy: “Sure thing. Anything else?”
My wallet: groan

Sometimes I wonder why some people are in business in the first place.


PC.
 
I heard that and when I put money on my account it never showed up and I got interest on topp. I call MAC US and changed my account to a direct payment to then. The MAC dealer put me in for collection for a fourteen dollar tool when he knew I was home recouperating from neck sugery. He knew my phone number and where I lived. Never again.

Sorry--end of rant.
 
I s'pose it's like any franchise: the individual at the "business end" makes all the difference in the world as to how the brand is perceived/received. The Snappy guys who've been my dealers were great. The MAC dealer was, too. Matco fella here in my part of Florida was a putz but the one in PA was a good guy. :shrug:
 
I've got the worst Snap-On rep in the business. There have been numerous complaints against him, but Snap-On won't do anything because he sells a lot of tools. Oh well. The MAC rep is super!
Jeff
 
Do you know where his territory ends? Maybe the next Snap-on guy over isn’t such an idiot?

I live in one guy’s territory but work in another. (And to buy tools for work it’s an even different guy.) For me, it’s convenient to buy from the guy close to work. I can hook up with him at the tire place next to my favorite lunch spot.


PC.
 
PC said:
Do you know where his territory ends? Maybe the next Snap-on guy over isn’t such an idiot
PC.
Click to expand...

I've got other alternatives for Snap-On, so the idiot local rep doesn't come into the picture.
They have a very large warehouse about a mile from work, and I have a friend who has been with them for 25 years. No problem if I ever need a Snap-On tool. I just don't use them very much at all. I'm completely satisfied with my boxes full of SK's.
Jeff
 
PC said:
I’ll tell you one brand of tools I don’t have, MAC.

It’s not that I have anything against their tools. It’s just that I haven’t had the chance to find out if I like them or not. The local MAC guy shows no interest in selling me any.
Click to expand...

I've often wondered if this happens because although you may buy a tool now and then, he knows you'll never be a real "crack-addict" that pays his bills... like a daily wrencher that gives a good portion of his pay check to the tool-dealer every week to pay off his tool-debt...
 
The "addicts" are usually young folks starting out, charge up a huge debt and wind up leaving/moving. I would think the best customers for the traveling tool sales types would be the shops/wrenches who're insconced for years in one place. The Snappy dealer here in my 'hood hasn't seen me in a shop for close to 15 years (after six or seven as a "local" wrench) yet when I call him, he's HAPPY to hear from me. And I LIKE the guy. When I packed it in locally he volunteered to move my Big Red Refrigerator to my house from the shop. Can't beat that. And the Snappy guy fifty miles away where I spent the LAST 15 years wrenching is an absolute loser. If I need a tool, guess who I call?

The: "Oooh! I want th' big BLACK roll-cab with th' STEREO in it!" guys are gonna be hard to find in six months.
 
I just picked up 2 big sets of 1/2" drive Whitworth sockets. (1 Craftsman and 1 Snap-On) All are in good shape and I doubt I will ever bust one but... curiosity drives me to ask this question: If I did break one, would either company be capable of honoring their lifetime warranties? Who would I return it to?
 
Snap-On has British Standard sockets and wrenches in their latest catalog.
 
So they're covered. Excellent! I wonder about Craftsman. Do they still sell BSW/BSF stuff in the UK?

Thanks, Dr. E! By the way, where is Elsinore, DK?
 
IanF said:
...I've often wondered if this happens because although you may buy a tool now and then, he knows you'll never be a real "crack-addict" that pays his bills... like a daily wrencher that gives a good portion of his pay check to the tool-dealer every week to pay off his tool-debt...
Click to expand...
I don’t doubt that that’s the reason. It’s still a stupid business practice.

Even if I don’t’ put his kids through college he can still make some money off me. None of the successful entrepreneurs I know think it’s below them to make money on smaller deals.

For all he knew I could have been one of those guys with a mansion up on the hill and a collection of Ferraris looking for somebody to “bring the truck around and drop off one of everything.”


PC.
 
PC said:
Even if I don’t’ put his kids through college he can still make some money off me. None of the successful entrepreneurs I know think it’s below them to make money on smaller deals.
Click to expand...

I have seriously considered buying a franchise just to do the car show circuit - I suspect there would be very good money to be made
 
Adam58 said:
So they're covered. Excellent! I wonder about Craftsman. Do they still sell BSW/BSF stuff in the UK?

Thanks, Dr. E! By the way, where is Elsinore, DK?
Click to expand...

In Shakespeare's "Hamlet".

<span style='font-size: 8pt'>...and somewhere between my ears...</span> /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif
 
Adam58 said:
I wonder about Craftsman. Do they still sell BSW/BSF stuff in the UK?
Click to expand...

BSF & BSW can still be obtained but it takes a little looking- its now mostly metric.

Craftsman doesn't sell in the UK, and I've found they don't take overseas orders either.
 
JPSmit said:
... I have seriously considered buying a franchise just to do the car show circuit - I suspect there would be very good money to be made
Click to expand...
Hmmm. Sounds like it has a lot of potential.

I think most of the tool companies guarantee their franchisees exclusive territories. By following the car shows you might be cruising in and out of other guys’ turf. You’d want to map that out with your chosen company before committing.


PC.
 
PC said:
I think most of the tool companies guarantee their franchisees exclusive territories
Click to expand...
I have this friend and fellow racer that is a Snappy dealer...
I've asked him to sell me stuff a couple of times at the track.
You would have thought I asked him for his kidney.

They apparently DO NOT sell anything to anyone when they are out of their area.
 
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